With Gertrude Herman Hesse continues his lifelong exploration of the irreconcilable elements of human existence. In this fictional memoir the renowned composer Kuhn recounts his tangled relationships with two artists--his friend Heinrich Muoth a brooding self-destructive opera singer and the gentle self-assured Gertrude Imthor. Kuhn is drawn to Gertrude upon their first meeting but Gertrude falls in love with Heinrich to whom she is introduced when Kuhn auditions them for the leads in his new opera. Hopelessly ill-matched Gertrude and Heinrich have a disastrous marriage that leaves them both ruined. Yet this tragic affair also becomes the inspiration for Kuhn's opera the most important success of his artistic life.
