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荒原狼
赫尔曼·黑塞（1877-1962），德国作家，1946年获得诺贝尔文学奖。《荒原狼》是黑塞中期创作的代表作，亦是他创作生涯中的里程碑。
小说的主人公哈勒尔是个正直的作家，他鄙视现代社会生活方式，常常闭门不出，令人窒息的空气使他陷于精神分裂的境地。一天他偶尔读到一本《评荒原狼》的小书，顿觉大梦初醒，认为自己就是一个“人性”和“狼性”并存的荒原狼。之后他应邀参加聚会，发现与会者都有狭隘的民族主义观点，而他的反战言论遭到斥责，更觉自己孤独；回家时他遇到酒巴女郎赫米纳，获得肉欲欢乐；经赫米纳介绍他又结识了音乐人帕布洛和一姑娘玛丽亚，他在音乐和感官享受中忘却了一切烦恼和忧虑。但当他看到赫米纳和帕布洛亲近时，便“狼性”大发，出于嫉妒将赫米纳杀死。
小说幻想色彩浓郁，象征意味深远，被认为有“超现实主义”风格；托马斯·曼称它为“德国的尤利西斯”。
270 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1927
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200635 people want to read
About the author
Hermann Hesse
1,803 books19.6k followersMany works, including
Siddhartha
(1922) and
Steppenwolf
(1927), of German-born Swiss writer Hermann Hesse concern the struggle of the individual to find wholeness and meaning in life; he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1946.
Other best-known works of this poet, novelist, and painter include The Glass Bead Game , which, also known as Magister Ludi, explore a search of an individual for spirituality outside society.
In his time, Hesse was a popular and influential author in the German-speaking world; worldwide fame only came later. Young Germans desiring a different and more "natural" way of life at the time of great economic and technological progress in the country, received enthusiastically Peter Camenzind , first great novel of Hesse.
Throughout Germany, people named many schools. In 1964, people founded the Calwer Hermann-Hesse-Preis, awarded biennially, alternately to a German-language literary journal or to the translator of work of Hesse to a foreign language. The city of Karlsruhe, Germany, also associates a Hermann Hesse prize.
Other best-known works of this poet, novelist, and painter include The Glass Bead Game , which, also known as Magister Ludi, explore a search of an individual for spirituality outside society.
In his time, Hesse was a popular and influential author in the German-speaking world; worldwide fame only came later. Young Germans desiring a different and more "natural" way of life at the time of great economic and technological progress in the country, received enthusiastically Peter Camenzind , first great novel of Hesse.
Throughout Germany, people named many schools. In 1964, people founded the Calwer Hermann-Hesse-Preis, awarded biennially, alternately to a German-language literary journal or to the translator of work of Hesse to a foreign language. The city of Karlsruhe, Germany, also associates a Hermann Hesse prize.
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September 28, 2012
I read this book on a twenty four hour train journey surrounded by the bourgeois. It was a terrifying experience. The book didn't change my life and was not meant to, but it gave me hope and hope is always a good thing.
The influence of Indian spirituality on this book is apparent, but Hesse chooses to dissect it using the prism of Western pessimism. He talks about the multiplicity of the self and the infinite potential associated with it, how we often choose to attach fanciful restrictions to the limitless and that every man can have his place among the Immortals. The influence of unfulfilled desires in the making of the personality and its inherent disorders and the possibility of conquering those to mould a 'new' self are also prominent themes which again run parallel to the Indian concept of rebirth.
The book has layers far too many. Each time I indulge in a flight of introspection, much like Harry Haller, or so I would or wouldn't like to believe, I stumble upon a different and equally vague interpretation of the book.
This book is great literature. It is magnificently vague and by turns sincerely hopeless and insincerely hopeful but eventually redeems itself by offering hope for the hopeless.
The influence of Indian spirituality on this book is apparent, but Hesse chooses to dissect it using the prism of Western pessimism. He talks about the multiplicity of the self and the infinite potential associated with it, how we often choose to attach fanciful restrictions to the limitless and that every man can have his place among the Immortals. The influence of unfulfilled desires in the making of the personality and its inherent disorders and the possibility of conquering those to mould a 'new' self are also prominent themes which again run parallel to the Indian concept of rebirth.
The book has layers far too many. Each time I indulge in a flight of introspection, much like Harry Haller, or so I would or wouldn't like to believe, I stumble upon a different and equally vague interpretation of the book.
This book is great literature. It is magnificently vague and by turns sincerely hopeless and insincerely hopeful but eventually redeems itself by offering hope for the hopeless.
April 16, 2020
Hermann Hesse’s words are timeless. Here they represent an entire disaffected generation, a generation who is on the cusp of radical change but still partly exists in the old world. They are out of space and out of time: they are lost within themselves. However, such things can aptly be applied to a number of individuals across the ages. And, for me, this is what made the novel so great.
Through these pages Hesse evokes a character I have seen many times before across literature, but never before with such clarity. Harry Haller is one such man. His intellect is, undoubtedly, worthy of genius, though such a thing is wasted because he has no proper channel for such intellect. He has lost his faith in humanity and has completely withdrawn from the world, so he makes his own world: he has created his own ideal environment within his thoughts. His loneliness is that extreme, he has written an idealised account of his life that never happened. He wants hope, so he creates it himself in the form of a counterpart, a soul mate: Hermione.
She gives him back everything he has lost, his confidence, his hope and his sexual energy. He has passion or life once more. And this is why the novel is so terribly sad. None of this is actually happening; it is the desperate ramblings of a mind trying to heal itself in a world where it can find no sense of belonging or purpose. This imagined woman becomes a lifeline, a beacon in the middle of the dark shores of modernisation. Like Andre Bretton’s Nadja the idealised female becomes a means of escape for the lost modern man. As per the surrealist mode, reality is warped in an attempt to find some higher truth. Her presence is the only thing preventing Harry from killing himself and surrendering to the endless sleep.
For Harry is a man split in two: he is the Steppenwolf.
“There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside of them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself.”
He believes himself to be half man and half wolf. He has all the sensibilities of a normal man, but overshadowing his character is the romantic longings of a wild creature. In such a modern world his desires and natural drives are unfulfilled; they are repressed and controlled resulting in severe depression and low mood. He cannot be who he was meant to be because the space he exists in does not allow it. The time, the age, does not allow it. So he is trapped, and he so desperately needs a root out. That much so he makes one up for himself out of words.
The switch between reality and imagination is extremely hard to notice within the narrative. It happens very early on, and there are many different layers of storytelling. The story we are hearing is actually a journal penned by Steppenwolf and read by the hotel manager. Although the narrative does raise questions, many really, it is not until the end of the novel that the ripples of doubt are confirmed as delusional confirmations. Perception is everything here, perception of the self and of the world. Although such complex imagining may sound detrimental to mental health, they take on the form of a coping strategy for such a lost individual.
Although Steppenwolf is a middle aged misanthrope, I don’t hesitate to say that this book will resonate within the bosom of many a reader. Particularly the young and the dispossessed will relate to his tale. I know I do in part. It is easy to become lost in life, and it is easy to feel alone in a world that you don’t relate to. But unlike Hesse’s Siddhartha this novel does not attempt to evoke an inner sense of peace and tranquillity as an effort to solve such problems that life throws at us. A resolution would have been unnecessary here because that is not what Hesse is trying to show us.
Instead with Steppenwolf we receive a vision of a man who has wasted his life in self-pity and self-induced isolation. Is this a projection of the author’s feelings? I don’t think we can actually say for sure, but one thing remains absolutely certain: Steppenwolf is a life lesson for those who do not want to receive the same fate.
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Through these pages Hesse evokes a character I have seen many times before across literature, but never before with such clarity. Harry Haller is one such man. His intellect is, undoubtedly, worthy of genius, though such a thing is wasted because he has no proper channel for such intellect. He has lost his faith in humanity and has completely withdrawn from the world, so he makes his own world: he has created his own ideal environment within his thoughts. His loneliness is that extreme, he has written an idealised account of his life that never happened. He wants hope, so he creates it himself in the form of a counterpart, a soul mate: Hermione.
She gives him back everything he has lost, his confidence, his hope and his sexual energy. He has passion or life once more. And this is why the novel is so terribly sad. None of this is actually happening; it is the desperate ramblings of a mind trying to heal itself in a world where it can find no sense of belonging or purpose. This imagined woman becomes a lifeline, a beacon in the middle of the dark shores of modernisation. Like Andre Bretton’s Nadja the idealised female becomes a means of escape for the lost modern man. As per the surrealist mode, reality is warped in an attempt to find some higher truth. Her presence is the only thing preventing Harry from killing himself and surrendering to the endless sleep.
For Harry is a man split in two: he is the Steppenwolf.
“There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside of them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself.”
He believes himself to be half man and half wolf. He has all the sensibilities of a normal man, but overshadowing his character is the romantic longings of a wild creature. In such a modern world his desires and natural drives are unfulfilled; they are repressed and controlled resulting in severe depression and low mood. He cannot be who he was meant to be because the space he exists in does not allow it. The time, the age, does not allow it. So he is trapped, and he so desperately needs a root out. That much so he makes one up for himself out of words.
The switch between reality and imagination is extremely hard to notice within the narrative. It happens very early on, and there are many different layers of storytelling. The story we are hearing is actually a journal penned by Steppenwolf and read by the hotel manager. Although the narrative does raise questions, many really, it is not until the end of the novel that the ripples of doubt are confirmed as delusional confirmations. Perception is everything here, perception of the self and of the world. Although such complex imagining may sound detrimental to mental health, they take on the form of a coping strategy for such a lost individual.
Although Steppenwolf is a middle aged misanthrope, I don’t hesitate to say that this book will resonate within the bosom of many a reader. Particularly the young and the dispossessed will relate to his tale. I know I do in part. It is easy to become lost in life, and it is easy to feel alone in a world that you don’t relate to. But unlike Hesse’s Siddhartha this novel does not attempt to evoke an inner sense of peace and tranquillity as an effort to solve such problems that life throws at us. A resolution would have been unnecessary here because that is not what Hesse is trying to show us.
Instead with Steppenwolf we receive a vision of a man who has wasted his life in self-pity and self-induced isolation. Is this a projection of the author’s feelings? I don’t think we can actually say for sure, but one thing remains absolutely certain: Steppenwolf is a life lesson for those who do not want to receive the same fate.
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June 12, 2023
Kurt Vonnegut, one of my literary heroes, said of Hermann Hesse’s novel Steppenwolf that is was “the most profound book about homesickness ever written”. Vonnegut also went on to describe how Hesse speaks to young readers, how he speaks to the essence of youth and offers hope.
Like many readers, I first encountered Hesse as a young person, for me it was when I was in high school. Hesse’s illustration of isolation and being misunderstood spoke to me as a youth, as I imagine it has for many young people.
Hesse said, “Of all my books Steppenwolf is the one that was more often and more violently misunderstood than any other”. Of course, the book was written about a man as he turns 50, not a youth.
But I think I can understand why this also speaks to young readers. What Hesse describes, and his use of the lone wolf of the steppe as a symbol is brilliant, is about a time when an individual finds himself alone and in transition – as in a mature man who approaches old age, or as a young person leaving behind the securities of childhood for the uncertainties of adult life.
Similar to Hesse’s earlier novel Siddhartha (1922) in Steppenwolf (1927) the protagonist experiences a dynamic journey through self-discovery and spiritual exploration. Also reminiscent of the earlier work, Steppenwolf reveals a cathartic summation after a romantic interlude.
Hesse also demonstrates how man is more than a single entity, more even than the more obvious duality – as suggested by Haller’s belief that he is half man and half wolf – but the combination of tens, hundreds, or even thousands of souls. This confirmation of Eastern thought is ubiquitous in Hesse’s work and shows a kinship to Jung.
Complicated, multi-faceted and sometimes difficult to follow, Hesse presents an important contribution to 20th century literature.
*** 2023 reread -
I reread this because I realized that I am now at the age Hesse wrote this for, a man in his 50s and at a transitional phase in life.
A little sadly, this has not held up as well as I hoped. The reason is mainly a demonstration of how our society has changed due to increases in the complexity and sophistication of our technology.
When Hesse was writing this for the protagonist, Haller, who, from the vantage of middle age, looks back on the savage misanthropy of his earlier days and reflects on who he is now and what’s important to him. The word and concept “bourgeois” was used repeatedly and often in the text and described Haller’s separation from society largely based upon his alienation from bourgeois ideals.
In the 1927 of it’s publication, bourgeois was used to reflect not just middle class, but of the rising importance of the middle class and the sentimentality that went along with this socio-economic group. Haller “came in from the cold” to use an espionage term, as he rejected his earlier wild and wanton disregard for such sentiment and embraced the comforts available to him at this advanced age.
Almost a hundred years later and there are certainly still class distinctions, but those lines have largely blurred into other forms of class identity and so Hesse’s otherwise spot on narrative has lost some of its appeal. It is still very well written and an excellent statement about changes in life and how an individual approaches these changes. Still worth reading but may need some further study for a modern reader to grasp all of what Hesse was saying.
Like many readers, I first encountered Hesse as a young person, for me it was when I was in high school. Hesse’s illustration of isolation and being misunderstood spoke to me as a youth, as I imagine it has for many young people.
Hesse said, “Of all my books Steppenwolf is the one that was more often and more violently misunderstood than any other”. Of course, the book was written about a man as he turns 50, not a youth.
But I think I can understand why this also speaks to young readers. What Hesse describes, and his use of the lone wolf of the steppe as a symbol is brilliant, is about a time when an individual finds himself alone and in transition – as in a mature man who approaches old age, or as a young person leaving behind the securities of childhood for the uncertainties of adult life.
Similar to Hesse’s earlier novel Siddhartha (1922) in Steppenwolf (1927) the protagonist experiences a dynamic journey through self-discovery and spiritual exploration. Also reminiscent of the earlier work, Steppenwolf reveals a cathartic summation after a romantic interlude.
Hesse also demonstrates how man is more than a single entity, more even than the more obvious duality – as suggested by Haller’s belief that he is half man and half wolf – but the combination of tens, hundreds, or even thousands of souls. This confirmation of Eastern thought is ubiquitous in Hesse’s work and shows a kinship to Jung.
Complicated, multi-faceted and sometimes difficult to follow, Hesse presents an important contribution to 20th century literature.
*** 2023 reread -
I reread this because I realized that I am now at the age Hesse wrote this for, a man in his 50s and at a transitional phase in life.
A little sadly, this has not held up as well as I hoped. The reason is mainly a demonstration of how our society has changed due to increases in the complexity and sophistication of our technology.
When Hesse was writing this for the protagonist, Haller, who, from the vantage of middle age, looks back on the savage misanthropy of his earlier days and reflects on who he is now and what’s important to him. The word and concept “bourgeois” was used repeatedly and often in the text and described Haller’s separation from society largely based upon his alienation from bourgeois ideals.
In the 1927 of it’s publication, bourgeois was used to reflect not just middle class, but of the rising importance of the middle class and the sentimentality that went along with this socio-economic group. Haller “came in from the cold” to use an espionage term, as he rejected his earlier wild and wanton disregard for such sentiment and embraced the comforts available to him at this advanced age.
Almost a hundred years later and there are certainly still class distinctions, but those lines have largely blurred into other forms of class identity and so Hesse’s otherwise spot on narrative has lost some of its appeal. It is still very well written and an excellent statement about changes in life and how an individual approaches these changes. Still worth reading but may need some further study for a modern reader to grasp all of what Hesse was saying.
December 1, 2024
A view from the outside…
The story is his notebooks he left after his departure… Loneliness… Solitude… Isolation… Seclusion… It’s a mode of his living… Steppenwolf is a loner… Metaphorically he describes his life as a half-hearted and half-baked existence…
Astray in the world, lost in despair, hiding in aloofness, the protagonist visualizes himself being a lonely wolf of the steppes, destined to perish, and dreams of suicide.
But he wants more… He looks for more…
And somewhere in the world there is a magic theater of madness…
He looks inside himself and understands that even the lonely intellectual existence isn’t enough… His spirit must rise somewhere higher…
To live is to wish for more and to seek everywhere even in madness.
Steppenwolf was a man nearing fifty who one day some years ago called at my aunt’s block of flats in search of a furnished room. Having rented the attic room up under the roof and the small bedroom next to it, he came back a few days later with two suitcases and a large book chest, and lodged with us for nine or ten months.
The story is his notebooks he left after his departure… Loneliness… Solitude… Isolation… Seclusion… It’s a mode of his living… Steppenwolf is a loner… Metaphorically he describes his life as a half-hearted and half-baked existence…
For a short time I can stand to inhale the lukewarm, insipid air of the so-called good days, free of desire and pain. But, childish soul that I am, I then get so madly sore at heart and miserable that I fling my rusty thanksgiving lyre in the smug face of the drowsy god of contentment and opt for a true, devilish pain burning inside me rather than this room temperature so easy on the stomach.
Astray in the world, lost in despair, hiding in aloofness, the protagonist visualizes himself being a lonely wolf of the steppes, destined to perish, and dreams of suicide.
But he wants more… He looks for more…
And somewhere in the world there is a magic theater of madness…
Gothic doorway and the mysterious sign above it, mocking me with its flickering neon letters. What message had they spelled out? ‘Admission not for everybody.’ And: ‘For mad people only.’
He looks inside himself and understands that even the lonely intellectual existence isn’t enough… His spirit must rise somewhere higher…
Had I not been enough of an outsider, mad enough, for years? And yet, deep down inside me, I fully understood this summons, this invitation to go mad, to jettison all reason, inhibition and bourgeois respectability, and to surrender myself to the fluctuating, anarchic world of the soul, of the imagination.
To live is to wish for more and to seek everywhere even in madness.
November 15, 2021
Many literary novels are page-turners, filled with a compelling, straightforward storyline and lots of action; think of Our Mutual Friend and Crime and Punishment, think of Heart of Darkness and No Country for Old Men, or novels like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.
Hermann Hesse's novel Steppenwolf is a work of a completely different cast; a reader might find the story gripping, even riveting, but for much different reasons, for the action takes place not in a major city or obscure outpost but primarily in the mind.
Our first introduction to main character Harry Haller is through the eyes of the thirty-something middle-class nephew of Haller's landlady. The nephew observes how Haller lives a lonely, unsocial life and refers to himself as an old Steppenwolf. The nephew's curiosity prompts him to enter Harry's room, where he discovers stacks of books by authors such as Goethe, Jean Paul, and Dostoevsky; a statue of the Buddha; a photo of Gandhi; empty brandy bottles; and half-smoked cigars. In a word, living quarters bespeaking a chaotic, artistic lifestyle.
The nephew explains how Harry suddenly vanishes from the apartment, leaving a manuscript entitled "HARRY HALLER'S RECORDS" that warns potential readers that what follows is "FOR MADMEN ONLY." It is this record that comprises the remainder of the novel. Harry records how he has two natures in conflict: one as a reflective, refined, cultivated gentleman, and the other a wild wolf of the steppes. As such, he is a Steppenwolf, a despiser and destroyer of the middle class who is at the same time supported and comforted by the middle class. Harry's conflict causes him to become so depressed that he sets his fiftieth birthday as the date for taking his own life.
But life has other plans for Harry the Steppenwolf. We read how Harry encounters a dreamlike inscription over a door in the old section of town. Then the fun begins. Harry's identity and view of reality are challenged by a series of happenings, most notably meeting the beautiful young Hermine, who can be considered in a number of ways: as Harry's double, his doppelgänger; as a reflection of Harry's inner, spiritual self; or as a Jungian archetypal, female part of his psyche - his `anima.'
