by Hermann Hesse, Basil Creighton
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Product Description
With its blend of Eastern mysticism and Western culture, Hesse’s best-known and most autobiographical work is one of literature’s most poetic evocations of the soul’s journey to liberationHarry Haller is a sad and lonely figure, a reclusive intellectual for whom life holds no joy. He struggles to reconcile the wild primeval wolf and the rational man within himself without surrendering to the bourgeois values he despises. His life changes dramatically when he meets a woman who is his opposite, the carefree and elusive Hermine. The tale of the Steppenwolf culminates in the surreal Magic Theater—For Madmen Only!Originally published in English in 1929, Steppenwolf ’s wisdom continues to speak to our souls and marks it as a classic of modern literature.
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Average Customer Review:
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 A classic philosophical novel about the meaning of self and the source of personality, 2008-10-01
Steppenwolf is Hermann Hesse's classic philosophical novel about the meaning of self and the source of personality. The protagonist Harry Haller thinks he has two souls--that of a man and that of a Steppenwolf (a wolf of the Steppes)--"in continual and deadly enmity." Over the course of many fantastical events, including a couple love affairs, a frenetic masked ball, and a magical theater filled with illusions, Haller is forced to abandon his view of himself as a flawed, two-souled creature and embrace the idea that each person consists of thousands of souls living in a single body:
"The breast and the body are indeed one, but the souls that dwell in it are not two, nor five, but countless in number. Man is an onion made up of a hundred integuments, a texture made up of many threads."
In this slim novel, Hesse examines many complicated philosophical ideas all wrapped up in an entertaining tale. Recommended.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
The lurking wolf , 2008-09-10
There is most likely a Steppenwolf in all of us - that creature that lurks beneath the shadow of our outer selves when we are not an embodiment of another, that arises and pounces on us sometimes so unexpectedly. This novel cum treatise attempts to explore them.
By all means, this novel does not help you to discover, other than assisting in your search and exploration. Of our many selves - humane and beastial, our sometimes exasperating base and sexual natures, alter egos, the subconscious. It is an elucidation of forms that we as human beings, in our search for tranquility and meaning, search for in our existence. A closure.
At the heart of this novel is the 'Treatise of the Steppenwolf', where Hesse expounds his complex but identifiable idea of the Steppenwolf that laments, more than concludes, the meaninglessness of our existence. That despite our ardent search for it, it remains elusive and in the end, that we have to settle for something less that will shut our minds to a more acceptable worldview. This novel is a struggle against that.
In the end, Harry in his walk in the town, is lead to a place where reality dims into fantasy, and one becomes uncertain of which is which - just as when human minds become confused and lost, they are prone to delve into the imagination. And what is found, as confusing as it seems to be, may not so pessimistic after all.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Good Morning, 2008-08-20
I lay in a tub of hot water, relaxing, "coming to" early in the morning. The words come off the page through my eyes narrowly bumping up against my brain en route to my heart. Incredible! Materiel for an epitaph, the stuff worthy of my eulogy. If it can't be understood, its useless to explain. Me thinks: "Like a good wine, this should be sipped slowly and rolled gently over the taste buds and only lastly is to be lost swallowed into the gut.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Hermann Hesse's Mid-Life Crisis..., 2008-07-03
"Ignorance is bliss," goes the old proverb coined by Thomas Gray, and I'd wager Hermann Hesse would agree. When you are as intelligent and sensitive a man as Hesse, the quotidian crap that assails you and the rest of humanity must be almost unbearable. But if felo-de-se is out of the question, how exactly do you bear up?
That seems to be the point of Steppenwolf, a clear-cut masterpiece whose omission from the MLA 100 is nothing if not a scandal. This is a deep book, a profound book, a book that is wearying to read, and which seems longer than its 208 pages. It is by no means a page-turner, nor is it as accessible as Siddhartha.
Steppenwolf raises many questions, and answers none satisfactorily--understandable given that human beings are essentially cosmic orphans, alone and adrift on a small planet, making everything up as they go along. Hesse does not like this. He seeks order and rationale, a raison d'etre...but all he finds is stupidity, primitiveness, and ennui.
This is ventriloquized through the perspective of the narrator, and there are pages and pages of angst-ridden, existential thrashing about. Sometimes these passages drag...but always--always--the sheer quality of the writing is evident. The talent on display is rare indeed, and appreciable even when you want to grab Hesse by the shoulders, give him a shake, and tell him to come to grips with life's meaninglessness and quit being such a pussy.
I recommend Steppenwolf to those who are interested moreso in philosophy than literature. If you are looking for a simple, straight-forward yarn, this ain't the book.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Not a classic, but really has its impact, 2008-05-01
There were many flaws with this book. The pace was meandering, going nowhere for long periods of time and some of the dialogue is trite
The main characters were shallow, but I'm assuming they archetypal, based on Carl Jung's phychology, so they were probably that way on purpose. One really does not know which character was real and which was a figment of Harry's bruised psyche. Hermine, Harry's opposite, forces Harry to forgo his prejudices against dancing, Jazz, and a more carefree way of life. This leads to finding at least some happiness, even if it never can completely make his loneliness fade away. Also on the path is a serene Goethe as well as Mozart, and culminates in the Magic Theatre, where Harry finally faces his inner conflicts.
There were many good thoughts in this book, as it shows that every human being consists of conflicting wants and feelings, all of which are clashing and causing stress on the person as a whole. The key to living a good life if for these desparate selves to live in harmony. Therefore the wolf has to live with the man and the man with the wolf. It also shows how inner conflict leads to us reinventing ourselves, dying several times in a life so to speak.
What was annoying is the main characters incessant complaints about bourgeoisie values. his hatred of Jazz as anti-intellectual(history has vindicated Jazz), and drug abuse. It was rather odd how he was exclaiming living a more full life by snorting cocaine at one point and sleeping with a prostitute, and I hardly see how this helps one rebuild himself.
Still, I go back to this book more than most, even several years after I read it, so obviously it had its moments that stuck to me. Recommended if you're up for a surreal and angst filled ride.
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