For those who appreciate the initiations novels ("Bildungsroman" in German), Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) is the perfect author. After writing "Demian" in 1919, as a learning novel of two young Europeans on the eve of the Great War, he launched into "Siddhartha" in 1922 where initiation, this time, is in the Ancient India through two men whose main protagonist is Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha said.
Roman philosophical and splendid fable, "Siddhartha" is the book's brother "Demian", one being the east and the other west.
Nb: In France, the most famous novels are initiations "LÉducation Sentimental" Flaubert "Lost Illusions" Balzac or "The Red and the Black" by Stendhal. (The list is not exhaustive and if you have good proposals leave advice on this commentary cordially)