Hesse wrote Steppenwolf fresh from his own Jungian psychoanalytic experience. Indeed, Hesse plays with the idea of doubles, mirrors, and archetypes throughout this novel. Harry's world is further jazzed up with the entrée of jazz saxophonist/shape-shifter/sensualist Pablo and the beautiful and voluptuous Maria. Jazz, dancing, drugs, and sex all contribute to the death of the formerly old and depressed Harry, transforming him into a revitalized man poised for a full range of experiences at the much-anticipated masked ball.
The masked ball is the final section of the novel. In one of the inner rooms Harry encounters the Magic Theater, which enlarges any previous notions he might have held of both magic and theater. Harry is informed that there is a definite admission price to this theater: "PRICE OF ADMISSION YOUR MIND." Pablo explains to Harry how the theater has as many doors and boxes as one pleases, ten or a hundred or a thousand, and how "behind each door exactly what you seek awaits you."
Wild! And as we enter and move through the Magic Theater, things become progressively wilder. Recall how Timothy Leary encouraged users of LSD to consult this part of Hesse's novel as a manual to negotiate their hallucinogen-induced trips. Hesse would probably have objected to Leary's statement: He wrote in 1961, "... it seems to me that of all of my books Steppenwolf is the one that was more often and more violently misunderstood than any other, and frequently it is actually the affirmative and enthusiastic readers, rather than those who rejected the book, who have reacted to it oddly."
On this point I agree with Hesse--you need not take LSD to enter The Magic Theater; what you really need is openness and imagination, along with the willingness to courageously peer into the subconscious and unconscious areas of your own psyche. If you have a few decades of adult experience, as Hesse evidently hopes, so much the better.
May 28, 2012
Likely the dumbest Important Book that I've read.
Yeah, it's cool that the narrator thinks he's a werewolf, but is really just a recluse pseudo-academic--and then reads a manuscript that describes fake werewolves and outs them as poseurs.
Cool, also, that the preface, by the manuscript's fictional finder and publisher, records the impression that the horrors of the middle ages were non-existent: "A man of the Middle Ages would detest the whole mode of our present day life as something far more than horrible, far more than barbarous. [...] Human life is reduced to real suffering, to hell, only when two ages, two cultures and religions overlap" (22)--which strikes me as the rightwing way of describing the basic marxist principle that all that is solid melts into air.
Cool, further, that the book is written in the late 1920s and exposes all of the nasty jingoist, racist, reactionary bullshit that was the bizarre engine of history in the '30s and '40s--but written while Herr Beer Hall Putsch was banned from public speaking. It is therefore an oddly prescient volume when it describes respectable opinion in Germany as anti-semitic & anti-communist, as unwilling to blame itself for the world war, as loathing persons who express disapproval of the Kaiser and war-mongering, and so on (78-80). It manifestly names "the next holocaust" (117) as the fruits of same, joining R. Palme Dutt in making a horrible, horribly accurate prediction regarding German fascism.
Also presents an interesting attempt to read Goethe's Faust using the good doctor as a model for the Steppenwolf itself (60-63).
Nice moment of insult to the reader when the courtesan asks the narrator to explain what he had been reading, which was the Treatise on the Steppenwolf aforesaid: "Oh, Steppenwolf is magnificent! And are you the Steppenwolf? Is that meant for you?" (113) casting the reader of this volume into the role of the narrator fairly expressly.
Otherwise, though, I have the same reaction here as to Byron's Manfred, who also teeters at the edge of the precipice--my response: do us all a fucking favor and jump off the cliff on page 1; that way, we needn't read an entire volume of self-obsessed amphigory about suicide.
Doesn't help that the middle third of the volume is dominated by a bizarre love story involving several flappers/courtesans who pull the suicidal narrator away from the cliff by means of the terpsichorean arts (no shit!) as well as some hard fucking. The final third is dominated by drug-addled phantasmagoria, with silly appearances by Mozart and Goethe (though the science-fictiony war of man versus machines section is pregnant (180-90)).
Too much overt nietzschean influence. Too much use of the term bourgeois to refer to aesthetic matters, rather than economics. I can definitely see why all of the biggest English department douchebag undergraduates when I was at university wanted to write their BA thesis on this novel, nevermind that it's written in Deutsch, conceiving themselves as the steppenwolf rising above the herd, a true intellectual amid bourgeois banality, a proper aesthete among the declining arts of a spenglerian society, someone who really understands how shit is. It's a hipster manifesto, FFS.
Recommended for fake werewolves, bourgeois poseurs, and improbably named courtesans.
Yeah, it's cool that the narrator thinks he's a werewolf, but is really just a recluse pseudo-academic--and then reads a manuscript that describes fake werewolves and outs them as poseurs.
Cool, also, that the preface, by the manuscript's fictional finder and publisher, records the impression that the horrors of the middle ages were non-existent: "A man of the Middle Ages would detest the whole mode of our present day life as something far more than horrible, far more than barbarous. [...] Human life is reduced to real suffering, to hell, only when two ages, two cultures and religions overlap" (22)--which strikes me as the rightwing way of describing the basic marxist principle that all that is solid melts into air.
Cool, further, that the book is written in the late 1920s and exposes all of the nasty jingoist, racist, reactionary bullshit that was the bizarre engine of history in the '30s and '40s--but written while Herr Beer Hall Putsch was banned from public speaking. It is therefore an oddly prescient volume when it describes respectable opinion in Germany as anti-semitic & anti-communist, as unwilling to blame itself for the world war, as loathing persons who express disapproval of the Kaiser and war-mongering, and so on (78-80). It manifestly names "the next holocaust" (117) as the fruits of same, joining R. Palme Dutt in making a horrible, horribly accurate prediction regarding German fascism.
Also presents an interesting attempt to read Goethe's Faust using the good doctor as a model for the Steppenwolf itself (60-63).
Nice moment of insult to the reader when the courtesan asks the narrator to explain what he had been reading, which was the Treatise on the Steppenwolf aforesaid: "Oh, Steppenwolf is magnificent! And are you the Steppenwolf? Is that meant for you?" (113) casting the reader of this volume into the role of the narrator fairly expressly.
Otherwise, though, I have the same reaction here as to Byron's Manfred, who also teeters at the edge of the precipice--my response: do us all a fucking favor and jump off the cliff on page 1; that way, we needn't read an entire volume of self-obsessed amphigory about suicide.
Doesn't help that the middle third of the volume is dominated by a bizarre love story involving several flappers/courtesans who pull the suicidal narrator away from the cliff by means of the terpsichorean arts (no shit!) as well as some hard fucking. The final third is dominated by drug-addled phantasmagoria, with silly appearances by Mozart and Goethe (though the science-fictiony war of man versus machines section is pregnant (180-90)).
Too much overt nietzschean influence. Too much use of the term bourgeois to refer to aesthetic matters, rather than economics. I can definitely see why all of the biggest English department douchebag undergraduates when I was at university wanted to write their BA thesis on this novel, nevermind that it's written in Deutsch, conceiving themselves as the steppenwolf rising above the herd, a true intellectual amid bourgeois banality, a proper aesthete among the declining arts of a spenglerian society, someone who really understands how shit is. It's a hipster manifesto, FFS.
Recommended for fake werewolves, bourgeois poseurs, and improbably named courtesans.
March 22, 2021
“What could I say to you that would be of value, except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find.”
Having read several other novels by Hesse (Siddharta, Demian, Narcissus & Goldmund and Knulp), the theme of a protagonist intellectually or culturally isolated from the rest of society is familiar. However, in Steppenwolf, the depths of our protagonist’s (Harry’s) despair separates him from other of Hesse’s protagonists and from humanity. His life isn’t confirmed as valid or authentic. In fact, Harry doesn’t see himself as fully human. Instead, he sees himself as half-human and half-wolf (Steppenwolf). He is ready to quit life, but is convinced that there is more to life than the way he’d been living (or not really living it). In order to make this journey to a more fulfilling life, however, Harry must be willing to sacrifice the way he’d previously seen himself and engage with life in a way he’s never done. Harry’s wild and interesting journey of self-discovery is tied to Hermine. As he regains a passion for life, she shows him that there is always hope. I’ll let others decide whether the ending affirms or contradicts this.
Having read several other novels by Hesse (Siddharta, Demian, Narcissus & Goldmund and Knulp), the theme of a protagonist intellectually or culturally isolated from the rest of society is familiar. However, in Steppenwolf, the depths of our protagonist’s (Harry’s) despair separates him from other of Hesse’s protagonists and from humanity. His life isn’t confirmed as valid or authentic. In fact, Harry doesn’t see himself as fully human. Instead, he sees himself as half-human and half-wolf (Steppenwolf). He is ready to quit life, but is convinced that there is more to life than the way he’d been living (or not really living it). In order to make this journey to a more fulfilling life, however, Harry must be willing to sacrifice the way he’d previously seen himself and engage with life in a way he’s never done. Harry’s wild and interesting journey of self-discovery is tied to Hermine. As he regains a passion for life, she shows him that there is always hope. I’ll let others decide whether the ending affirms or contradicts this.
September 27, 2025
The Steppe Wolf is a novel by German writer Hermann Hesse. The author is a pacifist and a great humanist. The book was published in 1927. Although this novel was published at the beginning of the 20th Century, it has kept all its freshness and brilliance. This work is a robust, influential, and dense book. A preface precedes this novel, written by the publisher, which explains how he came into possession of the manuscript. The main protagonist of the story is Harry Haller. He is in his fifties and lives alone because his wife left him. He has an extraordinary intelligence quotient: IQ. He's an introvert. He avoids his peers and only goes out at nightfall to roam the city. He enjoys reading philosophy books, listening to classical music, and appreciating poetry. He runs away from people, so he gives himself the nickname of Steppe Wolf. He has suicidal impulses because he sometimes thinks about suicide. One evening, afraid of taking action, he enters a tavern. There, he meets a bubbly young woman, Hermine. The latter, taking life on the bright side, becomes attached to him and leads him to dance, drink, and live like his fellows. With the meeting with Hermine, Harry became another. He must reconcile the two sides: the animal part in us and the spiritual domain. The Steppe Wolf: A masterpiece!
December 2, 2025
I find this to be a fascinating novel with an interesting structure and many ideas about the nature of human existence in modern society. I recommend it if you're looking for something a little different from what you've read before.
May 24, 2020
for madmen only
In league with Pessoa’s Book of Disquiet and Dostoevsky’s Raskolnikov, Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf is about a suicidal guy who never actually commits suicide, a tortured soul who struggles with the dualism of his nature, from the human to the wolf, from the classical to the romantic, to the spiritual to the sinful, from the life of the mind to the life of the body. I read this three times when I was 18-20, trying to understand it, trying to find elements that would help shape my personality, my image as budding/wannabe Artiste, in all my adolescent angst. “You were such a happy baby; what happened?” my mother said to me once during this brooding period, when I was reading everything from Dostoevsky to Rimbaud to Malcolm Lowry’s Under The Volcano and Camus and Sartre, and yes, every Hesse book I could get my hands on.
Steppenwolf was written by Hesse at middle age, looking back on his struggle between the coolly distant Germanic aesthetic and the more sensual Buddhism. In my late teens all the Christians I knew including me were reading Zen Buddhism, and Hesse helped us bridge the strict Calvinism we wanted to be free from and the East we found more attractive, less restrictive.
Harry Haller, writer and reader of many books, an intellectual, is contemplating suicide on his 50th birthday. Melancholy, dumped by his wife, he sees himself as a “wolf of the steppes,” half human, half wolf. He hates modern society. He’d rather read Goethe and listen to Mozart than go to a party and listen to modern jazz or make small talk. His nephew sees him as "a genius of suffering," which seems about right. He’s born to be wild, separate from society:
Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egMWl...
A peddler gives Steppenwolf a pamphlet entitled, "Treatise on the Steppenwolf." He meets a woman, Hermione, in a bar; she mocks him for his self-obsession, and introduces the aging intellectual—through other women—to the life of the body, to dancing, to cocaine, to wine, to sex. The sensual. Meaning: women, basically. Men: Rational, the life of the mind. Women: Sensual, physical. There’s almost no dialogue in this book, but for certain, women mostly play a central role; they don’t talk much, the me do most of the talking, but they are a central shaping force.
Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPE9a...
Steppenwolf visits a Magic Theater, which in the sixties might have been seen as a place for psychedelic experimentation because it is there that Harry experiences dreams and nightmares. Emerging out of this with Rosa, Harry ultimately finds he needs to lighten up! He needs to laugh, and enjoy life, and society. So that’s the heart of the book, Step embracing Mozart’s The Magic Flute and love of life, rejecting the suicidal isolation of Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther. Plato, Spinoza, and Nietzsche get referenced along the way, too. I guess it can be seen as a novelistic reflection on the divided self.
There’s not much of an actual story here. It’s an internal, philosophical/spiritual novel, which feels more like allegory (and perhaps autobiography), to tell you how to stop brooding and embrace life. I can see in reading this why a man—in particular a man, because it was written by a man with men as his primary audience, I think—in his late teens or middle-age might embrace this. I liked it less than I did when I was in my teens, but it surely has a kind of intense appeal. Oh, and my mom came to see I also got out of that brooding phase and lightened up, too.
In league with Pessoa’s Book of Disquiet and Dostoevsky’s Raskolnikov, Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf is about a suicidal guy who never actually commits suicide, a tortured soul who struggles with the dualism of his nature, from the human to the wolf, from the classical to the romantic, to the spiritual to the sinful, from the life of the mind to the life of the body. I read this three times when I was 18-20, trying to understand it, trying to find elements that would help shape my personality, my image as budding/wannabe Artiste, in all my adolescent angst. “You were such a happy baby; what happened?” my mother said to me once during this brooding period, when I was reading everything from Dostoevsky to Rimbaud to Malcolm Lowry’s Under The Volcano and Camus and Sartre, and yes, every Hesse book I could get my hands on.
Steppenwolf was written by Hesse at middle age, looking back on his struggle between the coolly distant Germanic aesthetic and the more sensual Buddhism. In my late teens all the Christians I knew including me were reading Zen Buddhism, and Hesse helped us bridge the strict Calvinism we wanted to be free from and the East we found more attractive, less restrictive.
Harry Haller, writer and reader of many books, an intellectual, is contemplating suicide on his 50th birthday. Melancholy, dumped by his wife, he sees himself as a “wolf of the steppes,” half human, half wolf. He hates modern society. He’d rather read Goethe and listen to Mozart than go to a party and listen to modern jazz or make small talk. His nephew sees him as "a genius of suffering," which seems about right. He’s born to be wild, separate from society:
Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egMWl...
A peddler gives Steppenwolf a pamphlet entitled, "Treatise on the Steppenwolf." He meets a woman, Hermione, in a bar; she mocks him for his self-obsession, and introduces the aging intellectual—through other women—to the life of the body, to dancing, to cocaine, to wine, to sex. The sensual. Meaning: women, basically. Men: Rational, the life of the mind. Women: Sensual, physical. There’s almost no dialogue in this book, but for certain, women mostly play a central role; they don’t talk much, the me do most of the talking, but they are a central shaping force.
Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPE9a...
Steppenwolf visits a Magic Theater, which in the sixties might have been seen as a place for psychedelic experimentation because it is there that Harry experiences dreams and nightmares. Emerging out of this with Rosa, Harry ultimately finds he needs to lighten up! He needs to laugh, and enjoy life, and society. So that’s the heart of the book, Step embracing Mozart’s The Magic Flute and love of life, rejecting the suicidal isolation of Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther. Plato, Spinoza, and Nietzsche get referenced along the way, too. I guess it can be seen as a novelistic reflection on the divided self.
There’s not much of an actual story here. It’s an internal, philosophical/spiritual novel, which feels more like allegory (and perhaps autobiography), to tell you how to stop brooding and embrace life. I can see in reading this why a man—in particular a man, because it was written by a man with men as his primary audience, I think—in his late teens or middle-age might embrace this. I liked it less than I did when I was in my teens, but it surely has a kind of intense appeal. Oh, and my mom came to see I also got out of that brooding phase and lightened up, too.
February 26, 2017
“There are always a few such people who demand the utmost of life and yet cannot come to terms with its stupidity and crudeness.”
― Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf
There is this bourgeoisie period in every man's life. A midpoint between birth and death where man is trapped alone. Unable to exist in the hot or cold of the absolutes he tries to find his way between the extremes in the comfortable center. Fearing life and death, he just |exists| ... barely. This is not a novel for the young. Just like it is better to save King Lear for late(r) in one's life, it is better to save Steppenwolf for those crisis years of the midlife.
Hesse's novels seem to flirt between the edge of memoir, scripture, prose poem and Eastern philosophy tract. This isn't a book you want to read in a hot bath with scotch in one hand and a razor blade in the other. You will either spill your drink or spill your blood or lose every printed word; the hot water erasing pages and pickling your fingers, toes and time.
― Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf
There is this bourgeoisie period in every man's life. A midpoint between birth and death where man is trapped alone. Unable to exist in the hot or cold of the absolutes he tries to find his way between the extremes in the comfortable center. Fearing life and death, he just |exists| ... barely. This is not a novel for the young. Just like it is better to save King Lear for late(r) in one's life, it is better to save Steppenwolf for those crisis years of the midlife.
Hesse's novels seem to flirt between the edge of memoir, scripture, prose poem and Eastern philosophy tract. This isn't a book you want to read in a hot bath with scotch in one hand and a razor blade in the other. You will either spill your drink or spill your blood or lose every printed word; the hot water erasing pages and pickling your fingers, toes and time.
May 16, 2024
This book can be great or bad depending on your taste buds, silly or a stupendous trip in enlightenment , about that man of self- pity , Harry Haller maybe too educated for his own good . His hatred of himself would become tiresome to all those unlucky to know him. He dreams as Steppenwolf a creature of the steppes in Russia roaming alone never joining other wolves but living always as though the last animal with four legs on earth. As a human the feelings are the same , seeing but not living , preferring to die but a coward to do anything about this. Harry is 50 , a German between the wars when everyone enjoys the exciting 1920 's, Herr Haller only despises the world around... planning suicide , a rather pompous, conceited individual who enters taverns, cinemas, concerts watching people hating them, however envious. Meeting women who strangely like the not attractive, depressive Harry , especially Hermine a pretty , young girl of rather dubious, (but very perceptive, a talented woman) with flaws in ...
shall we say her background in a bar ( tavern).She even teaches the shy man to dance and introduces her amusing friend , affable Maria. Pablo a seemingly shallow yet charming man that plays the saxophone will surprise later on. Dinners in restaurants, drinking , drugs and parties he begins to act like others from the now remote but interesting age of the boisterous flapper, the crazy music of Jazz and anything goes, old traditions gone lost forever in the new
era, thinking of life not death yet still unsure of the future, will this last. A very influential novel which became quite popular in the counter culture of the 1960's. Nevertheless in the Magic Theater a place where nightmares and dreams are shown to the uneasy Harry by Pablo his mysterious friend where appears Mozart the laughing musician that tells Mr. Haller not to be such a wet blanket , is the best part of the entire fantasy...A odd novel for any .... some will discover what?
shall we say her background in a bar ( tavern).She even teaches the shy man to dance and introduces her amusing friend , affable Maria. Pablo a seemingly shallow yet charming man that plays the saxophone will surprise later on. Dinners in restaurants, drinking , drugs and parties he begins to act like others from the now remote but interesting age of the boisterous flapper, the crazy music of Jazz and anything goes, old traditions gone lost forever in the new
era, thinking of life not death yet still unsure of the future, will this last. A very influential novel which became quite popular in the counter culture of the 1960's. Nevertheless in the Magic Theater a place where nightmares and dreams are shown to the uneasy Harry by Pablo his mysterious friend where appears Mozart the laughing musician that tells Mr. Haller not to be such a wet blanket , is the best part of the entire fantasy...A odd novel for any .... some will discover what?
