Customer Reviews

Steppenwolf

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This novel is supposedly the writings of Harry Haller, a lonely intellectual who feels isolated from the rest of the world. The story is the account of his existential transformation. Beyond the plot, it is an exploration, a painful one, on the hollowness, emptiness and meaninglessness of life. It talks about how lonely we really are, in the confusing and unexplainable world in which we live. It also talks about the desperation routine brings on, the fakeness of love, the necessity of death. But, in the final analysis, it also shows a probably undeserved love for life. This is not a simple "grunge" book: it's thoughtful philosophy expressed in a fine literary piece of work, which shows vividly some concepts that sometimes formal philosophy renders in abstract and obscure ways.

Harry Haller, the steppenwolf, will meet a simple woman who takes him into the life of the flesh and the simplicity of people. This is very important: Haller comes to realize, in an intuitive more than analytical way, how we all humans feel the same loneliness and confusion, but how most of us manage to live and somehow enjoy many aspects of being alive.

This is an intelligent, deep and moving novel. It is not always pleasant, but then again life is not always pleasant either. Steppenwolf is perhaps the novel in which Hesse best sums up many of the points made in his other novels, previous or subsequent. It is the round-up of a clear and interesting philosophy of life. No wonder people, especially young people, keep finding inspiration, advice and healing in his works. Maybe I shouldn't give it five stars, for it can't be compared with top-level literary masterpieces; but I think literature's importance is not only and not always stylistical. The content is important too, and at least for me, this is one of the most inspiring and memorable novels I've ever read.

....because it meant so very much to me during a dark time in my life. I never realized how much of what we learn to see in ourselves as odd, strange, unacceptable, mentally ill, or whatnot makes perfect poetic-daimonic sense to an underground but vital chunk of fellow human beings like Hermann Hesse.

What's the book about? About one man's journey into the hell of his own being, paralleled only by the hell of a world he finds no home in; words from Hesse's DEMIAN come to mind: "My story is not a pleasant one....It is a story of nonsense and chaos, madness and dreams--like the lives of all men who stop deceiving themselves."

It's been years since I first came across this remarkable novel of the archetypally lonely man aptly named the Steppenwolf, and yet I still recall so much of it, especially the Author's Note which Hesse wrote when he felt the book was being misunderstood: pointing out that Harry Haller's (Hermann Hesse's) sufferings were opposed by a "positive, serene, superpersonal and timeless world of faith," Hesse adds, "May everyone find in it what strikes a chord in him and is of some use to him! But I would be happy if many of them were to realize that the story of the Steppenwolf pictures a disease and crisis--but not one leading to death and destruction, on the contrary: to healing."

Hesse is a genius -- go read his stuff! His writing is by no means light reading. Very deep and mysterious. This book, in particular -- magical and supernatural and profound. It was slow getting through the first third of the book, but after that I flew right threw it. The first part is a little boring -- but that's because the protagonist is boring at the beginning, and that's part of the point. (Don't give up!) The book then blossoms into a beautiful, vivid exploration of the senses and a visit to the strange and mysterious "magical theater" -- which contains some of the most beautiful and poignant scenes i've read in all of literature. Hesse has incredible insight into the complexity of mankind and has an amazing, profound wisdom of life and truth.

The book is basically about a man who is trapped in the personality he has created for himself, in the small, confined, grey world he has created, and how he learns to break free from those, to free himself from the restriction of the illusion of a singular soul, as each person is comprised of many souls. ("Man is an onion made up of a hundred integuments, a texture made up of many threads").

Harry experiences many strange encounters, including his visit to the "magial theater" in which he relives all the possibilities of love, engages in war, and meets Mozart, who, laughing ridiculously (I wouldn't have him depicted any other way), shares with Harry some of his Immortal wisdom, teaches him to laugh instead of taking himself so seriously.

Anyhow... go read this. You will never see the life the same way again.

I love this book, and I'm forever grateful to its author.

Hesse has said about Nietzsche that he was a man caught between two ages, suffering in deep aloneness a hundred years ago what thousands go through today. Hesse was such a man, of course. As the book's fictional bourgeois narrator says about Harry Haller:

...He called himself the Steppenwolf, and this too estranged and disturbed me a little. What an expression! However, custom did not only reconcile me to it, but soon I never thought of him by any other name; nor could I today hit on a better description of him. 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....

He also has this to say, and for me this beautifully sums up the novel's impact:

And now we come to these records of Haller's, these partly diseased, partly beautiful, and thoughtful fantasies...I see them as a document of the times, for Haller's sickness of the soul, as I now know, is not the eccentricity of a single individual, but the sickness of the times themselves, the neurosis of that generation to which Haller belongs, a sickness, it seems, that by no means attacks the weak and worthless only but, rather, precisely those who are strongest in spirit and richest in gifts. These records...are an attempt to present the sickness itself in its actual manifestation. They mean, literally, a journey through hell, a sometimes fearful, sometimes courageous journey through the chaos of a world whose souls dwell in darkness, a journey undertaken with the determination to go through hell from one end to the other, to give battle to chaos, and to suffer torture to the full.

