Pictor's Metamorphoses: and Other Fantasies

I have The Fairy Tales of Hermann Hesse which has some stories that overlap with this book. But all works in that collection were from 1904-1918, which I think was maybe quite a bit weighed down by WWI, and made the book feel a little suppressive to read (I love that book, but it just feels like a dark place sometimes).Pictor's Metamorphoses spans from 1900-1951, making the collection more varied, diverse, and whimsical.My favorites in this (including overlaps with other books) by how I categorize his works in my head:Like true fairytales: Pictor's Metamorphoses, The Three Lindens; humorous: Tales of the Wicker Chair, Conversation with a Stove; tales of one journeying on their own/soul-searching: Man of the Forests, The Painter.

Hesse has scored with this collection of fine short stories written over a span of fifty years. He explores various forms and aspects of fantasy with his classic style. The result is short metaphoric pieces that engage for a while and let the reader go. I was fully engaged and enjoyed almost every one. Highly recommended if you are a Hesse fan, which I am of forty years.

An enjoyable book by Hermann Hesse. The stories contained here work like fairy tales, and show the author's creative power. Recommended for frequent readers of this author, and for those who are trying out his work for the first time.

Huge Hesse reader and had never heard of this volume. Influenced by German folk tales, there are some good short stories here. Go add to the library collection.

My fist time I read Hesse in English - it's kind a weird, but I still love his writing!

I love the the title story. It is filled with wisdom and laid out in such rich detail. He actually wrote these stories over a number of years and I liked seeing how time affected him in each one.

This is a really good book. From the dreams he has as a young boy to the times after the war. A good book to read in between books. Most of the stories are short but there are some long ones too.

Hesse was an inveterate story writer and this collection is an excellent introduction to his work. Most of these tales are only a few pages long and even the longest can be completed in one sitting. They also span his entire career and give the reader a great overview of the author's style.I recommend especially the title story, "Pictor's Metamorphoses": here a youth named Pictor wanders into a garden and finds a magic carbuncle which transforms him into a tree. But he realizes that his life his incomplete, and remains unhappy until a girl wanders into the same garden...