July 31, 2019
Rereading is tricky business!
And if the author's name is Hermann Hesse, rereading is a hit or miss experience, all depending on whether you happen to be in that time-space-continuum where Hesse makes sense or not. I devoured his works in my twenties, only to drop them like hot potatoes in my thirties, anachronistically blaming Hesse for being out of touch with the modern perception of the world as I knew it right then. So, now in my early forties, I seem to have swung back on that eternally moving pendulum of my literary taste, and I again devoured the Steppenwolf with wo(o)lfish appetite, greedy for each page.
And unsurprisingly, what struck me as of no interest a decade ago now seems to be a reality to suffer through again. When Harry Haller finds himself quoting Goethe's Faust and his "two souls", only to be told off by his modern female Mephisto Hermine that there are thousands of layers to each personality, and that Faust made an (excusable) oversimplification, I find myself nodding and smiling.
Or at least one of the many souls in my body finds comfort in that dilemma, while some other souls inside me cringe at the stupidity of being human in general. The dystopian dream landscapes of Pablo's theatre make a lot more sense to me now as well, as I see parallel lines in our confused lives - part virtual, part real - that we dedicate our time to nowadays, following links on the internet not unlike the prompts that lead Heller to different parts of the theatre, finally leading to a mock killing and a mock execution, that could of course also be real. Who knows? IRL or VR?
Then there is the political misery of 1927, with people partying away in jazz clubs and dance halls while the clownish machos in power prepare another war by appealing to the one-dimensional patriotism that seems to be a placebo for people who are afraid of the wolfish/intellectual soul duality/multiplicity and are looking for clarity in the labyrinth called human experience. What do you say to the novel written in 1927? Good luck? You might have been too pessimistic? Hardly. We all know what happened next, and that is where the relatability itself of Steppenwolf gets scary.
Very scary indeed!
And if the author's name is Hermann Hesse, rereading is a hit or miss experience, all depending on whether you happen to be in that time-space-continuum where Hesse makes sense or not. I devoured his works in my twenties, only to drop them like hot potatoes in my thirties, anachronistically blaming Hesse for being out of touch with the modern perception of the world as I knew it right then. So, now in my early forties, I seem to have swung back on that eternally moving pendulum of my literary taste, and I again devoured the Steppenwolf with wo(o)lfish appetite, greedy for each page.
And unsurprisingly, what struck me as of no interest a decade ago now seems to be a reality to suffer through again. When Harry Haller finds himself quoting Goethe's Faust and his "two souls", only to be told off by his modern female Mephisto Hermine that there are thousands of layers to each personality, and that Faust made an (excusable) oversimplification, I find myself nodding and smiling.
Or at least one of the many souls in my body finds comfort in that dilemma, while some other souls inside me cringe at the stupidity of being human in general. The dystopian dream landscapes of Pablo's theatre make a lot more sense to me now as well, as I see parallel lines in our confused lives - part virtual, part real - that we dedicate our time to nowadays, following links on the internet not unlike the prompts that lead Heller to different parts of the theatre, finally leading to a mock killing and a mock execution, that could of course also be real. Who knows? IRL or VR?
Then there is the political misery of 1927, with people partying away in jazz clubs and dance halls while the clownish machos in power prepare another war by appealing to the one-dimensional patriotism that seems to be a placebo for people who are afraid of the wolfish/intellectual soul duality/multiplicity and are looking for clarity in the labyrinth called human experience. What do you say to the novel written in 1927? Good luck? You might have been too pessimistic? Hardly. We all know what happened next, and that is where the relatability itself of Steppenwolf gets scary.
Very scary indeed!
July 9, 2023
- "ذئب البراري"، عنوان قد يوحي للقارئ بمغامرات وأحداث شتّى سيقبل عليها، لكن لا فهذه الرواية لعبة ذهنية بإمتياز بدايتها ونهايتها في عقل شخص واحد تتقارع فيه روحان (سأعود لذلك لاحقاً)، واحدة آنسة لطيفة واخرى همجية ذئبية، يبقى المقياس هو نسبة نجاح الكاتب في تسطير افكاره على الورق!
- بمكن تقسيم القصة الى ثلاثة اجزاء، القسم الأول يقدّم هاري هاللر بعيون ابن اخ صاحبة البناية التي استأجر غرفتين فيها، يقوم هذا القسم برسم الإطار الخارجي لهاري: الوصف الجسدي، طريقة حياته، وحدته، فوضوية غرفة معيشته، كتبه، قناني المشروبات المرمية في الزوايا، الصورة المعلقة.. مما يعطيه (ويعطي القارئ) انطباعاً ان الموصوف (هاري) قد يكون فناناً او مفكراً او مثقفاً! ثم يقوم بإطلاعنا على السجل الذي تركه هاري قبل اختفائه وهذا السجل يشكل القسم الثاني من الرواية حيث يطلعنا هاري بنفسه عن نفسه، فهو يعتقد ان بداخله شخصيتين تتصارعان على الدوام (الإنسان-الذئب) مما جعله كئيباً، محبطاً ومنعزلاً وهذا ما جعله يقرر ان يكون عيد ميلاده الخمسين هو اليوم الأخير في حياته (الإنتحار). لكن الأقدار تشاء عكس ما يشاء هاري، وتبدأ التأثيرات السحرية في الرواية برؤية نقش على حائطٍ قديم يكون السبب لتعرفه بـ"هيرمينيا" وهنا يبدأ التحول في شخصيته واعادة النظر بالعديد من المفاهيم التي بنى عليها حياته، والتفكير بالفرص الضائعة والبهجة المفقودة، والأفكار الخشبية (بمعظمها) وكيف انه كان يرى جانباً واحداً من الحياة وينسى الآخر، "هيرمينيا" تعرفه الى "ماريا" وهي مومس تعرف كيف تلاعب هاري وتسحبه مما هو فيه وتحيل كآبته فرحاً وحزنه فرحاً!
القسم الثالث هو المسرح السحري وهو لا يشكل اكثر من 10 بالمئة من الرواية لكنه كثيف جداً وسريع الأحداث كأنه يجسّد التضاد او التغيّر الذي اصاب شخصية "هاري" منذ بداية الرواية حتى نهايتها، وفي هذا القسم الأخير المكوّن من مزيج من اليوغا والأفكار الشرقية والكحول والحشيش والمخدرات وعلم النفس يأخذنا الكاتب الى ابعاد جديدة في نفسية "هاري" والى مفاهيم وافكار جديدة تتميّز بالخفة والسخرية من واقع الحال.
- ما الذي فهمته من الرواية؟ التحوّل! فهاري مثل كل انسان يمرّ في مراحل تحوّل داخلية، فهو يودّع مرحلة الشباب ويلامس مرحلة الشيخوخة وهو بذلك منعزلٌ وكئيب وضعيف، مما يخلق من ذاته شخصية "هيرمينيا" التي وجدتها خيالية وغير حقيقية، فهي -اي هيرمينيا- تشكل التوق المفقود والوجد المطلوب لخروج هاري مما هو فيه فتراها توجهه الى ملذات الحياة ومتعها، الى الرقص وموسيقى الجاز واحضان الشابات النضرة، بعيداً عن موسيقى موزارت وفاغنر الكلاسيكية وبعيداُ عن غوتة ومآسيه وبعيداً عن الشخصية الثانية المفترضة الا وهي الذئب، وما موتها في نهاية الرواية الا دليل على فقدان دورها بالنسبة لهاري وعودتها لتشكل جزءاً طبيعياً من ذاته ومن نفسه، بعد ان استعاد نشاطه وحبه للحياة . وما ابرز من ذلك سوى هذا التضاد بين جملتين ( ص27"على الإنسان ان يفتخر بمعاناته، ان كل معاناة هي تذكير لنا بمنزلتنا الرفيعة.") (ص270:ذات يوم سيتحسن ادائي في اللعبة، ذات يوم سوف اتعلم الضحك) وهذه كانت في النهاية كدليل على هذه النقلة النوعية وتخطي مرحلة اليأس التي كان يعيشها!
- ما السلبيات؟ عدة سلبيات، اولّها النرجسية في استعمال الأسماء "هيرمن" "هيرمينيا" ذات اسم الكاتب! طبيعة فلسفة الفكرة القائمة، فبينما يحاول الكاتب التفرقة بين روح انسانية خيّرة ورح ذئبية شيطانية، فأنا ارى العكس تماماً فالخير الموجود في الذئب الذي لا يقتل الا ليأكل هو افضل بألف مرة من الإنسان الذي يقتل من اجل المتعة وسأستعير مقولة كارل ماركس في وصف فلسفة هيغل (بتصرف):ان انسان "هيسه" يقف على رأسه! أضف الى ذلك القسم الأخير الذي يمكن تفسيره بشكل حرفي (وقد فسّر من قبل) مما يؤدي الى حفلات جماعية من السكر والمخدرات خصوصاً اذا تقمّص القارئ شخصية هاري هاللر او احس انه يمّر بما قد مرّ به!
ابرز الإقتباسات:
ص20 "انظر اي قرود نحن! انظر، هذا هو الإنسان!"
ص27 "على الإنسان ان يفتخر بمعاناته، ان كل معاناة هي تذكير لنا بمنزلتنا الرفيعة."
ص51 "إن العزلة استقلال. ولطالما كانت منيتي وقد بلغتها مع مرور السنين. لقد كانت باردة. أوه، ما أشد برودتها! لكنها ايضاً ساكنة، ساكنة بشكل رائع ومترامية الأرجاء مثل سكون الفضاء البارد الذي تدور فيه النجوم في أفلاكها"
ص61 "ان كامل الحياة الإنسانية ربما ليست اكثر من نكتة سخيفة، إجهاض مشؤوم، عنيف، للأم الأولى، وكارثة طبيعية مغمّة وهمجية"
ص72 "قلائل هم الذين يتحررون ناشدين مكافأتهم في اللامشروط، ويسقطون بوقار. انهم يضعون تاج الشوك على رؤوسهم وعددهم قليل"
ص80 "إن الإنسان ليس شكلاً ثابتاً ودائماً... إنه اقرب الى كونه تجربة ومرحلة انتقالية، وليس اكثر من جسر ضيق وخطر يمتد ما بين الفطرة والروح"
ص186 "هناك الكثير من القديسين كانوا خطاة. حتى الخطيئة قد تكون سبيلاً الى القداسة."
- بمكن تقسيم القصة الى ثلاثة اجزاء، القسم الأول يقدّم هاري هاللر بعيون ابن اخ صاحبة البناية التي استأجر غرفتين فيها، يقوم هذا القسم برسم الإطار الخارجي لهاري: الوصف الجسدي، طريقة حياته، وحدته، فوضوية غرفة معيشته، كتبه، قناني المشروبات المرمية في الزوايا، الصورة المعلقة.. مما يعطيه (ويعطي القارئ) انطباعاً ان الموصوف (هاري) قد يكون فناناً او مفكراً او مثقفاً! ثم يقوم بإطلاعنا على السجل الذي تركه هاري قبل اختفائه وهذا السجل يشكل القسم الثاني من الرواية حيث يطلعنا هاري بنفسه عن نفسه، فهو يعتقد ان بداخله شخصيتين تتصارعان على الدوام (الإنسان-الذئب) مما جعله كئيباً، محبطاً ومنعزلاً وهذا ما جعله يقرر ان يكون عيد ميلاده الخمسين هو اليوم الأخير في حياته (الإنتحار). لكن الأقدار تشاء عكس ما يشاء هاري، وتبدأ التأثيرات السحرية في الرواية برؤية نقش على حائطٍ قديم يكون السبب لتعرفه بـ"هيرمينيا" وهنا يبدأ التحول في شخصيته واعادة النظر بالعديد من المفاهيم التي بنى عليها حياته، والتفكير بالفرص الضائعة والبهجة المفقودة، والأفكار الخشبية (بمعظمها) وكيف انه كان يرى جانباً واحداً من الحياة وينسى الآخر، "هيرمينيا" تعرفه الى "ماريا" وهي مومس تعرف كيف تلاعب هاري وتسحبه مما هو فيه وتحيل كآبته فرحاً وحزنه فرحاً!
القسم الثالث هو المسرح السحري وهو لا يشكل اكثر من 10 بالمئة من الرواية لكنه كثيف جداً وسريع الأحداث كأنه يجسّد التضاد او التغيّر الذي اصاب شخصية "هاري" منذ بداية الرواية حتى نهايتها، وفي هذا القسم الأخير المكوّن من مزيج من اليوغا والأفكار الشرقية والكحول والحشيش والمخدرات وعلم النفس يأخذنا الكاتب الى ابعاد جديدة في نفسية "هاري" والى مفاهيم وافكار جديدة تتميّز بالخفة والسخرية من واقع الحال.
- ما الذي فهمته من الرواية؟ التحوّل! فهاري مثل كل انسان يمرّ في مراحل تحوّل داخلية، فهو يودّع مرحلة الشباب ويلامس مرحلة الشيخوخة وهو بذلك منعزلٌ وكئيب وضعيف، مما يخلق من ذاته شخصية "هيرمينيا" التي وجدتها خيالية وغير حقيقية، فهي -اي هيرمينيا- تشكل التوق المفقود والوجد المطلوب لخروج هاري مما هو فيه فتراها توجهه الى ملذات الحياة ومتعها، الى الرقص وموسيقى الجاز واحضان الشابات النضرة، بعيداً عن موسيقى موزارت وفاغنر الكلاسيكية وبعيداُ عن غوتة ومآسيه وبعيداً عن الشخصية الثانية المفترضة الا وهي الذئب، وما موتها في نهاية الرواية الا دليل على فقدان دورها بالنسبة لهاري وعودتها لتشكل جزءاً طبيعياً من ذاته ومن نفسه، بعد ان استعاد نشاطه وحبه للحياة . وما ابرز من ذلك سوى هذا التضاد بين جملتين ( ص27"على الإنسان ان يفتخر بمعاناته، ان كل معاناة هي تذكير لنا بمنزلتنا الرفيعة.") (ص270:ذات يوم سيتحسن ادائي في اللعبة، ذات يوم سوف اتعلم الضحك) وهذه كانت في النهاية كدليل على هذه النقلة النوعية وتخطي مرحلة اليأس التي كان يعيشها!
- ما السلبيات؟ عدة سلبيات، اولّها النرجسية في استعمال الأسماء "هيرمن" "هيرمينيا" ذات اسم الكاتب! طبيعة فلسفة الفكرة القائمة، فبينما يحاول الكاتب التفرقة بين روح انسانية خيّرة ورح ذئبية شيطانية، فأنا ارى العكس تماماً فالخير الموجود في الذئب الذي لا يقتل الا ليأكل هو افضل بألف مرة من الإنسان الذي يقتل من اجل المتعة وسأستعير مقولة كارل ماركس في وصف فلسفة هيغل (بتصرف):ان انسان "هيسه" يقف على رأسه! أضف الى ذلك القسم الأخير الذي يمكن تفسيره بشكل حرفي (وقد فسّر من قبل) مما يؤدي الى حفلات جماعية من السكر والمخدرات خصوصاً اذا تقمّص القارئ شخصية هاري هاللر او احس انه يمّر بما قد مرّ به!
ابرز الإقتباسات:
ص20 "انظر اي قرود نحن! انظر، هذا هو الإنسان!"
ص27 "على الإنسان ان يفتخر بمعاناته، ان كل معاناة هي تذكير لنا بمنزلتنا الرفيعة."
ص51 "إن العزلة استقلال. ولطالما كانت منيتي وقد بلغتها مع مرور السنين. لقد كانت باردة. أوه، ما أشد برودتها! لكنها ايضاً ساكنة، ساكنة بشكل رائع ومترامية الأرجاء مثل سكون الفضاء البارد الذي تدور فيه النجوم في أفلاكها"
ص61 "ان كامل الحياة الإنسانية ربما ليست اكثر من نكتة سخيفة، إجهاض مشؤوم، عنيف، للأم الأولى، وكارثة طبيعية مغمّة وهمجية"
ص72 "قلائل هم الذين يتحررون ناشدين مكافأتهم في اللامشروط، ويسقطون بوقار. انهم يضعون تاج الشوك على رؤوسهم وعددهم قليل"
ص80 "إن الإنسان ليس شكلاً ثابتاً ودائماً... إنه اقرب الى كونه تجربة ومرحلة انتقالية، وليس اكثر من جسر ضيق وخطر يمتد ما بين الفطرة والروح"
ص186 "هناك الكثير من القديسين كانوا خطاة. حتى الخطيئة قد تكون سبيلاً الى القداسة."
December 24, 2023
Lo leí y lo disfruté en su día y lo leo y también lo disfruto hoy aunque de forma bien distinta y mucho más moderada, como aquel que todavía es capaz de alegrarse con la Navidad aun sabiendo que estos pocos días no son más que un mágico cuento para niños. Y traigo a colación la navidad pues su cercanía seguramente me ha condicionado para ver en «El lobo estepario» una versión adulta del famoso cuento de navidad de Dickens y en Harry Haller a un atormentado Sr. Scrooge, un misántropo elitista encerrado en su celda y dedicado a manosear sus monedas de oro, su soledad, su independencia, su amado Mozart y su admirado Goethe, esas raras individualidades con las que desea compartir la inmortalidad, pese al tormento y al renunciamiento que tal camino exige. Las visiones fantasmagóricas del pasado y del futuro del famoso cuento se tornan aquí en las posibilidades del presente que le mostrarán la enigmática Armanda, la deliciosa María y el lindo y musical Pablo.
“… era Armanda como la vida misma: siempre momento… Y lo mismo da que fuese todo ello alta sabiduría o sencillísima candidez. Quien sabía vivir de esta manera el momento, quien vivía de este modo tan actual y sabía estimar tan cuidadosa y amablemente toda flor pequeña del camino, todo minúsculo valor sin importancia del instante, éste estaba por encima de todo y no le importaba nada la vida…. se entregaba sencillamente al momento de tal suerte, que estaba abierta por entero, lo mismo que a toda ocurrencia placentera, también a todo fugitivo y negro horror de lejanas profundidades del alma y lo gustaba hasta el fin.”La novela, de estilo directo y sencillo, es simbólica y filosófica, un recipiente dónde Hermann Hesse encarnado en Harry Heller vierte sus achaques morales y vitales para quemar a fuego lento sus contradicciones.
La primera de ellas y la más importante es su desatinada fe en el hombre para manejar su personalidad, esa en la que Harry Heller se siente encarcelado y cuya composición el autor simboliza en el manejo de unas figuras que representan los muchos yoes de Harry.
“Al que ha experimentado la descomposición de su yo le enseñamos que los trozos pueden acoplarse siempre en el orden que se quiera, y que con ellos se logra una ilimitada diversidad del juego de la vida.”Porque una cosa tiene clara Hess, “sin amor de la propia persona es imposible el amor al prójimo”, y, por tanto, ese debe ser el objetivo, quererse a sí mismo, estar conforme con quién la fortuna ha dispuesto que seamos.