--And yet, and yet...Hesse later wrote a beautiful Author's Note in which he emphasized that to descend is not enough; to live in shadows and be eccentric and feel despair...no, that's not the novel's destiny and shouldn't be the reader's either. Here is the last piece of that Note which expresses Hesse's view of regarding the work as only doomful:

These readers, it seems to me, have recognized themselves in the Steppenwolf, identified themselves with him, suffered his griefs, and dreamed his dreams; but they have overlooked the fact that this book knows of and speaks about other things besides Harry Haller and his difficulties, about a second, higher, indestructible world beyond the Steppenwolf and his problematic life. The "Treatise" and all those spots in the book dealing with matters of the spirit, of the arts and the "immortal" men oppose the Steppenwolf's world of suffering with a positive, serene, superpersonal and timeless world of faith. This book, no doubt, tells of griefs and needs; still, it is not a book of a man despairing, but of a man believing.

Of course, I neither can nor intend to tell my readers how they ought to understand my tale. May everyone find in it what strikes a chord in him and is of some use to him! But I would be happy if many of them were to realize that the story of the Steppenwolf pictures a disease and crisis--but not one leading to death and destruction, on the contrary: to healing.

From Nobel Price Herman Hesse, Steppenwoolf is his masterwork. At the time of publishing, it became a cult book. Half a century later, this book remains a masterpiece and the central character is as current as it was then. It is the story of a man consumed by anguish, isolated, reclusive at odds with the world and its people.We do not know too much about him, except that in the chapter called "The treatise of the Steppenwoolf" Hesse presents a psychological description of depression,isolation, anguish and anger that has been unsurpassed by the masters of psychology.As the story unfolds, Harry meets a young woman that is a able to enjoy life. Through the interactions with her, harry learns to "smell the flowers", and through several surrealistic experiences, he recalls his past and evolves into a different person.This book is so simple to read and at the same time so profound and impacting that I recommend it as a must read. Better appreciated if you have some life experience. If you read it at coll

Simply the best book I have ever read. Herman Hesse has described a very complicated life story, in a very poetic, and realistic way. It is a book that talks about the struggle we have with all the different souls that we have inside us. A book that talks about Harry who lost the desire to live, and who believed that he was half wolf, half human. How his wolf nature was taking over, and he already knew how his end would be. It talks about the depression he was going through, and how hard it was for him to look in the mirror and face himself with what was going on, and what he really wanted to do.

How the right person changed all that, she gave him a reason to be young in soul again, she understood him as a wolf and as a human, and explained the concept of the eternal life.

What makes the book much more valuable is how easy it is to relate it to our daily lives, and the challenges we face, and the motivations we have to create and look for.

A must book to read by everyone...

The idea of the divided man is Steppenwolf. If one is to understand what Hesse tries to potray through this character, some basic tenets of Buddhism help..

a) The fundamental problem with man is avidya-ignorance. Because of this he identifies with everything. That which is relative he takes for the absolute. Through grasping and ignorance he identifies with the 'I' and 'Mine'. Thus he creates the ego. He assumes that he is an unity but actually its the ego or 'not self' that gives him this false sense of integrity.

This is the state of Harry Haller before he became Steppenwolf. His being cultured, well-read, scholarly gave him this false sense of the ego. In Mahayanist principles, he is looking at the world with his 'eye of flesh' only.

b) The first step towards enlightenment is to realise the duality of the ego, the I, the mine.

Harry Haller as Steppenwolf - Here Harry realises that infact he is not one. That which is not him he calls as Wolf. He sees in him both man and wolf, kindness and cruelty, love and hate, passion and compassion. But his classifying and categorising mind again divides all these emotions into 'man like' characteristics and 'wolf-like' characteristics.

Though steppenwolf's state of existence cannot be envied, it must be realised that its still better than his false sense of oneness. Here, Hesse is using the concept of the 'Deva eye' - the vision that helps one discern the dualistic aspect of the world because of identification with the ego.

c) Then Harry meets Hermine and Maria, that seedy musician and a gallery of characters. He is thrown into a vortex of sex, debauchery, mundanities. These experiences of Harry are completely different from what he thought of himself as - Man and Wolf. He sees in himself everything and in everything himself.

This is the stage where Hesse has used the concept of Indra's net from the Vajracheddika - one of the most fundamental sutras of Mahayana Buddhism. Each precious stone in the net reflects every other stone as it is without any distortion. One can see every stone in the net reflected within one stone. Harry sees the ultimate oneness in every principle and way of life. He sees Samsara in Nirvana and Nirvana in Samsara. He has gone beyond the eye of the flesh and the deva eye. I am not sure if he has the buddha eye but definitely he sees the world with the eye of wisdom. Herein lies Harry's ultimate salvation.

Hesse has used the basic tenets of Mahayana philosophy in addition to other streams of Eastern thought and exposited them beautifully through Steppenwolf. This is also the reason why he says in the preface that those who just identified themselves with Steppenwolf(because they see themselves as him) have understood the book wrongly. These people are seeing the book with the eyes of the flesh and deva eye only. They are seeing what they like to see - themselves!They are not understanding the supra-steppenwolf stage of Harry's spiritual liberation. And Hesse cannot tell them to see with the Buddha eye - it can only be realised by oneself.

