Status Updates From Stepný vlk

•each time is life is shattered he gains liberty + spiritual growth but is more lonely
•despises ordinary life but sees ppl might be right to live as they do
•recurring suicide = exhaustion—>unable to reconcile with plain existence—>not following thru becomes another reason to hate himself
•humor as liberation—>seeing enormity of his own contradictions and realizing the comical nature of it

•taken internal contradictions and turned them into a rigid identity: man vs wolf
•completely different parts of identity pulling toward different things. All are real. How can they coexist?
•existential confusion of how humans are supposed to live, standing outside of it
•doesn’t recognize the other “flowers” in himself he’s reduced himself to categories
•intellectualization= becomes an obstacle

Vejo um potencial 5 ⭐️ nesse livro. Aguardemos.

It’s odd switching from the other man to Harry Haller’s perspective and writing style, even though they are both Herman Hesse. Their worldview is clearly separate and Haller sees these simpletons and is jealous of their naivety, their ignorant bliss that they can continue living on in mediocrity without having to think of the darkest parts of life like Haller does. He is not like them, for he is a madman.

Absolutely amazing preface, this eccentric fellow Harry Haller is brought to our attention and shown to be intelligent to his own fault. He sees the truth of life and the cost of living in this civilisation, those words stay true today. Throughout time we are still the primal humans who can bear the ability to swim, but have to learn to undertake it. Haller is out of place in his time, but doesn’t belong in any.