No obstante, esa fe en la plasticidad del alma humana no es más que un deseo cuya realidad el autor sabe, estoy seguro, improbable. Hermann Hesse…perdón, Harry Heller no se gusta, no le gusta su soberbia, su misantropía, su ensimismamiento, pero al mismo tiempo está orgulloso del lobo estepario que lleva dentro; se jacta de ser un hombre que ha pensado más que otros hombres y, sin embargo, asegura que “el que hace del pensar lo principal… ha confundido la tierra con el agua, y un día u otro se ahogará”; querría ser admirado como hombre distinguido e inteligente, pero no quiere dejar atrás lo espontáneo, lo salvaje, lo indómito, lo peligroso y violento; se debate entre la idea “de que acaso toda la vida humana no sea sino un tremendo error, un aborto violento y desgraciado de la madre universal”, por un lado, y la de que el hombre es “un hijo de los dioses y destinado a la inmortalidad”, por el otro; ama su soledad y su independencia, del mismo modo que las odia por ser su condenación; se siente llamado hacia lo absoluto y, sin embargo, no pueden vivir en él; pretende seguir el tortuoso y tormentoso camino de los inmortales, pero su espíritu burgués lo aleja del sufrimiento que ello conlleva; cree que el único camino a la felicidad es la “anulación de la dolorosa individualidad” y al mismo tiempo quiere ser alguien cuya muerte signifique algo para alguna persona; su inclinación a saber y comprender chocan con su ansia de “vida, decisión, sacudimiento e impulso”; se complace en el “olor de quietud, orden, limpieza, decencia y domesticidad” y sin embargo odia al burgués postrado al dios de la mediocridad; quiere la paz interior y la tranquilidad de espíritu pero reniega de la autosatisfacción, “el cuidado optimismo del burgués, ésta bien alimentada y próspera disciplina de todo lo mediocre, normal y corriente”.
“Es verdad que este inteligente e interesante señor Haller había predicado buen sentido y fraternidad humana, había protestado contra la barbarie de la guerra, pero durante la guerra no se había dejado poner junto a una tapia y fusilar, como hubiera sido la consecuencia apropiada de su ideología, sino que había encontrado alguna clase de acomodo, un acomodo naturalmente muy digno y muy noble, pero de todas formas, un compromiso. Era, además, enemigo de todo poder y explotación, pero guardaba en el Banco varios valores de empresas industriales, cuyos intereses iba consumiendo sin remordimientos de conciencia. Y así pasaba con todo. Ciertamente que Harry Haller se había disfrazado en forma maravillosa de idealista y despreciador del mundo, de anacoreta lastimero y de iracundo profeta, pero en el fondo era un burgués…”Reconciliar estos opuestos se presenta ante él como la solución a todos sus problemas existenciales. La solución que propone el mismo autor, vuelvo a estar seguro, no termina de creérsela, al fin y al cabo, además de que sigue sin estar exenta de contradicciones, no deja de ser un escapismo de igual calibre que el que promete la religión del burgués.
“Vivir en el mundo, como si no fuera el mundo, respetar la ley y al propio tiempo estar por encima de ella, poseer, «como si no se poseyera», renunciar, como si no se tratara de una renunciación”Propone ser fiel a lo que se es, como lo son los animales, las flores las estrellas en el cielo, aunque no nos diga como lidiar con el ser que somos y que aborrecemos. Propone no abandonar la lucha aunque se sepa que esta es estéril. Propone creer firmemente en esa eternidad, ese “reino de lo puro”, “lo que está fuera del tiempo, el mundo del valor imperecedero, de la sustancia divina” al que se podrá acceder aunque no se llegue a la genialidad de un Mozart, basta con un noble actuar, con la pureza de sentimiento.
“Es el reino más allá del tiempo y de la apariencia. Allá pertenecemos nosotros, allí está nuestra patria, hacia ella tiende nuestro corazón, lobo estepario, y por eso anhelamos la muerte. Allí volverás a encontrar a tu Goethe y a tu Novalis y a Mozart… Hay muchos santos que en un principio fueron graves pecadores; también el pecado puede ser un camino para la santidad, el pecado y el vicio”En fin, propone “acostumbrarse a la vida y aprender a reír”, “venerar el espíritu que lleva dentro y reírse de la demás murga”. Nada más fácil, ¿no creen?
P.S. Hay cosas que no recordaba, cosas bastante perturbadoras que no sé bien cómo interpretar:
“El burgués es consiguientemente por naturaleza una criatura de débil impulso vital, miedoso, temiendo la entrega de sí mismo, fácil de gobernar. Por eso ha sustituido el poder por el régimen de mayorías, la fuerza por la ley, la responsabilidad por el sistema de votación.”Lo que sí queda claro es que el autor era partidario de la ingesta de sustancias susceptibles de abrir la mente a otras dimensiones, como si para encontrar la verdad no hubiera otra forma que estar intoxicado o quizás soñar. Tan claro como la consideración en la que tenía a las mujeres: si para Harry el objetivo era ser un Mozart o un Goethe, para Armanda, hija del diablo como él, la mayor ambición sería “ser la mujer de un rey, la querida de un revolucionario, la hermana de un genio, la madre de un mártir”.
“Obedecer es como comer y beber. El que se pasa mucho tiempo prescindiendo de ello, a ése ya no le importa nada.”
November 26, 2012
Um. What the? What?
What the hell did I just read?
First third, BRILLIANT -- one of the most interesting bits of philosophical fiction I've ever read. Seriously. I was completely enthralled. Second third -- hard to believe that two people would ever actually have conversations such as these, but still engaging. Third third -- what the F*CK? No, really, what the f*ck? It was some sort of crazy funhouse reality blurring, whacked out Kubrick film. I don't know if I liked it or I hated it. My brain is still in knots.
So -- uh -- while I try to disentangle my axons -- I'll leave you with a song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEEzbF...
****
The more I allow this to sink in, the more I like it. I think I need to consider seriously revising my review. At any rate, I'm giving it an extra star.
What the hell did I just read?
First third, BRILLIANT -- one of the most interesting bits of philosophical fiction I've ever read. Seriously. I was completely enthralled. Second third -- hard to believe that two people would ever actually have conversations such as these, but still engaging. Third third -- what the F*CK? No, really, what the f*ck? It was some sort of crazy funhouse reality blurring, whacked out Kubrick film. I don't know if I liked it or I hated it. My brain is still in knots.
So -- uh -- while I try to disentangle my axons -- I'll leave you with a song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEEzbF...
****
The more I allow this to sink in, the more I like it. I think I need to consider seriously revising my review. At any rate, I'm giving it an extra star.
July 3, 2016
آنچه برای شخص من جنبه لذت اشراق و تعالی دارد چیزی است که مردم دنیا حداکثر آنرا در عالم ادبیات می جویند و دوست دارند، ولی درصحنه زندگی آنرا چیزی دیوانه وار تلقی می کنند
و در واقع اگر حق با دنیا باشد، اگر حق با این موسیقی کافه ای، با این کِیف های دسته جمعی، با این مردم آمریکائی مآب کم ادعای قانع زود خرسند باشد، پس من دیوانه هستم، پس من واقعا همان گرگ بیابانی هستم که به خود لقب داده ام، حیوانی هستم که در دنیایی غریبه و نامفهوم راه گم کرده ام، حیوانی که به خانه و کاشانه، هوای مورد احتیاج و غذای خود دیگر دسترسی ندارد
:در مورد کتاب
رمان به افتخار گرگ خاکستری تنها و خسته استپ نامگذاری شده است
می گویند گرگ بیابان هم مردی مومن است و هم بیمار
و این هاری هالر همان هرمان هسه خودمان است که زمانی قصد داشت به زندگی اش پایان بدهد
باید بگویم هرمان هسه واقعا مردی با ایمان بوده اما بنظرم نه مومن به دینی خاص، بلکه به ابدیت و ارزش های اصیل بمانند صلح و انسان دوستی و همچنین ارادت خاصی به بودا داشته است
اما تمدن امروز چنین مرد نابغه ای را به انزوا و بیماری و تصمیم به خودکشی کشانده بود. در این تمدن همه چیز جنبه ی ابتذال پیدا کرده است
هرمان هسه که تافته ای جدا بافته بود در گذشته هم بر علیه افکار عمومی شوریده بود.وی که تحت تاثیر افکار ملی گرائی افراطی و انتقام خواهی آلمانی ها قرار نگرذفته بود، به مخالفت با آن پرداخت. بارها از فجایع جنگ و جنگ طلبی نوشت اما روزنامه ها بر ضد او و افکارش می نوشتند و او به این نتیجه رسید که هیچ چیزی نمی تواند آلمان ها را از اندیشه انتقام بازدارد. و چنین هم شد، آلمان با رهبری هیتلر فجایع جنگ جهانی دوم را بوجود آورد
:هرمان هسه و بورژوازی
وی بورژوا را می کوبد چون یک حکومت می تواند این افراد ضعیف الاراده را به هر سوئی بکشاند
بورژوا این است :امروز کسی را به تهمت الحاد و رندی می سوزاند ، دیگری را به گناه جنایت به دار می آویزد، اما پس فردا برای این ها بنای یادگار برپا می کند
صحنه ای از کتاب در مورد بورژوا خیلی جالب است
هاری از دیدن تصویر گوته در خانه یک بورژوا سخت خشمگین می شود
چرا که تصویر گوته اصلا شبیه شخصیت گوته واقعی نیست
و این بدان علت است که: در بورژوازی عکس قاعده و قانون مردم بزرگ و برگزیده صادق است، یعنی آنکه هرکس مخالف من نیست لاجرم با من موافق است
علت ظاهری عصبانیت هاری از این تصویر آنست که این مردمان گوته را از خود می دانند و تصویری بورژوائی از وی ساخته اند
ولی علت باطنی این خشم را می توان در جمله ای از کتاب " دمیان" اش پیدا کرد
وقتی از کسی متنفریم در واقع از چیزی که درون ماست تنفر پیدا می کنیم
او در این تصویر، خود را می بیند که در طول زندگی اش، بورژوا همچین تصویری از او هم ساخته بود و وی هم هیچگاه مخالفتی نکرده بود
و بارها از اینکه در جوانی آثارش مورد تایید آنها قرار گرفته است حس لذت به او دست داده بود
:گرگ بیابان کتابی شفا دهنده
سراسر زندگی ضرر است و ما باید تن به قضا بدهیم و اگر خر نباشیم بکار جهان بخندیم
این یک کتاب درمانگر و شفا دهنده است برای کسانی که خود را گرگ بیابان می دانند. برای آشتی با این جهان، که چه بد باشد یا فاسد و مبتذل
:در این بخش خطر لو رفتن داستان وجود دارد
:هرمینه و زوربا
شاید اگر قبلا زوربای یونانی را نخوانده بودم خیلی بیشتر از این از کتاب لذت می بردم
چون خیلی قبل از اینکه هرمینه بخواهد به من رقص آموزش بدهد
:به زوربا گفته بودم
Teach me to dance... will you?
:و او هیجان زده گفت
Did you say...dance
و رقص زوربایی را آموختم
:گرگ یا انسان
باغی را در نظر خود مجسم کنید با هزاران درخت مختلف، هزاران گل گوناگون، صدها نوع میوه و صدها جور گیاه. حال اگر باغبان این باغ، برای تشخیص بین نباتات هیچ مقیاس دیگر جز "خوردنی" و "علف هرز" نداشته باشد با نه دهم محصولات باغ خود نمی داند چه باید کرد، او سحر آساترین و دل انگیز ترین گل ها را از ریشه خواهد کند، قیمتی ترین درختان را خواهد برید و یا نسبت به آنها عداوت خواهد ورزید و آنها را به دیده ی بغض خواهد نگریست
گرگ بیابان نیز با هزاران گل روح خود همین کار را می کند. آنچه را که از مقوله "انسان" یا "گرگ" نباشد اصلا نمی بیند. وای که جیزها را به حساب "انسانی" نمی گذارد! هرچه را بزدلانه، بوزینه وار، ابلهانه و حقیر است اگر عاری از جنبه گرگی باشد به حساب "انسانی" می گذارد، درست بدان نحو که هرچه نیرومند و اصیل است فقط بدان دلیل که او نمی تواند آنها را تحت سلطه خود بکشد به پای گرگ می نویسد
:وطن در کتاب های هسه
: هاری و هرمینه
فریاد زدم:آه، کاشکی کار بدین سادگی بود! من به اندازه کافی در فکر زندگی
.بوده ام،اما چه فایده. دار زدن خود شاید کار مشکلی باشد، نمی دانم
!اما زندگی کردن خیلی خیلی مشکل تر است
هرمینه: خوب حالا خودت می بینی که چقدر بچگانه است. از اول کار گذشتیم، تو عینک را پاک کردی، غذا خوردی و مشروب ... و آنوقت با من یک بار "شیمی"(نوعی رقص که در آن شانه ها را تکان می دهند) خواهی رقصید
با عصبانیت فریاد زدم در تمام زندگی اصلا رقص یاد نگرفته ام. حالا دیدید همه چیز به آن آسانی هم نیست که فکر می کردید
فریاد زد: یواش! پس رقص بلد نیستی؟ اصلا بلد نیستی ؟ حتی "وان استپ"(از رقص های متداول مجالس شب نشینی)؟ آنوقت ادعا داری که خیلی برای زندگی زحمت کشیده ای! پس همه اش را دروغ می گفتی، پسرجان این جور دروغ ها با سن و سال برازنده تو نیست. خوب وقتی نمی توانی برقصی چطور می توانی بگوئی خیلی برای زندگی زحمت کشیده ای؟
خواندن و نوشتن را یاد گرفته ای، خوب، شاید هم زبان لاتینی و فرانسوی و این قبیل چیزها را بدانی؟ شرط می بندم که تو ده دوازده سال در مدسه مانده ای و هرچه توانسته ای درس خوانده ای. شاید هم عنوان دکتری گرفته باشی و شاید چینی و اسپانیایی هم بلد باشی. اینطور نیست؟ خوب. اما از دادن چند غاز پول و صرف مقداری وقت برای چند درس رقص خودداری کرده ای! باشد! این همه سالهای دور و دراز را چه کار می کردی؟
اقرار کردم که: آخ، خودم هم دیگر درست نمی دانم، مطالعه کردم، آهنگ ساختم، کتاب خواندم، کتاب نوشتم، سفر کردم
واقعا عقائد جالبی نسبت به زندگی داری! همیشه کارهای پیچیده و-
مشکل تر را انجام داده ای، اما چیزهای ساده را
..اصلا یاد نگرفته ای؟ وقت نداشتی؟
من خودم میدانم که دیوانه ام-
تو هیچ دیوانه نیستی، آقای پروفسور، تو از نظر من خیلی کم دیوانه ای! تو درست مثل پروفسورها بنحو ابلهانه ای عاقلی
:در مورد میوه ممنوعه
:نتیجه
گرگ بیابان کتابی ادبی- روانکاوانه است. بعضی قسمت های داستان برام به صورت سوال باقی ماند و حدس می زنم جوابم را در کتابهای "کارل گوستاو یونگ" پیدا خواهم کرد. خواندن بعضی نظریات فروید خیلی در درک قسمت های مربوط به روانکاوی شخصیت بهم کمک کرد
در مورد این کتاب نظرات و نقدهای مختلفی وجود دارد.برداشت های خیلی متفاوتی شده است و حتی گفته شده که کلا این کتاب قابل فهمیدن نیست
خود هرمان هسه درمورد کتابش گفته: آثارابی ممکن است به انحاء گوناگون موجب تفاهم یا سوتفاهم شوند. و تصور می کنم "گرگ بیابان" بیشتر و شدیدتر از سایر آثارم موجب سوتفاهم شده باشد
داستان گرگ بیابان بیماری و بحران را تصویر می کند اما این بیماری از آنگونه نیست که به مرگ و نابودی منجر شود بلکه برعکس هدف آن علاج است، رهایی است
:و در کتاب هم این چنین می گوید
و در واقع اگر حق با دنیا باشد، اگر حق با این موسیقی کافه ای، با این کِیف های دسته جمعی، با این مردم آمریکائی مآب کم ادعای قانع زود خرسند باشد، پس من دیوانه هستم، پس من واقعا همان گرگ بیابانی هستم که به خود لقب داده ام، حیوانی هستم که در دنیایی غریبه و نامفهوم راه گم کرده ام، حیوانی که به خانه و کاشانه، هوای مورد احتیاج و غذای خود دیگر دسترسی ندارد
:در مورد کتاب
رمان به افتخار گرگ خاکستری تنها و خسته استپ نامگذاری شده است
می گویند گرگ بیابان هم مردی مومن است و هم بیمار
و این هاری هالر همان هرمان هسه خودمان است که زمانی قصد داشت به زندگی اش پایان بدهد
باید بگویم هرمان هسه واقعا مردی با ایمان بوده اما بنظرم نه مومن به دینی خاص، بلکه به ابدیت و ارزش های اصیل بمانند صلح و انسان دوستی و همچنین ارادت خاصی به بودا داشته است
اما تمدن امروز چنین مرد نابغه ای را به انزوا و بیماری و تصمیم به خودکشی کشانده بود. در این تمدن همه چیز جنبه ی ابتذال پیدا کرده است
هرمان هسه که تافته ای جدا بافته بود در گذشته هم بر علیه افکار عمومی شوریده بود.وی که تحت تاثیر افکار ملی گرائی افراطی و انتقام خواهی آلمانی ها قرار نگرذفته بود، به مخالفت با آن پرداخت. بارها از فجایع جنگ و جنگ طلبی نوشت اما روزنامه ها بر ضد او و افکارش می نوشتند و او به این نتیجه رسید که هیچ چیزی نمی تواند آلمان ها را از اندیشه انتقام بازدارد. و چنین هم شد، آلمان با رهبری هیتلر فجایع جنگ جهانی دوم را بوجود آورد
:هرمان هسه و بورژوازی
وی بورژوا را می کوبد چون یک حکومت می تواند این افراد ضعیف الاراده را به هر سوئی بکشاند
بورژوا این است :امروز کسی را به تهمت الحاد و رندی می سوزاند ، دیگری را به گناه جنایت به دار می آویزد، اما پس فردا برای این ها بنای یادگار برپا می کند
صحنه ای از کتاب در مورد بورژوا خیلی جالب است
هاری از دیدن تصویر گوته در خانه یک بورژوا سخت خشمگین می شود
چرا که تصویر گوته اصلا شبیه شخصیت گوته واقعی نیست
و این بدان علت است که: در بورژوازی عکس قاعده و قانون مردم بزرگ و برگزیده صادق است، یعنی آنکه هرکس مخالف من نیست لاجرم با من موافق است
علت ظاهری عصبانیت هاری از این تصویر آنست که این مردمان گوته را از خود می دانند و تصویری بورژوائی از وی ساخته اند
ولی علت باطنی این خشم را می توان در جمله ای از کتاب " دمیان" اش پیدا کرد
وقتی از کسی متنفریم در واقع از چیزی که درون ماست تنفر پیدا می کنیم
او در این تصویر، خود را می بیند که در طول زندگی اش، بورژوا همچین تصویری از او هم ساخته بود و وی هم هیچگاه مخالفتی نکرده بود
و بارها از اینکه در جوانی آثارش مورد تایید آنها قرار گرفته است حس لذت به او دست داده بود
:گرگ بیابان کتابی شفا دهنده
سراسر زندگی ضرر است و ما باید تن به قضا بدهیم و اگر خر نباشیم بکار جهان بخندیم
این یک کتاب درمانگر و شفا دهنده است برای کسانی که خود را گرگ بیابان می دانند. برای آشتی با این جهان، که چه بد باشد یا فاسد و مبتذل
:در این بخش خطر لو رفتن داستان وجود دارد
:هرمینه و زوربا
شاید اگر قبلا زوربای یونانی را نخوانده بودم خیلی بیشتر از این از کتاب لذت می بردم
چون خیلی قبل از اینکه هرمینه بخواهد به من رقص آموزش بدهد
:به زوربا گفته بودم
Teach me to dance... will you?
