Recommendations
Books Like The Journey to the East
Best books to read after The Journey to the East by Hermann Hesse
Readers who love The Journey to the East by Hermann Hesse are drawn to its combination of mysterious brevity, the investigation of what it means to serve a community organized around a spiritual ideal, and the revelation that the servant is also the leader — they want novels that deal with spiritual journeys and communities, the relationship between individual and collective, and the tradition of the Hessean spiritual novel.
- 1Buy
Siddhartha
by Hermann Hesse
The companion — the spiritual journey and its goal. The companion investigation of the spiritual journey as a movement toward a destination that is also a dissolution of the individual self
- 2Buy
The Glass Bead Game
by Hermann Hesse
The companion — the Castalian intellectual world and Josef Knecht's service to it. The companion investigation of the same theme of service to a community organized around a spiritual ideal: Leo-as-servant is the prototype of Knecht's service
- 3Buy
Steppenwolf
by Hermann Hesse
The companion — Harry Haller and the Magic Theatre. The companion investigation of the individual who participates in a community (the Magic Theatre) whose laws he does not fully understand
- 4Buy
The Conference of the Birds
by Farid ud-Din Attar
Attar's companion Sufi poem about the birds' journey to find their king — who turns out to be themselves. The companion as the Eastern prototype: a group of seekers undertake a spiritual journey and discover at the end that the goal they sought was within themselves
- 5Buy
Don Quixote
by Miguel de Cervantes
Cervantes's companion about the knight errant whose quest is both real and deluded. The companion investigation of the same narrative form: both H.H. and Don Quixote are engaged in quests whose goal is uncertain and whose reality is questioned by those around them
- 6Buy
The Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho
Coelho's companion about Santiago's journey to find his treasure. The companion as the popular version of the same spiritual journey narrative: like H.H., Santiago is on a journey whose goal turns out to be different from what he expected
- 7Buy
Narcissus and Goldmund
by Hermann Hesse
The companion — Narcissus the monk and Goldmund the wandering artist. The companion investigation of the same themes of spiritual community, the meaning of service, and the dissolution of the individual into the spiritual whole
- 8Buy
The Servant as Leader
by Robert Greenleaf
Greenleaf's companion essay on servant leadership. The companion as the direct application: Greenleaf explicitly credits Hesse's Leo as the inspiration for servant leadership — the leader who leads by serving
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