Hesse was definitely a Bodhisattva born to illuminate people's minds..no doubt about it.

I've read reviews where the reviewer has castigated this novel as "the perfect specimen of the Nietzschean overman who renounces the world." Others have said this book is blatantly anti-bourgeoisie as well. Such comments only reveal the misunderstanding of what Hesse was attempting to convey in this novel.

First I should point out that Nietzsche did not renounce the world at all. In some sense Hesse was heavily influenced by Nietzsche and so in order to understand something of this book it might be helpful to have read a little bit of Nietzsche himself. Unlike his predecessor Schopenhauer (another great philosopher), Nietzsche did not condemn the world. What Nietzsche really condemned was the current state of things (rampant nationalism, anti-semitism, Bolshevism, and materialism etc.) and the mentalities that produced them (racism, narrow-mindedness, complacency, and absolute religious convictions) when he scathingly criticized the 'majority', insofar as the majority embraced these doctrines. Hesse, like Nietzsche, is a 'Yes-Saying' man (Yes-saying to the world that is) and that is manifested in this novel. Obviously Hesse believed in progress and had much hope for humanity. Perhaps those who have charged the author with such nihilistic sentiments have not read further than the first half of the book and have only read the despair that Harry later transcends. This book isn't going to root out and remove suffering altogether but enough so that it isn't so overwelming that one gives up on life. As Hesse wrote, "But I would be happy if many of them were to realize that the story of the Steppenwolf pictures a disease and crisis-but not one leading to death and destruction, on the contrary: to healing."

This book is neither anti-bourgeois as Harry's deep seated contempt for the bourgeois life and its complacency climaxes in his realization that he has for so long denied and hated the bourgeois tendencies in himself and that for his entire life he has made the mistake (this is where eastern mysticism comes in and the effects of western Christianity are hung up- eg. the idea of duality and of an enduring self) of devising and contrasting two sides of himself (The sensible and reasonable man contrased with the wild and passionate wolf) when in reality he was made up of many 'selfs' that formed who he was as a man and the realization that his own false conception of such dualities only caused him more angst than was necessary. In the end Harry learns the greatest lesson; that life is both tragic and comedic and one must learn not only how to be serious but to laugh at oneself. In this respect one can see how Harry is symbolic for many things beyond himself as a man.

I will not summarize this book as that has been done numerous times already by reviewers, but after reading Siddarthra and Narcissus and Goldmund, I must say this is my favorite novel from Hesse thus far. In my book he's up there with other literary geniuses such as Goethe, Camus, Kafka, Huxley, and Orwell.

Certainly this book will attract the angst filled seekers of happiness, those who are attracted to the religions of Hindiusm and Buddhism (consider this book the nourishment that will help unfold your petal of wisdom), and free-thinkers by virtue of their conviction to always challenge reality. Even if you disagree with Hesse's sentiments you can't deny the power of his prose.

With the publication of Steppenwolf in1927 Hermann Hesse was standing on the top of the literary world. Other great contemporaries like Knut Hamsun and Thomas Mann, Fitzgerald and Hemingway, were also established and writing great books, but with this book Hesse finished that decade as a leading author, thinker and philosopher. Steppenwolf is not an easy book, it demands commitment from the reader, but what you put into it, you get back many times. I have read most of Hesse's works and

Steppenwolf and Knulp with the greatest influence on me. If anything, Hermann Hesse's writing is engaging and influential, for those who likes to see all questions in life put down on paper, where you can reflect on them together with the author. Music, poetry, painting, philosophy, nature and life experience was what influenced Hesse, and he shared it with us in his writing, joys and sufferings, he gave of himself. About Steppenwolf Hesse said himself; "Of all my books Steppenwolf is the one that was more often and more violently misunderstood than any other. Of course, I neither can nor intend to tell my readers how they ought to understand my tale. May everyone find in it what strikes a chord in him and is of some use to him!"

Here I am, like the Steppenwolf, approaching the age of 50. I understand him now for I have lived his life. His deepest thoughts are mine- indeed, they read exactly like my own journals. No wonder I am told that Hesse is my soul mate. It is true.

I lived Steppenwolf's solitary life. I knew his crisis. I share his rejection of bourgeois society because it grates the fundamental essence of my soul. And I know what he means by the strength derived from knowing that you can leave this world any time. I know the conviction to never sell yourself into wage slavery for mere money. I know his night wanderings, his books, his music, his rooms, his cigars, and his wine. I know.

But I also know his central crisis. For when we are ready then a door really does open to a higher perspective. I literally walked through that door in the wall for "madmen only." Like the wulf I had always sensed the golden moments that form the golden path to that door. I was eventually shown it. I had always suspected that man was more than a half rational animal, that he was a child of the Gods and destined to immortality. When you are ready, when you are sick enough of the petty ego, you will be shown the kingdom on the other side of time and appearances. It is just necessary to stumble through your share of dirt and humbug before you reach Home.

Time and the world, money and power belong to the small and shallow people. To the rest, the real men, belongs nothing. Nothing but death- and eternity- and the kingdom.