:و او هیجان زده گفت
Did you say...dance
و رقص زوربایی را آموختم
:گرگ یا انسان
باغی را در نظر خود مجسم کنید با هزاران درخت مختلف، هزاران گل گوناگون، صدها نوع میوه و صدها جور گیاه. حال اگر باغبان این باغ، برای تشخیص بین نباتات هیچ مقیاس دیگر جز "خوردنی" و "علف هرز" نداشته باشد با نه دهم محصولات باغ خود نمی داند چه باید کرد، او سحر آساترین و دل انگیز ترین گل ها را از ریشه خواهد کند، قیمتی ترین درختان را خواهد برید و یا نسبت به آنها عداوت خواهد ورزید و آنها را به دیده ی بغض خواهد نگریست
گرگ بیابان نیز با هزاران گل روح خود همین کار را می کند. آنچه را که از مقوله "انسان" یا "گرگ" نباشد اصلا نمی بیند. وای که جیزها را به حساب "انسانی" نمی گذارد! هرچه را بزدلانه، بوزینه وار، ابلهانه و حقیر است اگر عاری از جنبه گرگی باشد به حساب "انسانی" می گذارد، درست بدان نحو که هرچه نیرومند و اصیل است فقط بدان دلیل که او نمی تواند آنها را تحت سلطه خود بکشد به پای گرگ می نویسد
:وطن در کتاب های هسه
: هاری و هرمینه
فریاد زدم:آه، کاشکی کار بدین سادگی بود! من به اندازه کافی در فکر زندگی
.بوده ام،اما چه فایده. دار زدن خود شاید کار مشکلی باشد، نمی دانم
!اما زندگی کردن خیلی خیلی مشکل تر است
هرمینه: خوب حالا خودت می بینی که چقدر بچگانه است. از اول کار گذشتیم، تو عینک را پاک کردی، غذا خوردی و مشروب ... و آنوقت با من یک بار "شیمی"(نوعی رقص که در آن شانه ها را تکان می دهند) خواهی رقصید
با عصبانیت فریاد زدم در تمام زندگی اصلا رقص یاد نگرفته ام. حالا دیدید همه چیز به آن آسانی هم نیست که فکر می کردید
فریاد زد: یواش! پس رقص بلد نیستی؟ اصلا بلد نیستی ؟ حتی "وان استپ"(از رقص های متداول مجالس شب نشینی)؟ آنوقت ادعا داری که خیلی برای زندگی زحمت کشیده ای! پس همه اش را دروغ می گفتی، پسرجان این جور دروغ ها با سن و سال برازنده تو نیست. خوب وقتی نمی توانی برقصی چطور می توانی بگوئی خیلی برای زندگی زحمت کشیده ای؟
خواندن و نوشتن را یاد گرفته ای، خوب، شاید هم زبان لاتینی و فرانسوی و این قبیل چیزها را بدانی؟ شرط می بندم که تو ده دوازده سال در مدسه مانده ای و هرچه توانسته ای درس خوانده ای. شاید هم عنوان دکتری گرفته باشی و شاید چینی و اسپانیایی هم بلد باشی. اینطور نیست؟ خوب. اما از دادن چند غاز پول و صرف مقداری وقت برای چند درس رقص خودداری کرده ای! باشد! این همه سالهای دور و دراز را چه کار می کردی؟
اقرار کردم که: آخ، خودم هم دیگر درست نمی دانم، مطالعه کردم، آهنگ ساختم، کتاب خواندم، کتاب نوشتم، سفر کردم
واقعا عقائد جالبی نسبت به زندگی داری! همیشه کارهای پیچیده و-
مشکل تر را انجام داده ای، اما چیزهای ساده را
..اصلا یاد نگرفته ای؟ وقت نداشتی؟
من خودم میدانم که دیوانه ام-
تو هیچ دیوانه نیستی، آقای پروفسور، تو از نظر من خیلی کم دیوانه ای! تو درست مثل پروفسورها بنحو ابلهانه ای عاقلی
:در مورد میوه ممنوعه
:نتیجه
گرگ بیابان کتابی ادبی- روانکاوانه است. بعضی قسمت های داستان برام به صورت سوال باقی ماند و حدس می زنم جوابم را در کتابهای "کارل گوستاو یونگ" پیدا خواهم کرد. خواندن بعضی نظریات فروید خیلی در درک قسمت های مربوط به روانکاوی شخصیت بهم کمک کرد
در مورد این کتاب نظرات و نقدهای مختلفی وجود دارد.برداشت های خیلی متفاوتی شده است و حتی گفته شده که کلا این کتاب قابل فهمیدن نیست
خود هرمان هسه درمورد کتابش گفته: آثارابی ممکن است به انحاء گوناگون موجب تفاهم یا سوتفاهم شوند. و تصور می کنم "گرگ بیابان" بیشتر و شدیدتر از سایر آثارم موجب سوتفاهم شده باشد
داستان گرگ بیابان بیماری و بحران را تصویر می کند اما این بیماری از آنگونه نیست که به مرگ و نابودی منجر شود بلکه برعکس هدف آن علاج است، رهایی است
:و در کتاب هم این چنین می گوید
January 25, 2023
"¡Ah, es difícil encontrar esa huella de Dios en medio de esta vida que llevamos, en medio de este siglo tan contentadizo, tan burgués, tan falto de espiritualidad, a la vista de estas arquitecturas, de estos negocios, de esta política, de estos hombres!
Cómo no había de ser yo un lobo estepario y un pobre anacoreta en medio de un mundo, ninguno de cuyos fines comparto, ninguno de cuyos placeres me llama la atención?"
Qué bien que escribe Hermann Hesse...
Hay algo en los escritores alemanes que supera a muchos de otros países. Son dueños de una narrativa bella, contundente... casi perfecta.
Me sucede lo mismo cuando leo al padre de la literatura alemana, Goethe, o al enorme y maravilloso Thomas Mann, (cuyo estilo me recuerda mucho a Hesse), a Schiller o E.T.A. Hoffmann. Dueños de una prosa incomparable, saben cómo atraer al lector para no dejarlo escapar.
Algo similar sucede con los escritores franceses que los distingue del resto, pero debo decir que Alemania prevalece sobre el resto. Hasta Franz Kafka siendo checo decidió escribir en alemán y Jorge Luis Borges decidió aprender alemán como autodidacta para leer a Goethe en su idioma original.
En este libro, Herman Hesse nos sumerge en el mundo especial de su lobo estepario, Harry Haller que no casualmente posee las mismas iniciales, ya que la novela está impregnada de sus propias experiencias, es notablemente biográfica y refleja sus problemas y su lucha contra la depresión y el suicidio.
El libro no está dividido por capítulos sino que cuenta con partes bien diferenciadas.
Una introducción, en la que un desconocido narrador nos dan las nociones básicas introductorias acerca de este personaje tan peculiar llamado Harry Haller, quien se autodenomina un "lobo estepario", a quien conoció ya mayor viviendo en la pensión de su tía.
Luego las anotaciones de Harry Haller conocidas como "Sólo para locos" en las que encontramos unas primeras impresiones y experiencias vividas y en la que nos adentraremos dentro de su propia pqsiquis, conoceremos cómo piensa este solitario cinquentón que decidió abrazar su vida al peregrinaje urbano y la soledad.
Después, nos encontramos con un descriptivo apartado llamado el "Tractat del lobo estepario (no para cualquiera)" en el que el autor ahonda nuevamente dentro de la personalidad de Haller, haciendo hincapié tanto en su visión de la burguesía no como crítica sino como diferenciación del estilo de vida del personajes y de otras cuestiones ligadas especialmente al suicidio y a la dualidad que convive dentro de Haller, dualidad en la que muchos encontrarán rastros de "bipolaridad" con una carga de "crisis existencial".
Esa dualidad está orientada a la cuestión fáustica planteada por Goethe en su novela "Fausto" y que en Harry Haller tiene además la particularidad de romperse como un espejo en muchos fragmentos más que lo llevan a replantearse su vida en todas sus etapas pasadas, la presente e incluso el futuro.
La disertación del autor sobre Haller va mucho más allá. Es mucho más profunda y encara puntualmente en la introspección psicológica del personaje preparando al lector a lo que va a venir: la narración propiamente dicha de las vivencias de Haller y su enfrentamiento a los escollos de la vida y las posibles consecuencia que le traigan sus acciones.
El vacío existencial que sufre a principios de la novela y el tormento del suicidio le atraen casi de la misma forma que a otro personaje conflictuado: el de Kirilov en la novela "Los demonios" de Fiódor Dostoievski, con la diferencia de que Haller no sucumbe sino que lucha por salir del pozo y lo logra desde el momento en el que conoce a otros personajes clave de la novela como lo serán Hermine, María y Pablo.
Las ácidas conclusiones de hombre del subsuelo que lo aquejan comienzan a transformarse en la esperanza de que se puede vivir sin tanto complejo y de esta manera, Haller comienza a experimentar ciertos placeres solamente reservados a esa burguesía que tanto critica.
Tanto deambular hace que se suceda el (no tan) fortuito encuentro con Hermine (o Armanda según la traducción que uno lea) en el bar "El águila negra" y a partir de este evento todo cambiará incluso para bien.
Hermine le dará la posibilidad de acercarse a otras experiencias placenteras, especialmente la del baile, algo impensado tanto para Harry como para nosotros los lectores, por lo que veníamos leyendo sobre él.
Armanda y el baile (cuando no, una mujer para "despertarnos" y ponernos en la buena senda) le aportarán luz a su vida y a partir de que conoce a otra hermosa mujer llamada María ahondará en los placeres de la sensualidad y el sexo, saliendo de ese letargo que lo aprisionaba.
Adentrándonos en el último tercio de la novela, Harry concurrirá a un baile de máscaras y de buenas a primeras, gracias a su amigo, el saxofonista Pablo, durante ese evento en el que el autor detalla con lo mejor de la carnavalización rabelesiana, se introducirá en una especie de noche de Walpurgis en la que Hesse homenajea nuevamente al "Fausto" de Goethe tal como lo hiciera Mijaíl Bulgákov en ese capítulo de "El maestro y Margarita" en el que Voland invita a Margarita disfrutar su propia noche de gala.
Y de ahí y casualmente como por arte de magia, Pablo le dará la posibilidad de conocer a su "Teatro mágico -sólo para locos-" en donde la entrada "solo cuesta la razón" y no es para cualquiera.
Aquí ingresaremos, a la parte más surrealista de la novela, una especie de sucursal del país de las maravillas de Alicia, ya que en este teatro en forma de herradura, Harry se encontrará con muchas puertas en un extremo y espejos en el otro y cada una de ellas lo llevará a una experiencia que metafóricamente hablando, lo colocarán en distintas etapas de su vida para experimentarlas nuevamente como si fuera un auténtico sueño delirante y kafkiano, absurdo y onírico. Así es: un auténtico ensamble kafkiano.
Esta es la parte más entretenida y alucinada del libro. Ya hace mucho que Harry no es ese lobo huraño y recalcitrante sino un hombre entregado a las pasiones, delirios y desenfrenos del espíritu.
El final es completamente distinto a lo que leímos al principio, pero tiene mucho que ver tanto con Harry Haller como con Herman Hesse.
Había leído este libro hace siete años y debo reconocer que disfruté muchísimo de esta novela "no tan sólo para locos" que me permitió reafirmar la grandeza de este gran escritor que se llamó Hermann Hesse.
Cómo no había de ser yo un lobo estepario y un pobre anacoreta en medio de un mundo, ninguno de cuyos fines comparto, ninguno de cuyos placeres me llama la atención?"
Qué bien que escribe Hermann Hesse...
Hay algo en los escritores alemanes que supera a muchos de otros países. Son dueños de una narrativa bella, contundente... casi perfecta.
Me sucede lo mismo cuando leo al padre de la literatura alemana, Goethe, o al enorme y maravilloso Thomas Mann, (cuyo estilo me recuerda mucho a Hesse), a Schiller o E.T.A. Hoffmann. Dueños de una prosa incomparable, saben cómo atraer al lector para no dejarlo escapar.
Algo similar sucede con los escritores franceses que los distingue del resto, pero debo decir que Alemania prevalece sobre el resto. Hasta Franz Kafka siendo checo decidió escribir en alemán y Jorge Luis Borges decidió aprender alemán como autodidacta para leer a Goethe en su idioma original.
En este libro, Herman Hesse nos sumerge en el mundo especial de su lobo estepario, Harry Haller que no casualmente posee las mismas iniciales, ya que la novela está impregnada de sus propias experiencias, es notablemente biográfica y refleja sus problemas y su lucha contra la depresión y el suicidio.
El libro no está dividido por capítulos sino que cuenta con partes bien diferenciadas.
Una introducción, en la que un desconocido narrador nos dan las nociones básicas introductorias acerca de este personaje tan peculiar llamado Harry Haller, quien se autodenomina un "lobo estepario", a quien conoció ya mayor viviendo en la pensión de su tía.
Luego las anotaciones de Harry Haller conocidas como "Sólo para locos" en las que encontramos unas primeras impresiones y experiencias vividas y en la que nos adentraremos dentro de su propia pqsiquis, conoceremos cómo piensa este solitario cinquentón que decidió abrazar su vida al peregrinaje urbano y la soledad.
Después, nos encontramos con un descriptivo apartado llamado el "Tractat del lobo estepario (no para cualquiera)" en el que el autor ahonda nuevamente dentro de la personalidad de Haller, haciendo hincapié tanto en su visión de la burguesía no como crítica sino como diferenciación del estilo de vida del personajes y de otras cuestiones ligadas especialmente al suicidio y a la dualidad que convive dentro de Haller, dualidad en la que muchos encontrarán rastros de "bipolaridad" con una carga de "crisis existencial".
Esa dualidad está orientada a la cuestión fáustica planteada por Goethe en su novela "Fausto" y que en Harry Haller tiene además la particularidad de romperse como un espejo en muchos fragmentos más que lo llevan a replantearse su vida en todas sus etapas pasadas, la presente e incluso el futuro.
La disertación del autor sobre Haller va mucho más allá. Es mucho más profunda y encara puntualmente en la introspección psicológica del personaje preparando al lector a lo que va a venir: la narración propiamente dicha de las vivencias de Haller y su enfrentamiento a los escollos de la vida y las posibles consecuencia que le traigan sus acciones.
El vacío existencial que sufre a principios de la novela y el tormento del suicidio le atraen casi de la misma forma que a otro personaje conflictuado: el de Kirilov en la novela "Los demonios" de Fiódor Dostoievski, con la diferencia de que Haller no sucumbe sino que lucha por salir del pozo y lo logra desde el momento en el que conoce a otros personajes clave de la novela como lo serán Hermine, María y Pablo.
Las ácidas conclusiones de hombre del subsuelo que lo aquejan comienzan a transformarse en la esperanza de que se puede vivir sin tanto complejo y de esta manera, Haller comienza a experimentar ciertos placeres solamente reservados a esa burguesía que tanto critica.
Tanto deambular hace que se suceda el (no tan) fortuito encuentro con Hermine (o Armanda según la traducción que uno lea) en el bar "El águila negra" y a partir de este evento todo cambiará incluso para bien.
Hermine le dará la posibilidad de acercarse a otras experiencias placenteras, especialmente la del baile, algo impensado tanto para Harry como para nosotros los lectores, por lo que veníamos leyendo sobre él.
Armanda y el baile (cuando no, una mujer para "despertarnos" y ponernos en la buena senda) le aportarán luz a su vida y a partir de que conoce a otra hermosa mujer llamada María ahondará en los placeres de la sensualidad y el sexo, saliendo de ese letargo que lo aprisionaba.
Adentrándonos en el último tercio de la novela, Harry concurrirá a un baile de máscaras y de buenas a primeras, gracias a su amigo, el saxofonista Pablo, durante ese evento en el que el autor detalla con lo mejor de la carnavalización rabelesiana, se introducirá en una especie de noche de Walpurgis en la que Hesse homenajea nuevamente al "Fausto" de Goethe tal como lo hiciera Mijaíl Bulgákov en ese capítulo de "El maestro y Margarita" en el que Voland invita a Margarita disfrutar su propia noche de gala.
Y de ahí y casualmente como por arte de magia, Pablo le dará la posibilidad de conocer a su "Teatro mágico -sólo para locos-" en donde la entrada "solo cuesta la razón" y no es para cualquiera.
Aquí ingresaremos, a la parte más surrealista de la novela, una especie de sucursal del país de las maravillas de Alicia, ya que en este teatro en forma de herradura, Harry se encontrará con muchas puertas en un extremo y espejos en el otro y cada una de ellas lo llevará a una experiencia que metafóricamente hablando, lo colocarán en distintas etapas de su vida para experimentarlas nuevamente como si fuera un auténtico sueño delirante y kafkiano, absurdo y onírico. Así es: un auténtico ensamble kafkiano.
Esta es la parte más entretenida y alucinada del libro. Ya hace mucho que Harry no es ese lobo huraño y recalcitrante sino un hombre entregado a las pasiones, delirios y desenfrenos del espíritu.
El final es completamente distinto a lo que leímos al principio, pero tiene mucho que ver tanto con Harry Haller como con Herman Hesse.
Había leído este libro hace siete años y debo reconocer que disfruté muchísimo de esta novela "no tan sólo para locos" que me permitió reafirmar la grandeza de este gran escritor que se llamó Hermann Hesse.
January 18, 2020
****Primera lectura del año del club Pickwick: www.instagram.com/clubpickwick/)****
Esta es una lectura que necesito dejar reposar.
El lobo estepario es una novela cargada hasta tal punto de simbolismos, metáforas y reflexiones existencialistas que creo que pide un tiempo para ser digerida.
Dicho esto, me ha gustado, la lectura para mi ha sido un poco de montaña rusa, con una parte inicial que me encantó, una central que me resultó densa y un desenlace completamente de locura (nunca mejor dicho).
Lo más interesante de todo para mi es ese fuerte componente antibelicista y cómo Hesse transmite tan bien su incapacidad para integrarse en la sociedad. No se le puede negar además, lo original y moderno que debió resultar para el momento de su publicación.
Aún así a veces el mensaje me resultaba demasiado obvio y otros incomprensible.... lo dicho, es una obra hecha para dejar al lector reflexionando, y eso Hesse lo logra completamente.
Esta es una lectura que necesito dejar reposar.
El lobo estepario es una novela cargada hasta tal punto de simbolismos, metáforas y reflexiones existencialistas que creo que pide un tiempo para ser digerida.
Dicho esto, me ha gustado, la lectura para mi ha sido un poco de montaña rusa, con una parte inicial que me encantó, una central que me resultó densa y un desenlace completamente de locura (nunca mejor dicho).
Lo más interesante de todo para mi es ese fuerte componente antibelicista y cómo Hesse transmite tan bien su incapacidad para integrarse en la sociedad. No se le puede negar además, lo original y moderno que debió resultar para el momento de su publicación.
Aún así a veces el mensaje me resultaba demasiado obvio y otros incomprensible.... lo dicho, es una obra hecha para dejar al lector reflexionando, y eso Hesse lo logra completamente.
