A review by awilderm23
The Journey to the East by Hermann Hesse

4.0

'I asked the servant Leo why it was that artists sometimes appeared to be only half-alive, while their creations seemed so irrefutably alive. Leo looked at me, surprised at my question. The he released the poodle he was holding in his arms and said: "It is the same with mothers. When they have borne their children and given them their milk and beauty and strength, they themselves become invisible, and no one asks about them anymore." "But that is sad," I said, without really thinking very much about it. "I do not think it is sadder than all other things. Perhaps it is sad and also beautiful."'