As a Hesse fan, please excuse me barging into this conversation. The works of his I'd most recommend are: Narcissus and Goldmund, Steppenwolf, and his magnum opus The Glass Bead Game (for which he won the Nobel Prize in Literature). In fact, it was in that order that I read those works of his. His stories often deal with characters going through (trans)formative times in their lives, and contain a good amount of philosophy and metaphor.
This doesn't sound too dissimilar from Kundera, whom I love. I think I will start with Narcissus and Goldmund or Siddhartha. The reading list keeps growing...His stories often deal with characters going through (trans)formative times in their lives, and contain a good amount of philosophy and metaphor.
I read Siddhartha first which I inhaled. A short but good read. Then I read Steppenwolf. This took me a while but I think this is my favorite of him. I just finished Narziß und Goldmund lately and think it is fabulous too. He is very good at telling stories of characters and how they pass through their lives.