April 17, 2009
Now that I’ve reached middle age, I thought it was time to revisit that classic of earnest adolescent angst (despite the fact the novel’s hero is nearly 50 years old), Hermann Hesse’ Steppenwolf.
I found the early sections of the book dull, flat, pretentious, and swimming in its own vanity. But the later sections corrected some of these faults, and made the book interesting and worth reading overall.
My main problem with the early parts of Steppenwolf is that the novel is constantly tells us how fine a soul Harry Haller has: how intelligent he is, how spiritually enlightened, how artistically refined, how little he can tolerate the world of power and money and order and easy pleasures, or understand the lives of ordinary people, and how much he suffers.
But the novel is always telling us these things about Harry; it never shows us these qualities or convinces us that they are true. Harry’s uniqueness is described first in an introduction to the manuscript written by a middle class businessman of slight acquaintance with Harry; then by passages written by Harry himself; then in a magical “Treatise on the Steppenwolf” that Harry buys from a mysterious vendor.
Normally, one piece of sustained exposition is enough to set up a story the author can’t quite get going on its own. Three is too much. And the constant repetition of how exceptional Harry is makes me suspicious. Accomplished people go about the business of being accomplished. People who are not accomplished – but very much like the idea of being so – will announce their exceptional attributes constantly, substituting pronouncements for action.
The novel’s investment in Harry’s extraordinary qualities makes me believe that Hesse is also invested in them and that he is inviting us to invest in them as well. Only a great artist could bring a great artist alive on the page, is the implication: therefore I am a great artist. Only a truly intelligent and perceptive reader could understand a great artist; therefore you are an intelligent and perceptive reader.
This mutual admiration society constructed by Steppenwolf would be harmless enough if such vanity were not the most deadly enemy of art. All that is strange and delicate and inexpressible and irreducible in art – all its sublime alchemy – is thrown under the feet of flattery and easy compliment. The work exists only to puff up the ego and ambitions, and comfort the insecurities, of those associated with it.
This is harsh criticism, and it seems like it should be a fatal one. But as the book progresses, Hesse’ destroys any sense we have that all of Harry’s accomplishments have any real value. The book still sees him as a unique and rare soul – but a unique and rare soul leading a useless existence, a man who has forgotten how to laugh, who has forgotten how to find pleasure in life, who is a fool, a baby, and a wretch who should be pity and scolded and taken by the hand and pulled away from his stubborn loneliness and self-importance. This humanizes Harry and gives the book blood.
Finally, Steppenwolf has an interesting structure. It’s a mess, but it’s a mess that works pretty well with the novel’s themes and characters. Harry is always talking about great composers, Baroque ones like Handel, Mozart above all, but it is Berlioz' “Symphonie fantastique” that really is playing throughout the book.
So two solid stars for Hesse’ Steppenwolf. You could spend you time with many books, and many writers, far worse than this one.
I found the early sections of the book dull, flat, pretentious, and swimming in its own vanity. But the later sections corrected some of these faults, and made the book interesting and worth reading overall.
My main problem with the early parts of Steppenwolf is that the novel is constantly tells us how fine a soul Harry Haller has: how intelligent he is, how spiritually enlightened, how artistically refined, how little he can tolerate the world of power and money and order and easy pleasures, or understand the lives of ordinary people, and how much he suffers.
But the novel is always telling us these things about Harry; it never shows us these qualities or convinces us that they are true. Harry’s uniqueness is described first in an introduction to the manuscript written by a middle class businessman of slight acquaintance with Harry; then by passages written by Harry himself; then in a magical “Treatise on the Steppenwolf” that Harry buys from a mysterious vendor.
Normally, one piece of sustained exposition is enough to set up a story the author can’t quite get going on its own. Three is too much. And the constant repetition of how exceptional Harry is makes me suspicious. Accomplished people go about the business of being accomplished. People who are not accomplished – but very much like the idea of being so – will announce their exceptional attributes constantly, substituting pronouncements for action.
The novel’s investment in Harry’s extraordinary qualities makes me believe that Hesse is also invested in them and that he is inviting us to invest in them as well. Only a great artist could bring a great artist alive on the page, is the implication: therefore I am a great artist. Only a truly intelligent and perceptive reader could understand a great artist; therefore you are an intelligent and perceptive reader.
This mutual admiration society constructed by Steppenwolf would be harmless enough if such vanity were not the most deadly enemy of art. All that is strange and delicate and inexpressible and irreducible in art – all its sublime alchemy – is thrown under the feet of flattery and easy compliment. The work exists only to puff up the ego and ambitions, and comfort the insecurities, of those associated with it.
This is harsh criticism, and it seems like it should be a fatal one. But as the book progresses, Hesse’ destroys any sense we have that all of Harry’s accomplishments have any real value. The book still sees him as a unique and rare soul – but a unique and rare soul leading a useless existence, a man who has forgotten how to laugh, who has forgotten how to find pleasure in life, who is a fool, a baby, and a wretch who should be pity and scolded and taken by the hand and pulled away from his stubborn loneliness and self-importance. This humanizes Harry and gives the book blood.
Finally, Steppenwolf has an interesting structure. It’s a mess, but it’s a mess that works pretty well with the novel’s themes and characters. Harry is always talking about great composers, Baroque ones like Handel, Mozart above all, but it is Berlioz' “Symphonie fantastique” that really is playing throughout the book.
So two solid stars for Hesse’ Steppenwolf. You could spend you time with many books, and many writers, far worse than this one.
June 29, 2015
Half Bourgeois/Half Wolf
"Steppenwolf" starts with a fascinating 20 page preface that places a more conventional perspective on the rest of the novel (which is quite radical, if not exactly nihilist).
The unnamed first person narrator could be one of us. He purports to be "a middle class man, living a regular life, fond of work and punctuality, [as well as] an abstainer and non-smoker."
He gets to know the Steppenwolf, Harry Haller, while they both rent furnished rooms in his aunt's apartment.
He finds Harry and his behaviour foreign, alien, peculiar and odd.
Harry is "a real wolf of the Steppes, a strange, wild, shy - very shy - being from another world than mine [the narrator's]...a wolf of the Steppes that had lost its way and strayed into the towns and the life of the herd, a more striking image could not be found for his shy loneliness, his savagery, his restlessness, his homesickness, his homelessness."
The Torturous Riddle
The narrator sees a resemblance to Nietzsche:
"Haller belongs to those who have been caught between two ages, who are outside of all security and simple acquiescence. He belongs to those whose fate it is to live the whole riddle of human destiny heightened to the pitch of a personal torture, a personal hell."
Harry vanishes amidst rumours that he has committed suicide. All that remains is a manuscript found by the narrator, who decides to publish it, "as a document of the times...the sickness of the times themselves", in case it guides those who succeed him.
There is little clue as to whether the manuscript is fact or fiction, apart perhaps from the fact that occasionally during the preface Harry is visited by a "young and very pretty woman". Initially, I wondered whether she might have been his daughter. However, it's possible that she might have been "Maria", one of the women mentioned in the manuscript.
No Balance Between the Mean and the Magic
Early in the manuscript, Harry meets a man carrying a sign advertising an "anarchist evening entertainment" at the Magic Theatre. He gives Harry a booklet called "Treatise on the Steppenwolf". The protagonist happens to be called Harry Haller.
If Harry is the alter ego of the narrator of the preface, the protagonist of the manuscript is the mirror image of Harry (mirrors, both whole and splintered, abound in the novel).
Harry believes he is a "mixed being", he has "two natures, a human and a wolfish one" (the former of which is "the very same average man of bourgeois convention", the latter of which is "the free, the savage, the untameable, the dangerous and strong").
Harry stands outside the conventional world of the bourgeoisie, remote from "the search for a balance...the striving after a mean between the countless extremes and opposites that arise in human conduct...
"A man cannot live intensely except at the cost of the self. Now the bourgeois treasures nothing more highly than the self...The bourgeois is consequently by nature of weak impulses, anxious, fearful of giving himself away and easy to rule. Therefore, he has substituted majority for power, law for force, and the polling booth for responsibility."
Harry is unable or unwilling to find such a balance. The extremes and opposites live in perpetual conflict:
"In him, the man and the wolf did not go the same way together, but were in continual and deadly enmity. One existed simply and solely to harm the other, and when there are two in the one blood and in one soul who are at deadly enmity, then life fares ill."
"Steppenwolf" exhibition in Calw Hesse Museum
The Delusion of Dualistic Unity
Harry's understanding of himself contains an error or delusion that is shared by the bourgeoisie.
Harry thinks of himself as wolf and man, flesh and spirit, either way, a dualism.
He finds in himself "a human being, that is to say, a world of thoughts and feelings, of culture and tamed or sublimated nature, and besides this he finds within himself also a wolf, that is to say, a dark world of instinct, of savagery and cruelty, of unsublimated or raw nature."
The bourgeois worldview reflects a belief that humanity is a unity that endeavours to accommodate, if not resolve or reconcile, opposites or dualities.
In contrast, man is actually a bundle of selves, "a manifold world, a constellated heaven, a chaos of forms, of states and stages, of inheritances and potentialities... man is an onion made up of a hundred integuments, a texture made up of many threads."
An End to Detested Existence
The internal enmity exposes the Steppenwolf to a particular risk:
"The line of fate in the case of these men is marked by the belief...that suicide is their most probable manner of death."
Harry recognises that:
"Death was decreed for this Steppenwolf. He must with his own hand make an end of his detested existence - unless, molten in the fire of a renewed self-knowledge, he underwent a change and passed over to a self, new and undisguised."
The Invisible Magician
This is the real story of Steppenwolf: how he acquires new or renewed self-knowledge:
"I had already experienced it several times, and always in periods of utmost despair. On each occasion of this terribly uprooting experience, my self, as it then was, was shattered to fragments. Each time deep-seated powers had shaken and destroyed it; each time there had followed the loss of a cherished and particularly beloved part of my life that was true to me no more...
"It was then that my solitude had its beginning. I had built up the ideal of a new life, inspired by asceticism of the intellect. I had attained a certain serenity and elevation of life once more, submitting to the practice of abstract thought and to a rule of austere meditation. But this mold, too, was broken and lost at one blow all its exalted and noble intent."
It's within this context that Harry finds and reads the treatise:
"I read the Steppenwolf treatise through again many times, now submitting gratefully to an invisible magician because of his wise conduct of my destiny, now with scorn and contempt for its futility, and the little understanding it showed of my actual disposition and predicament."
Corresponding Through the Looking Glass
Harry's mind inevitably returns to the Magic Theatre:
"I understood the invitation to madness and the jettison of reason and the escape from the clogs of convention in surrender to the unbridled surge of spirit and fantasy."
In his quest to find the next show, he is advised to go to a club called the Black Eagle. Here he meets the first of two women who will help change his life.
She reminds Harry of his first girlfriend, Rosa. Equally, he thinks she looks like a boyhood friend, Herman. He guesses that her name is Hermine. It is. How could this happen? Hermine explains:
"Doesn't your learning reveal to you that the reason why I please you and mean so much to you is because I am a kind of looking glass for you, because there's something in me that answers you and understands you? Really, we ought all to be such looking glasses to each other and answer and correspond to each other..."
Harry responds, "There's nothing you don't know, Hermine. It's exactly as you say. And yet you're so entirely different from me. Why, you're my opposite. You have all that I lack."
She is his other half (in a Platonic sense). Equally, Harry and Hermine might be the two halves of Hermann Hesse himself.
Teacher-Woman and Courtesan
On their second outing, Harry and Hermine go dancing at the Balance Hotel, which features a small orchestra. Here, Harry meets the second woman, Maria, a friend of Hermine's, with whom he dances and quickly forms a relationship.
Later, on an evening walk alone, Harry intellectualises about the significance of music in his life:
"In the German spirit the matriarchal link with nature rules in the form of the hegemony of music to an extent unknown in any other people. We intellectuals, instead of fighting against this tendency like men, and rendering obedience to the spirit, Logos, the Word, and gaining a hearing for it, are all dreaming of a speech without words that utters the inexpressible and gives form to the formless.
"Instead of playing his part as truly and honestly as he could, the German intellectual has constantly rebelled against the word and against reason and courted music. And so the German spirit, carousing in music, in wonderful creations of sound, and wonderful beauties of feeling and mood that were never pressed home to reality, has left the greater part of its intellectual gifts to decay. None of us intellectuals is at home in reality. We are strange to it and hostile...There was nothing to be made of us intellectuals. We were a superfluous, irresponsible lot of talented chatterboxes for whom reality had no meaning."
The masculine seems to be Logos, the Word, Logic, Reality, whereas the feminine seems to be Music, the Imagination, Fantasy, Unreality.
When Harry returns home, he finds Maria waiting naked in his bed, which understandably distracts him from his preoccupation with "The German Ideology".
Harry's recovery is effectively triggered by two women. To paraphrase Hesse's biographer, Ralph Freedman, one is a "wise teacher-woman", the other a "courtesan".
A Pretty Cabinet of Pictures
The climax of the novel occurs in the Magic Theatre (after an evening at the Masked Ball), which for me created memories that have survived over 40 years since my first reading. The only fictitious scene I can liken to it is the ball in "The Master and Margarita".
Just as the personality has manifold aspects, the Magic Theatre "has as many doors into as many boxes as you please, ten or a hundred or a thousand, and behind each door exactly what you seek awaits you. It is a pretty cabinet of pictures..."
Harry must laugh in a mirror, so that the image of his mixed being, human and wolf, can disappear and he can enter "our visionary world...(and a jolly one it is)":
"True humour begins when a man ceases to take himself too seriously...You will learn to laugh like the immortals yet!"
Here, his saxophone playing host, Pablo (who doubles as Mozart), teaches him the art of "building up the soul":
"We demonstrate to anyone whose soul has fallen to pieces that he can rearrange these pieces of a previous self in what order he pleases, and so attain to an endless multiplicity of moves in the game of life."
Nothing But a Lover
Harry seeks out love's door. Until now, he has repressed his capacity for love:
"I was living a bit of myself only - a bit that in my actual life and being had been expressed to a tenth or a thousandth part...I was watching it grow unmolested by any other part of me. It was not perturbed by the thinker, nor tortured by the Steppenwolf, nor dwarfed by the poet, the visionary or the moralist. No - I was nothing now but the lover, and I breathed no other happiness and no other suffering than love."
"The Devil, But You Shall Live!"
Ultimately, in the Magic Theatre, Harry's host teaches him, "You are willing to die, you coward, but not to live. The devil, but you shall live!"
Harry's response is to make a resolution:
"I knew that all the hundred thousand pieces of life's game were in my pocket. A glimpse of its meaning had stirred my reason and I was determined to begin the game afresh...I would traverse not once more, but often, the hell of my inner being...one day I would be better at the game. One day I would learn how to laugh."
"Steppenwolf" makes no promise that our inner being will not be hellish.
It does, however, encourage us to laugh and play the game of life. Its message is quite the opposite of the nihilism with which it is usually associated.
After more than 40 years, it remains one of my favourite novels, both stimulating and beautifully crafted.
"Steppenwolf" starts with a fascinating 20 page preface that places a more conventional perspective on the rest of the novel (which is quite radical, if not exactly nihilist).
The unnamed first person narrator could be one of us. He purports to be "a middle class man, living a regular life, fond of work and punctuality, [as well as] an abstainer and non-smoker."
He gets to know the Steppenwolf, Harry Haller, while they both rent furnished rooms in his aunt's apartment.
He finds Harry and his behaviour foreign, alien, peculiar and odd.
Harry is "a real wolf of the Steppes, a strange, wild, shy - very shy - being from another world than mine [the narrator's]...a wolf of the Steppes that had lost its way and strayed into the towns and the life of the herd, a more striking image could not be found for his shy loneliness, his savagery, his restlessness, his homesickness, his homelessness."
The Torturous Riddle
The narrator sees a resemblance to Nietzsche:
"Haller belongs to those who have been caught between two ages, who are outside of all security and simple acquiescence. He belongs to those whose fate it is to live the whole riddle of human destiny heightened to the pitch of a personal torture, a personal hell."
Harry vanishes amidst rumours that he has committed suicide. All that remains is a manuscript found by the narrator, who decides to publish it, "as a document of the times...the sickness of the times themselves", in case it guides those who succeed him.
There is little clue as to whether the manuscript is fact or fiction, apart perhaps from the fact that occasionally during the preface Harry is visited by a "young and very pretty woman". Initially, I wondered whether she might have been his daughter. However, it's possible that she might have been "Maria", one of the women mentioned in the manuscript.
No Balance Between the Mean and the Magic
Early in the manuscript, Harry meets a man carrying a sign advertising an "anarchist evening entertainment" at the Magic Theatre. He gives Harry a booklet called "Treatise on the Steppenwolf". The protagonist happens to be called Harry Haller.
If Harry is the alter ego of the narrator of the preface, the protagonist of the manuscript is the mirror image of Harry (mirrors, both whole and splintered, abound in the novel).
Harry believes he is a "mixed being", he has "two natures, a human and a wolfish one" (the former of which is "the very same average man of bourgeois convention", the latter of which is "the free, the savage, the untameable, the dangerous and strong").
Harry stands outside the conventional world of the bourgeoisie, remote from "the search for a balance...the striving after a mean between the countless extremes and opposites that arise in human conduct...
"A man cannot live intensely except at the cost of the self. Now the bourgeois treasures nothing more highly than the self...The bourgeois is consequently by nature of weak impulses, anxious, fearful of giving himself away and easy to rule. Therefore, he has substituted majority for power, law for force, and the polling booth for responsibility."
Harry is unable or unwilling to find such a balance. The extremes and opposites live in perpetual conflict:
"In him, the man and the wolf did not go the same way together, but were in continual and deadly enmity. One existed simply and solely to harm the other, and when there are two in the one blood and in one soul who are at deadly enmity, then life fares ill."
"Steppenwolf" exhibition in Calw Hesse Museum
The Delusion of Dualistic Unity
Harry's understanding of himself contains an error or delusion that is shared by the bourgeoisie.
Harry thinks of himself as wolf and man, flesh and spirit, either way, a dualism.
He finds in himself "a human being, that is to say, a world of thoughts and feelings, of culture and tamed or sublimated nature, and besides this he finds within himself also a wolf, that is to say, a dark world of instinct, of savagery and cruelty, of unsublimated or raw nature."
The bourgeois worldview reflects a belief that humanity is a unity that endeavours to accommodate, if not resolve or reconcile, opposites or dualities.
In contrast, man is actually a bundle of selves, "a manifold world, a constellated heaven, a chaos of forms, of states and stages, of inheritances and potentialities... man is an onion made up of a hundred integuments, a texture made up of many threads."
An End to Detested Existence
The internal enmity exposes the Steppenwolf to a particular risk:
"The line of fate in the case of these men is marked by the belief...that suicide is their most probable manner of death."
Harry recognises that:
"Death was decreed for this Steppenwolf. He must with his own hand make an end of his detested existence - unless, molten in the fire of a renewed self-knowledge, he underwent a change and passed over to a self, new and undisguised."
The Invisible Magician
This is the real story of Steppenwolf: how he acquires new or renewed self-knowledge:
"I had already experienced it several times, and always in periods of utmost despair. On each occasion of this terribly uprooting experience, my self, as it then was, was shattered to fragments. Each time deep-seated powers had shaken and destroyed it; each time there had followed the loss of a cherished and particularly beloved part of my life that was true to me no more...
"It was then that my solitude had its beginning. I had built up the ideal of a new life, inspired by asceticism of the intellect. I had attained a certain serenity and elevation of life once more, submitting to the practice of abstract thought and to a rule of austere meditation. But this mold, too, was broken and lost at one blow all its exalted and noble intent."
It's within this context that Harry finds and reads the treatise:
"I read the Steppenwolf treatise through again many times, now submitting gratefully to an invisible magician because of his wise conduct of my destiny, now with scorn and contempt for its futility, and the little understanding it showed of my actual disposition and predicament."
Corresponding Through the Looking Glass
Harry's mind inevitably returns to the Magic Theatre:
"I understood the invitation to madness and the jettison of reason and the escape from the clogs of convention in surrender to the unbridled surge of spirit and fantasy."
In his quest to find the next show, he is advised to go to a club called the Black Eagle. Here he meets the first of two women who will help change his life.
She reminds Harry of his first girlfriend, Rosa. Equally, he thinks she looks like a boyhood friend, Herman. He guesses that her name is Hermine. It is. How could this happen? Hermine explains:
"Doesn't your learning reveal to you that the reason why I please you and mean so much to you is because I am a kind of looking glass for you, because there's something in me that answers you and understands you? Really, we ought all to be such looking glasses to each other and answer and correspond to each other..."
Harry responds, "There's nothing you don't know, Hermine. It's exactly as you say. And yet you're so entirely different from me. Why, you're my opposite. You have all that I lack."
She is his other half (in a Platonic sense). Equally, Harry and Hermine might be the two halves of Hermann Hesse himself.
Teacher-Woman and Courtesan
On their second outing, Harry and Hermine go dancing at the Balance Hotel, which features a small orchestra. Here, Harry meets the second woman, Maria, a friend of Hermine's, with whom he dances and quickly forms a relationship.
Later, on an evening walk alone, Harry intellectualises about the significance of music in his life:
"In the German spirit the matriarchal link with nature rules in the form of the hegemony of music to an extent unknown in any other people. We intellectuals, instead of fighting against this tendency like men, and rendering obedience to the spirit, Logos, the Word, and gaining a hearing for it, are all dreaming of a speech without words that utters the inexpressible and gives form to the formless.
"Instead of playing his part as truly and honestly as he could, the German intellectual has constantly rebelled against the word and against reason and courted music. And so the German spirit, carousing in music, in wonderful creations of sound, and wonderful beauties of feeling and mood that were never pressed home to reality, has left the greater part of its intellectual gifts to decay. None of us intellectuals is at home in reality. We are strange to it and hostile...There was nothing to be made of us intellectuals. We were a superfluous, irresponsible lot of talented chatterboxes for whom reality had no meaning."
The masculine seems to be Logos, the Word, Logic, Reality, whereas the feminine seems to be Music, the Imagination, Fantasy, Unreality.
When Harry returns home, he finds Maria waiting naked in his bed, which understandably distracts him from his preoccupation with "The German Ideology".
Harry's recovery is effectively triggered by two women. To paraphrase Hesse's biographer, Ralph Freedman, one is a "wise teacher-woman", the other a "courtesan".
A Pretty Cabinet of Pictures
The climax of the novel occurs in the Magic Theatre (after an evening at the Masked Ball), which for me created memories that have survived over 40 years since my first reading. The only fictitious scene I can liken to it is the ball in "The Master and Margarita".
Just as the personality has manifold aspects, the Magic Theatre "has as many doors into as many boxes as you please, ten or a hundred or a thousand, and behind each door exactly what you seek awaits you. It is a pretty cabinet of pictures..."
Harry must laugh in a mirror, so that the image of his mixed being, human and wolf, can disappear and he can enter "our visionary world...(and a jolly one it is)":
"True humour begins when a man ceases to take himself too seriously...You will learn to laugh like the immortals yet!"
Here, his saxophone playing host, Pablo (who doubles as Mozart), teaches him the art of "building up the soul":
"We demonstrate to anyone whose soul has fallen to pieces that he can rearrange these pieces of a previous self in what order he pleases, and so attain to an endless multiplicity of moves in the game of life."
Nothing But a Lover
Harry seeks out love's door. Until now, he has repressed his capacity for love:
"I was living a bit of myself only - a bit that in my actual life and being had been expressed to a tenth or a thousandth part...I was watching it grow unmolested by any other part of me. It was not perturbed by the thinker, nor tortured by the Steppenwolf, nor dwarfed by the poet, the visionary or the moralist. No - I was nothing now but the lover, and I breathed no other happiness and no other suffering than love."
"The Devil, But You Shall Live!"
Ultimately, in the Magic Theatre, Harry's host teaches him, "You are willing to die, you coward, but not to live. The devil, but you shall live!"
Harry's response is to make a resolution:
"I knew that all the hundred thousand pieces of life's game were in my pocket. A glimpse of its meaning had stirred my reason and I was determined to begin the game afresh...I would traverse not once more, but often, the hell of my inner being...one day I would be better at the game. One day I would learn how to laugh."
"Steppenwolf" makes no promise that our inner being will not be hellish.
It does, however, encourage us to laugh and play the game of life. Its message is quite the opposite of the nihilism with which it is usually associated.
After more than 40 years, it remains one of my favourite novels, both stimulating and beautifully crafted.
August 4, 2018
The Best Novel on the Intellectual Male's Midlife Crisis
I might well have ridiculed this novel at 20, when I was unconquerable, infinite, the world my oyster. Thirty years on, having been through the process of disenchantment called life, and survived the tragic ends (de facto and de jure) of each chapter of my personal myth--the perfect job, a huge house, insane wealth, and adoration of both my looks and smarts--I find this novel profound.
Hermann Hesse wrote this in his late 40s and I can see parts of myself--now and in my recent past--in his fictional alter ego, Harry Haller, a self-isolated intellectual who thinks of himself as a steppenwolf (or a wolf from the steppes), experiencing an ongoing existential crisis, bouts of acute loneliness, fleeting thoughts of death, and a continuing coming to terms with a bourgeois society which he hates yet needs. I can see the wisdom of a life lived, in terms spiritual and at times--even still--animalistic.
I found fascinating the magic theatre to which Harry was invited, a place which serves as a reminder of why he should want to live, allowing him to experience encounters (not necessarily sexual) with females from his past, meetings with these unrequited loves or lusts in which he's no longer shy nor suffering the hangups and insecurities of a young man or boy.
Variations of this magical venue often pepper my dreams. Call them my subconscious yawps for immortality, or maybe, on a deeper level, my psyche's nocturnal pursuits of prurient propagation.
I highly recommend this novel to men in their 40s and 50s, and to their spouses/partners for possible enlightenment.
I might well have ridiculed this novel at 20, when I was unconquerable, infinite, the world my oyster. Thirty years on, having been through the process of disenchantment called life, and survived the tragic ends (de facto and de jure) of each chapter of my personal myth--the perfect job, a huge house, insane wealth, and adoration of both my looks and smarts--I find this novel profound.
Hermann Hesse wrote this in his late 40s and I can see parts of myself--now and in my recent past--in his fictional alter ego, Harry Haller, a self-isolated intellectual who thinks of himself as a steppenwolf (or a wolf from the steppes), experiencing an ongoing existential crisis, bouts of acute loneliness, fleeting thoughts of death, and a continuing coming to terms with a bourgeois society which he hates yet needs. I can see the wisdom of a life lived, in terms spiritual and at times--even still--animalistic.
I found fascinating the magic theatre to which Harry was invited, a place which serves as a reminder of why he should want to live, allowing him to experience encounters (not necessarily sexual) with females from his past, meetings with these unrequited loves or lusts in which he's no longer shy nor suffering the hangups and insecurities of a young man or boy.
Variations of this magical venue often pepper my dreams. Call them my subconscious yawps for immortality, or maybe, on a deeper level, my psyche's nocturnal pursuits of prurient propagation.
I highly recommend this novel to men in their 40s and 50s, and to their spouses/partners for possible enlightenment.
January 21, 2021
A primeira leitura de 2021 já começou muito marcante para mim. Como comentei com vocês, fazia algum tempo que não me identificava tanto com um livro. Já era um grande fã de Hesse depois de ter lido “Sidarta” e “Knulp” e, depois de “O lobo da estepe”, talvez possa falar que o autor está no meu top 10 de escritores favoritos.
Nessa obra, Hesse apresenta ao leitor a história de Harry Haller, um homem na faixa dos 50 anos que vive crises existenciais, e é por meio dos diálogos internos do protagonista que o autor, influenciado pela psicanálise, traz reflexões interessantíssimas sobre a condição humana.
No começo da narrativa, nos deparamos com um Harry cansado da vida e que, constantemente, é acometido por pensamentos suicidas. Esse estado psicológico do personagem deixa o começo da leitura até mesmo mais parada_ talvez tenha sido algo intencional, a fim de refletir a melancolia de Harry_, mas um acontecimento pouco inusitado em sua vida coloca o personagem de frente com “O tratado do lobo da estepe” e com novas amizades que trarão uma vontade de viver a Harry. É a partir desse momento que a narrativa se desenrola de forma extraordinária!
Há, também, uma crítica constante à hipocrisia que recai muitas vezes sobre a classe burguesa. Isso porque o protagonista tece diversos comentários contra a burguesia, esquecendo, por sua vez, que ele mesmo se enquadra como uma luva nessa faixa social.
Achei interessante que, no posfácio da obra, o autor avisa que leitores mais próximos da meia idade tendem a se identificar ainda mais com os pensamentos do personagem. Se eu já me identifiquei muito, fiquei com vontade de fazer uma releitura daqui a 20 anos. Com certeza as reflexões serão diferentes e mais profundas! Recomendo muitíssimo!
Nota: 10/10
Leia mais resenhas em https://www.instagram.com/book.ster/
Nessa obra, Hesse apresenta ao leitor a história de Harry Haller, um homem na faixa dos 50 anos que vive crises existenciais, e é por meio dos diálogos internos do protagonista que o autor, influenciado pela psicanálise, traz reflexões interessantíssimas sobre a condição humana.
No começo da narrativa, nos deparamos com um Harry cansado da vida e que, constantemente, é acometido por pensamentos suicidas. Esse estado psicológico do personagem deixa o começo da leitura até mesmo mais parada_ talvez tenha sido algo intencional, a fim de refletir a melancolia de Harry_, mas um acontecimento pouco inusitado em sua vida coloca o personagem de frente com “O tratado do lobo da estepe” e com novas amizades que trarão uma vontade de viver a Harry. É a partir desse momento que a narrativa se desenrola de forma extraordinária!
Há, também, uma crítica constante à hipocrisia que recai muitas vezes sobre a classe burguesa. Isso porque o protagonista tece diversos comentários contra a burguesia, esquecendo, por sua vez, que ele mesmo se enquadra como uma luva nessa faixa social.
Achei interessante que, no posfácio da obra, o autor avisa que leitores mais próximos da meia idade tendem a se identificar ainda mais com os pensamentos do personagem. Se eu já me identifiquei muito, fiquei com vontade de fazer uma releitura daqui a 20 anos. Com certeza as reflexões serão diferentes e mais profundas! Recomendo muitíssimo!
Nota: 10/10
Leia mais resenhas em https://www.instagram.com/book.ster/
February 8, 2017
Written at a time when his own life was in some disarray, while battling his inner demons through depression and being treated as an outcast because of anti-war/military views, it comes as no surprise to me that Hermann Hesse wrote 'Steppenwolf' more semi-autobiographical rather than a work of out and out fiction, but this only makes for a more heightened reading experience with elements of realism that keep things from falling into the realms of complete fantasy. So thus begins a mythical, philosophical and spiritual journey into the darkest corners of a diseased mind, where dreams and reality collide, and the opposing forces of man and beast will ravage the living soul of our protagonist, the misanthropic Harry Haller, who on the surface would appear a well educated and reasonably normal being, but beneath lurks a disturbed and troubled man who is repulsed and alienated from modern society. Rather misunderstood at the time of publication this would go on to find a wider audience and become a cult hit with the youth of the 1960's, probably because of the hallucinogenic drug experimentation and open views on sex. As for the writing it's pretty much faultless, and it's here I have to mention David Horrocks, who has done an amazing job with this translation by using the original text to better effect after some not so reliable efforts in the past. This is surely one the greats of German literature, right from the start I knew a masterpiece was beckoning, truly quite something.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2017
Συγκλονιστικό έργο. Βαθιά φιλοσοφικό και ψυχολογικό. Σε πολλά του σημεία είδα τον εαυτό μου. Δεν ξέρω γιατί αλλά μου θύμισε πολύ έντονα την πρώτη φορά που διάβασα Καμύ και συγκεκριμένα την πτώση.
Δεν έχω να γράψω κάτι, παρά να σας παραπέμψω στην κριτική της Ειρήνης που τα είπε εξαιρετικά, και εξαιτίας της διάβασα αυτό το βιβλίο και την ευχαριστώ
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Δεν έχω να γράψω κάτι, παρά να σας παραπέμψω στην κριτική της Ειρήνης που τα είπε εξαιρετικά, και εξαιτίας της διάβασα αυτό το βιβλίο και την ευχαριστώ
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
March 16, 2017
Recomand acest roman tuturor celor care vor să descopere infernul dinlăuntrul lor.
Mi-am propus de foarte multe ori să scriu o recenzie asupra romanului "Lupul de stepă" de Hesse. Mă obseda însă ideea că nu aș fi capabil, că nu aș putea spune tot ce aș vrea să spun, că n-aș găsi cuvintele necesare pentru a descrie această carte. Ieșind din aura ei și scriind DESPRE ea, mi-e frică de faptul că o să-i ciopârțesc valoarea (nu sunt deloc un bun sculptor).
Poate cuvintele mele de mai sus nu înseamnă nimic pentru unii, poate mulți nu-mi vor înțelege "frica". Ei, acest lucru este surprins și în roman...
"Lupul de stepă" reprezintă lucrarea de căpătâi a condiției umane (varianta modernă). Dacă aș fi pus -cine știe cum!- să numesc un titlu, aș spune fără șovăire "În căutarea sensului vieții" (știu, poate e deja luat...).
Ştiu, de asemenea, că numai aceia care s-au gândit măcar o singură dată la actul sinuciderii în sine vor înțelege pe deplin romanul.
Într-o narațiune la persoana I, într-o Germanie bântuită de criza economică de după Marele Război, într-un oraș destul de însemnat, un anume Harry Haller care umblă din cârciumă-n cârciumă și care nu avea deloc probleme financiare (da, e unul dintre puținele romane bune în care banii nu joacă decât un rol protocolar), scriitor amator de versuri, dă nas în nas cu un străin care "din greșeală" uită o cărticică în mâna lui. Harry al nostru strigă după el, dar acesta mărește pasul. Buimăcit, începe a citi cartea... Acolo nu era altceva decât o "proză psihologică" (obiectivă de data asta), o proză al cărei personaj principal nu este nimeni altul decât el însuși. Problema care se ridică (și care se poate pune pe seama unei nevroze dată de singurătate, căci da, uitasem să spun că figura asta era "cel mai singur om de pe pământ") e aceea că întâmplarea face ca nu numai numele său să fie menționat acolo, ci și faptele și -mai grav!- gândurile, care nu sunt altceva decât niște electroni care plutesc în jurul nucleului: SINUCIDEREA!
Cartea e recomandată de autor "numai pentru nebuni".
Apare și o femeie, o felină numită Hermina, o frumoasă nimfa care ni-l duce pe Harry în tărâmul viselor. Consumul de substanțe halucinante, cu precădere opium, își spune și el cuvântul..
Titlul este dat după identificarea lui Harry Haller cu o altă latură a sa, o latură cu o conștiință și cu idei proprii, întotdeauna împotriva sărmanului Harry (cel care povestește).
Deja simt că am omis un triliard de detalii... Mă rog, de aceea am spus că nu e deloc ușor să cuprinzi cartea asta în câteva cuvinte; nu e o poveste simplă, ci e una cu foarte multe substraturi deductibile.
Ceea ce contează e că Harry își găsește "drumul său". Dar, vai!, asta după atâtea și atâtea frânghii trecute prin fața ochilor săi...
Nelipsitele fragmente subliniate (câteva, căci dacă aș fi subliniat cum aș fi făcut-o de obicei, ar fi trebuit să încep de la primul rând și să termin la ultimul, făcând, deci, risipă de cerneală):
1.Din acea "cărticică" primită de Harry, o scriere care se referă strict la el, el fiind obiectul de analiză al unui psiholog: "Traiectoria destinului unor oameni de genul acesta se caracterizează prin aceea că sinuciderea reprezintă pentru ei, cel puțin în propria lor închipuire, modalitatea cea mai plauzibilă de a muri. Premisa unei asemenea stări sufletești, remarcată aproape întotdeauna încă din fragedă tinerețe, starea care îi însoțește pe acești oameni pe parcursul întregii lor vieți, nu este defel o lipsă de vitalitate, căci, dimpotrivă, printre "sinucigași" există și firi extraordinar de tenace, avide și îndrăznețe."
2. "Cred că lupta împotriva morții, dorința necondiționată și încăpățânată de a trăi este sursa din care s-au alimentat activitatea și viața tuturor oamenilor iluştri."
3. "Seriozitatea, tinere, este o chestiune de timp; nu pot să-ți dezvălui decât că ea provine dintr-o supraestimare a timpului."
4." Oare idealurile există pentru a fi realizate?"
5." Dar tot eternității îi aparține și orice imagine a unei fapte adevărate, puterea oricărui sentiment adevărat, chiar dacă nimeni n-o cunoaște, chiar dacă nimeni n-o așterne pe hârtie pentru a o transmite lumii de mai târziu."
6. Regăsirea sinelui: "Într-o bună zi voi juca mai bine acest joc cu figuri. Într-o bună zi voi învăța să râd. Mă așteaptă Pablo. Mă așteaptă Mozart."
Andrei Tamaş,
16 septembrie 2015
Mi-am propus de foarte multe ori să scriu o recenzie asupra romanului "Lupul de stepă" de Hesse. Mă obseda însă ideea că nu aș fi capabil, că nu aș putea spune tot ce aș vrea să spun, că n-aș găsi cuvintele necesare pentru a descrie această carte. Ieșind din aura ei și scriind DESPRE ea, mi-e frică de faptul că o să-i ciopârțesc valoarea (nu sunt deloc un bun sculptor).
Poate cuvintele mele de mai sus nu înseamnă nimic pentru unii, poate mulți nu-mi vor înțelege "frica". Ei, acest lucru este surprins și în roman...
"Lupul de stepă" reprezintă lucrarea de căpătâi a condiției umane (varianta modernă). Dacă aș fi pus -cine știe cum!- să numesc un titlu, aș spune fără șovăire "În căutarea sensului vieții" (știu, poate e deja luat...).
Ştiu, de asemenea, că numai aceia care s-au gândit măcar o singură dată la actul sinuciderii în sine vor înțelege pe deplin romanul.
Într-o narațiune la persoana I, într-o Germanie bântuită de criza economică de după Marele Război, într-un oraș destul de însemnat, un anume Harry Haller care umblă din cârciumă-n cârciumă și care nu avea deloc probleme financiare (da, e unul dintre puținele romane bune în care banii nu joacă decât un rol protocolar), scriitor amator de versuri, dă nas în nas cu un străin care "din greșeală" uită o cărticică în mâna lui. Harry al nostru strigă după el, dar acesta mărește pasul. Buimăcit, începe a citi cartea... Acolo nu era altceva decât o "proză psihologică" (obiectivă de data asta), o proză al cărei personaj principal nu este nimeni altul decât el însuși. Problema care se ridică (și care se poate pune pe seama unei nevroze dată de singurătate, căci da, uitasem să spun că figura asta era "cel mai singur om de pe pământ") e aceea că întâmplarea face ca nu numai numele său să fie menționat acolo, ci și faptele și -mai grav!- gândurile, care nu sunt altceva decât niște electroni care plutesc în jurul nucleului: SINUCIDEREA!
Cartea e recomandată de autor "numai pentru nebuni".
Apare și o femeie, o felină numită Hermina, o frumoasă nimfa care ni-l duce pe Harry în tărâmul viselor. Consumul de substanțe halucinante, cu precădere opium, își spune și el cuvântul..
Titlul este dat după identificarea lui Harry Haller cu o altă latură a sa, o latură cu o conștiință și cu idei proprii, întotdeauna împotriva sărmanului Harry (cel care povestește).
Deja simt că am omis un triliard de detalii... Mă rog, de aceea am spus că nu e deloc ușor să cuprinzi cartea asta în câteva cuvinte; nu e o poveste simplă, ci e una cu foarte multe substraturi deductibile.
Ceea ce contează e că Harry își găsește "drumul său". Dar, vai!, asta după atâtea și atâtea frânghii trecute prin fața ochilor săi...
Nelipsitele fragmente subliniate (câteva, căci dacă aș fi subliniat cum aș fi făcut-o de obicei, ar fi trebuit să încep de la primul rând și să termin la ultimul, făcând, deci, risipă de cerneală):
1.Din acea "cărticică" primită de Harry, o scriere care se referă strict la el, el fiind obiectul de analiză al unui psiholog: "Traiectoria destinului unor oameni de genul acesta se caracterizează prin aceea că sinuciderea reprezintă pentru ei, cel puțin în propria lor închipuire, modalitatea cea mai plauzibilă de a muri. Premisa unei asemenea stări sufletești, remarcată aproape întotdeauna încă din fragedă tinerețe, starea care îi însoțește pe acești oameni pe parcursul întregii lor vieți, nu este defel o lipsă de vitalitate, căci, dimpotrivă, printre "sinucigași" există și firi extraordinar de tenace, avide și îndrăznețe."
2. "Cred că lupta împotriva morții, dorința necondiționată și încăpățânată de a trăi este sursa din care s-au alimentat activitatea și viața tuturor oamenilor iluştri."
3. "Seriozitatea, tinere, este o chestiune de timp; nu pot să-ți dezvălui decât că ea provine dintr-o supraestimare a timpului."
4." Oare idealurile există pentru a fi realizate?"
5." Dar tot eternității îi aparține și orice imagine a unei fapte adevărate, puterea oricărui sentiment adevărat, chiar dacă nimeni n-o cunoaște, chiar dacă nimeni n-o așterne pe hârtie pentru a o transmite lumii de mai târziu."
6. Regăsirea sinelui: "Într-o bună zi voi juca mai bine acest joc cu figuri. Într-o bună zi voi învăța să râd. Mă așteaptă Pablo. Mă așteaptă Mozart."
Andrei Tamaş,
16 septembrie 2015
March 20, 2025
Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse was a rollercoaster read for me. The beginning, in which the protagonist, Harry Haller (aka the Steppenwolf), is introduced reminded me a lot of Jean Paul Sartre's existentialist masterpiece, Nausea. In fact, I noted that Hesse used the word 'nausea' on several occasions to describe Haller's somewhat misanthropic view of life. His fatalistic outlook contrasts sharply with his almost child-like appreciation of small bourgeoise things like smelling blooming flowers, and reading classical literature. There was a very deep philosophical and spiritual thread to the narrative in this first part of Steppenwolf which was reminiscent of Hesse's well known, novella Siddhartha.
Yet the story soon shifted gears and became more of a celebration of Haller's journey (one may even say descent) towards the enjoyment of the full spectrum of life (almost bordering at times on hedonism) ranging from sexual promiscuity to the consumption of psychedelic drugs. This part, I can imagine, must have made this book, which was published in the late 1920's, quite scandalous due to its depiction and embracing of 'immorality' (at least in that era).
The ending, however, is where Steppenwolf went off the rails for me. Hence the 3 star rating. The book ended quite bizarrely and abruptly, leaving me with a feeling that Hesse might have himself been 'tripping' when he wrote the final part of the book. I must confess the end did not resonate with me at all. Perhaps this is a minority opinion, so I would encourage anyone curious about Hesse's writing to give Steppenwolf a try, while keeping an open mind!
Yet the story soon shifted gears and became more of a celebration of Haller's journey (one may even say descent) towards the enjoyment of the full spectrum of life (almost bordering at times on hedonism) ranging from sexual promiscuity to the consumption of psychedelic drugs. This part, I can imagine, must have made this book, which was published in the late 1920's, quite scandalous due to its depiction and embracing of 'immorality' (at least in that era).
The ending, however, is where Steppenwolf went off the rails for me. Hence the 3 star rating. The book ended quite bizarrely and abruptly, leaving me with a feeling that Hesse might have himself been 'tripping' when he wrote the final part of the book. I must confess the end did not resonate with me at all. Perhaps this is a minority opinion, so I would encourage anyone curious about Hesse's writing to give Steppenwolf a try, while keeping an open mind!
June 21, 2024
Wie viele andere Leser habe ich den STEPPENWOLF als Teenager gelesen und war damals begeistert. Hermann Hesse, verachtet von meiner Deutschlehrerin, zählte zu meinen liebsten Schriftstellern. Je größer die Abneigung der alten Dame war, desto stärker wurde meine Anhängerschaft. Deutsch war mein liebstes Fach. Sie wollte mich festnageln auf die Klassiker des 19. Jahrhunderts. Ich wollte Rebellion, wurde zornig, zog mich zurück und liebte es, meinen Böll, Hesse und Lenz als Einzelgänger zu lesen. Ich wollte ein Steppenwolf sein und fühlte mich ganz so wie Harry Haller. Wütend auf das Bürgertum, die Spießigkeit, die Menschen, die mich nicht so sein lassen wollten, wie ich war. Doch irgendwann war die Schulzeit vorbei, Hesse komplett gelesen und der Literaturgeschmack ging in eine andere Richtung.
Das war vor über 30 Jahren. Heute bin ich so alt wie Hesse als er das Buch schrieb und damit auch so alt wie Harry Haller, der Steppenwolf. Genau die richtige Zeit, um das Buch nochmal zu lesen. Auf den ersten Seiten kam mir das alte Gefühl an Kampfgeist wieder hoch, doch schnell änderte sich mein Blick auf den Steppenwolf. Mir fielen plötzlich Passagen auf, die ich offensichtlich in meinem jugendlichen Leichtsinn übergangen hatte. Haller rebellierte zwar, doch liebte er auch die saubere Idylle seiner Vermieterin. Selbst hier im Anfang merkt man, dass zwei Herzen in Haller schlagen. Doch es sind nicht nur zwei Rollen, die der Mensch einnimmt, wir fühlen uns in vielen Punkten hin und hergerissen. Ständig ziehen wir uns neue Rollen über und so macht sich der Hesse im Traktat über Haller lustig, wenn dieser sich selbst auf der Frage, ob er Mensch oder Wolf ist, reduziert. Interessant, wie man im Alter das Buch mit anderen Augen liest, aber auch verständlich, denn als junger Mensch muss man noch nicht in so viele Rollen schlüpfen.
Haller lernt im Verlauf der Geschichte Hermine kennen, die ihm das Lachen lehrt, lässt sich mit Maria verkuppeln, die ihn das Lieben lernt. Er lernt zu tanzen, Spaß zu haben, gesellig zu sein. Humor als Medizin. Auch das war mir als junger Leser fremd, denn trotz aller Rebellion, wusste ich schon, wie man lacht und sich freut. Warum sollte das so schwer sein? Ich habe das Buch doch mit einem äußerst eingeschränkten Blickwinkel gelesen. Dank der eigenen Lebenskrisen kann ich Haller erst jetzt richtig verstehen.
Ich wurde während des Lesens gefragt, ob man den STEPPENWOLF im Alter nochmal lesen sollte, denn es wäre doch eigentlich ein Buch für die Jugend. Oder für die drogenstimulierte Hippiebewegung. Aber Steppenwolf bedeutet nicht bekifft auf dem Highway entlangzufahren und Born to be wild zu hören. Das Buch ist unbedingt lesenswert, wenn man die Mitte des Lebens erreicht hat. Der Steppenwolf steckt zwar zu Beginn seines Buchs in einer Krise, steht kurz vor dem Selbstmord, aber Hesse lässt ihn einen Weg der Heilung finden. Wie bei so vielen spirituellen Büchern Hesses. Manche Kritiker mögen das als schwülstig bezeichnen oder als Psychologie auf einfachen Niveau. Mich sprechen seine Bilder auch jetzt noch beim Wiederlesen an und ich verstehe das Buch erst heute richtig, oder vielmehr besser. Denn die abschließenden Traum- und Drogensequenzen im Magischen Theater lassen viel Spielraum für Interpretationen. Und Hesse hat beklagt, dass dieses Buch gerade von den begeisterten Anhänger oft missverstanden wurde. Insofern bin ich vielleicht auch auf dem Holzweg, aber letztlich steht es ja jedem Leser frei, dass in einem Buch herauszulesen, was er empfindet. Ich bleibe bei 5 Sternen und einer Ablage im Favoritenordner.
Das war vor über 30 Jahren. Heute bin ich so alt wie Hesse als er das Buch schrieb und damit auch so alt wie Harry Haller, der Steppenwolf. Genau die richtige Zeit, um das Buch nochmal zu lesen. Auf den ersten Seiten kam mir das alte Gefühl an Kampfgeist wieder hoch, doch schnell änderte sich mein Blick auf den Steppenwolf. Mir fielen plötzlich Passagen auf, die ich offensichtlich in meinem jugendlichen Leichtsinn übergangen hatte. Haller rebellierte zwar, doch liebte er auch die saubere Idylle seiner Vermieterin. Selbst hier im Anfang merkt man, dass zwei Herzen in Haller schlagen. Doch es sind nicht nur zwei Rollen, die der Mensch einnimmt, wir fühlen uns in vielen Punkten hin und hergerissen. Ständig ziehen wir uns neue Rollen über und so macht sich der Hesse im Traktat über Haller lustig, wenn dieser sich selbst auf der Frage, ob er Mensch oder Wolf ist, reduziert. Interessant, wie man im Alter das Buch mit anderen Augen liest, aber auch verständlich, denn als junger Mensch muss man noch nicht in so viele Rollen schlüpfen.
Haller lernt im Verlauf der Geschichte Hermine kennen, die ihm das Lachen lehrt, lässt sich mit Maria verkuppeln, die ihn das Lieben lernt. Er lernt zu tanzen, Spaß zu haben, gesellig zu sein. Humor als Medizin. Auch das war mir als junger Leser fremd, denn trotz aller Rebellion, wusste ich schon, wie man lacht und sich freut. Warum sollte das so schwer sein? Ich habe das Buch doch mit einem äußerst eingeschränkten Blickwinkel gelesen. Dank der eigenen Lebenskrisen kann ich Haller erst jetzt richtig verstehen.
Ich wurde während des Lesens gefragt, ob man den STEPPENWOLF im Alter nochmal lesen sollte, denn es wäre doch eigentlich ein Buch für die Jugend. Oder für die drogenstimulierte Hippiebewegung. Aber Steppenwolf bedeutet nicht bekifft auf dem Highway entlangzufahren und Born to be wild zu hören. Das Buch ist unbedingt lesenswert, wenn man die Mitte des Lebens erreicht hat. Der Steppenwolf steckt zwar zu Beginn seines Buchs in einer Krise, steht kurz vor dem Selbstmord, aber Hesse lässt ihn einen Weg der Heilung finden. Wie bei so vielen spirituellen Büchern Hesses. Manche Kritiker mögen das als schwülstig bezeichnen oder als Psychologie auf einfachen Niveau. Mich sprechen seine Bilder auch jetzt noch beim Wiederlesen an und ich verstehe das Buch erst heute richtig, oder vielmehr besser. Denn die abschließenden Traum- und Drogensequenzen im Magischen Theater lassen viel Spielraum für Interpretationen. Und Hesse hat beklagt, dass dieses Buch gerade von den begeisterten Anhänger oft missverstanden wurde. Insofern bin ich vielleicht auch auf dem Holzweg, aber letztlich steht es ja jedem Leser frei, dass in einem Buch herauszulesen, was er empfindet. Ich bleibe bei 5 Sternen und einer Ablage im Favoritenordner.
October 8, 2025
This work by Hermann Hesse felt like yet another of his autobiographical works. Like in Demian, here, too, Hesse takes the readers through the path of isolation, destruction, and salvation. The difference is that in Demian, Hesse addresses the emotional difficulties a young man faces as he steps from boyhood to adulthood; but in Steppenwolf, the focus is on the middle-aged crisis of a mature adult.
Unlike young Emil Sinclair in Demian, Harry Haller in Steppenwolf is a middle-aged man who has arrived at the point of exhaustion with living. He senses two personalities within him - one wolf and the other man, which conflict with one another. The dual personality within him makes life unendurable for him, and his depressed spirit withdraws from human company. The increased isolation makes him prone to suicidal thoughts. This marks the first stage of Haller's crisis - the struggle between burdensome living and freedom by death. Hesse finds a platform here to address the depths of man's isolation; how his withdrawal from the realistic life affects his person. When a man withdraws from the realistic world, he most certainly steps into a fantastic, imaginative world where he seeks temporary relief. Entering this fantastical world is Haller's next stage. Drugs, alcohol, women, and sex give him a temporary boost. However, though he fully indulges himself in sensual pleasures, he cannot altogether suppress the deeply rooted dissatisfaction and conflict between the man and wolf within him. However, Haller is not totally lost; salvation awaits him through the very downward path he is walking. Hermine and Pablo, two acquaintances of his fantastical life, teach him how to find the truth by looking deep into his own soul.
Like Demian, the story here too demonstrates Hesse's love of Eastern philosophies and psychoanalytic theories. Borrowings from certain Buddhist philosophical teachings can be identified when explaining Haller's path from darkness to light. In Steppenwolf, the theories found in Demian are more developed and explained that I felt Steppenwolf to be an expansion of Demian; only the story itself didn't have the same charm Demian had.
I'm new to Hermann Hesse, and Steppenwolf is only the second novel I have read. Having read two similar works, I still cannot say that I comprehend him. There is so much symbology that, while some are clearly understood, some subtly ambiguous ones go unnoticed. It's no wonder that in the preface to the 1960 edition, Hesse wrote that Steppenwolfwas "more often and more violently misunderstood".
It's quite possible that I too have misunderstood Steppenwolf, especially the symbolic significance of the characters of Hermine and Pablo. My interpretation of Hermine is that she's the mirror image of Haller, the Steppenwolf. But she is also the source of his salvation. The "magic theatre" she creates with Pablo is the turning point for Haller. It helps him to understand where to look for the truth, which is towards his soul. Hesse believed that the truth we seek lies within ourselves, and not in external sources. They are only the guides who would direct our path inwards to ourselves.
Hemann Hesse's works are no easy reads, nor can I claim to have "enjoyed" them. Surprisingly, however, there is a strange seductive charm in them that makes me crave more.
More of my reviews can be found at http://piyangiejay.com/
Unlike young Emil Sinclair in Demian, Harry Haller in Steppenwolf is a middle-aged man who has arrived at the point of exhaustion with living. He senses two personalities within him - one wolf and the other man, which conflict with one another. The dual personality within him makes life unendurable for him, and his depressed spirit withdraws from human company. The increased isolation makes him prone to suicidal thoughts. This marks the first stage of Haller's crisis - the struggle between burdensome living and freedom by death. Hesse finds a platform here to address the depths of man's isolation; how his withdrawal from the realistic life affects his person. When a man withdraws from the realistic world, he most certainly steps into a fantastic, imaginative world where he seeks temporary relief. Entering this fantastical world is Haller's next stage. Drugs, alcohol, women, and sex give him a temporary boost. However, though he fully indulges himself in sensual pleasures, he cannot altogether suppress the deeply rooted dissatisfaction and conflict between the man and wolf within him. However, Haller is not totally lost; salvation awaits him through the very downward path he is walking. Hermine and Pablo, two acquaintances of his fantastical life, teach him how to find the truth by looking deep into his own soul.
Like Demian, the story here too demonstrates Hesse's love of Eastern philosophies and psychoanalytic theories. Borrowings from certain Buddhist philosophical teachings can be identified when explaining Haller's path from darkness to light. In Steppenwolf, the theories found in Demian are more developed and explained that I felt Steppenwolf to be an expansion of Demian; only the story itself didn't have the same charm Demian had.
I'm new to Hermann Hesse, and Steppenwolf is only the second novel I have read. Having read two similar works, I still cannot say that I comprehend him. There is so much symbology that, while some are clearly understood, some subtly ambiguous ones go unnoticed. It's no wonder that in the preface to the 1960 edition, Hesse wrote that Steppenwolfwas "more often and more violently misunderstood".
It's quite possible that I too have misunderstood Steppenwolf, especially the symbolic significance of the characters of Hermine and Pablo. My interpretation of Hermine is that she's the mirror image of Haller, the Steppenwolf. But she is also the source of his salvation. The "magic theatre" she creates with Pablo is the turning point for Haller. It helps him to understand where to look for the truth, which is towards his soul. Hesse believed that the truth we seek lies within ourselves, and not in external sources. They are only the guides who would direct our path inwards to ourselves.
Hemann Hesse's works are no easy reads, nor can I claim to have "enjoyed" them. Surprisingly, however, there is a strange seductive charm in them that makes me crave more.
More of my reviews can be found at http://piyangiejay.com/
January 23, 2018
Αυτό που οι περισσ��τεροι αποκαλούν "πραγματικότητα" δεν είναι τελικά τίποτε περισσότερο από την προσωπική τους αντίληψη και μετάφραση του επιστητού. Η κυρίαρχη αυτή ανάγνωση αποτελεί το κεντρικό πλαίσιο αναφοράς, μιας και η κοινωνική –ενίοτε αγελαία- φύση του ατόμου το ωθεί στην αγκαλιά της πλειονότητας.
Η "ωρίμανση", επομένως, αδιάλειπτα συνεπάγεται έναν σταδιακό απεγκλωβισμό από την προσωπική θέαση του κόσμου, από τον ιδιαίτερο τρόπο αντίληψης του υπάρχοντος, προκειμένου να ενταχθείς στην ολότητα. Το τίμημα, βέβαια, είναι σχεδόν πάντοτε υψηλό: να απωλέσεις την ατομικότητά σου, ανταλλάσσοντας τον αέναο τρόμο της αβεβαιότητας με την αγλαή τρυφηλότητα της πίστης σε μια κοινή ιδέα. Για τους "oi Polloi" δεν τίθεται καν το δίλημμα.
Η "ωρίμανση", επομένως, αδιάλειπτα συνεπάγεται έναν σταδιακό απεγκλωβισμό από την προσωπική θέαση του κόσμου, από τον ιδιαίτερο τρόπο αντίληψης του υπάρχοντος, προκειμένου να ενταχθείς στην ολότητα. Το τίμημα, βέβαια, είναι σχεδόν πάντοτε υψηλό: να απωλέσεις την ατομικότητά σου, ανταλλάσσοντας τον αέναο τρόμο της αβεβαιότητας με την αγλαή τρυφηλότητα της πίστης σε μια κοινή ιδέα. Για τους "oi Polloi" δεν τίθεται καν το δίλημμα.
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