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Steppenwolf (originally Der Steppenwolf) is the tenth novel by German-Swiss author Hermann Hesse. Originally published in Germany in 1927, it was first translated into English in 1929. The novel was named after the German name for the steppe wolf .
- Steppenwolf (Disambiguation)
Steppenwolf, a 1974 adaptation of Hesse's novel; Steppenwolf...
- Steppe Wolf
The steppe wolf (Canis lupus campestris), also known as the...
- Steppenwolf (Disambiguation)
His best-known works include: Demian, Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, Narcissus and Goldmund, and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge, and spirituality. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
- Introduction
- Author Biography
- Plot Summary
- Media Adaptations
- Characters
- Themes
- Topics For Further Study
- Style
- Historical Context
- Compare & Contrast
Hermann Hesse's novel Der Steppenwolf (English translation, Steppenwolf [1929]), was first published in 1927. It is one of the major novels by the renowned German writer and was extremely popular amongst young people in the United States in the 1960s. The counterculture of that decade took inspiration from the fact that the protagonist of the novel...
German poet and novelist Hermann Hesse was born on July 2, 1877, in the small town of Calw, in the German state of Württemberg. His father, Johannes, worked for a publishing house and had also, along with his wife Marie Gundert, been a missionary in India. In 1891, Hesse entered the Protestant Theological Seminary at Maulbronn, but he ran away from...
Preface
The preface to Steppenwolfis told in the first person by a man who recalls his acquaintance with Harry Haller, the Steppenwolf ("wolf of the Steppes"). Haller was a man of about fifty who rented two rooms on the top floor of the house owned by the narrator's aunt. In the narrator's view, he was unsociable, shy, wild, and lonely, seemingly coming from another world than the comfortable bourgeois existence enjoyed by the narrator. However, Haller was a quiet, polite lodger, and the narrator's a...
Harry Haller's Records: "For Madmen Only"
Haller begins his manuscript by writing how he despises bourgeois comfort, the mediocre optimism of the middle classes. He hates the petty conventions of life, its comforts and domesticity, preferring extremes, either of pain or pleasure. He then goes on to describe how after a pleasantly mediocre day, he went for a walk in the evening. As he walks, he reviews his discontent with the age of spiritual blindness in which he believes he lives, and he recalls moments in which he awakened to a hig...
Treatise on the Steppenwolf
When Haller returns home, he reads the title of the book: "Treatise on the Steppenwolf. Not for Everybody." The treatise is an examination of the character and personality of Haller, written in the third person by an anonymous, objective observer. According to the treatise, Haller is divided between two natures, man and wolf. Each tries to sabotage the other. When he is a man, he is capable of beautiful thoughts and he behaves in a civilized way, but the wolf in him scorns this. When the wolf...
Steppenwolfwas made into a film in 1974, written and directed by Fred Haines, starring Max von Sydow as Harry Haller and Dominique Sanda as Hermine. As of 2006, the film was in print and available...
Bourgeois Narrator
The bourgeois narrator is the nephew of Haller's landlady. He narrates the novel's preface, reporting on his acquaintance with Haller and his observations about Haller's character and personality. Unlike Haller, the middle-class narrator lives an orderly, respectable life, full of predictable routine; he goes to work at an office each day, and he values punctuality. Also unlike Haller, he neither smokes or drinks.
Erica
Erica is the estranged lover of Haller. He reports that he meets her occasionally, but for some reason she is angry with him and they quarrel.
Johann Wolfgang Goethe
Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749–1832), a German poet, novelist, dramatist, and essayist, was one of the greatest writers Germany has produced. Haller is an admirer of Goethe, and he is greatly offended when, visiting the home of the professor, he sees a portrait of the great man that does not capture Goethe's true spirit. In one of the surreal episodes in the novel, Haller dreams that he meets Goethe. He reproaches him for being insincere in his work and presenting too optimistic a vision of hum...
The Search for a Higher State of Consciousness
In a note to the novel written in 1961, Hesse declared that many readers had failed to understand the message of Steppenwolf. The book was not only about Haller's many miseries and failings. It pointed also to a "second, higher, indestructible world beyond the Steppenwolf … a positive, serene, superpersonal and timeless world of faith" (published as the "Author's Note" in the English translation of Steppenwolf). Hesse emphasized that the book was not about despair but belief. This timeless wo...
Research the counterculture of the 1960s in the United States and make a class presentation that explains why Steppenwolfhad such a strong appeal for young Americans during that decade.Read Hesse's novel, Siddhartha. Write an essay in which you discuss how Siddhartha's inner journey compares to that of Harry Haller. Are their spiritual quests similar? Do they reach the same kind...Haller has a deep suspicion of technology and fears that it will debase the culture and adversely affect the human spirit. Why does he feel this? What reasons does he give? To what extent have his...Harry Haller divides himself into two opposing qualities but later discovers how inadequate such a binary classification is. Write a short analysis like the "Treatise on the Steppenwolf" in which,...Realism and Surrealism
The novel is told on two levels, the realistic and the surreal. The bourgeois narrator's preface and the first part of "Harry Haller's Records" gives the reader a realistic picture of Haller's life. But when Haller is given the book, "Treatise on the Steppenwolf," a surreal element enters the novel, since from a realistic point of view, it is impossible for Haller suddenly to acquire a book written in this expository style which analyzes his own personality. Haller's dream of Goethe and his e...
Music Imagery
Music is a recurring motif, and different types of music illustrate the dichotomy between the ideal realm of the immortals and the bourgeois world; between spirit and flesh. In Haller's view, the music of composers such as Handel, Bach, and Mozart can express the divine and the eternal. By contrast, popular music, especially jazz, represents for Haller only cultural degeneration. In spite of this view, however, he acknowledges that jazz, even though he detests it, has "a secret charm" for him...
Mirror Imagery
The image of the mirror is used repeatedly to illustrate the point that the Steppenwolf must look at and examine himself unflinchingly in order to understand all aspects of his own nature. The mirror image occurs in the "Treatise on the Steppenwolf," for example, which states that Haller is well aware of the existence of such a mirror, as well as his need to look into it and his own terrible fear of doing so. The image of the mirror is used in connection with Hermine to convey the idea that s...
The Weimar Republic
In an attempt to create a parliamentary democracy in 1919 following World War I, German social democrats established the Weimar Republic in Germany. However, the Weimar Republic was beset by difficulties from the beginning. These included German resentment of the Versailles Treaty that followed World War I, which imposed punitive conditions on Germany in an attempt to ensure it would not threaten the victorious European powers again. Economic problems of Weimer included runaway inflation in t...
Psychological Theories of Freud and Jung
In the 1920s, the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) were well known and widely accepted as groundbreaking contributions to human knowledge. In his studies of neurotic patients, Freud subjected the unconscious mind to rigorous investigation and showed how it influenced behavior. He believed that when people go through experiences that are too painful or threatening, they repress the memories of such experiences in the unconscious, where the memories become inaccessible to th...
1920s: Many in Europe are convinced that it is only a matter of time before another war breaks out on the continent. The prospect of war is connected to the fact that Germany resents the harsh cond...1920s: In 1920, there are 7.5 million cars and trucks in the United States. The rise of the automobile industry in the United States and Europe leads to the development of infrastructure (new roads...1920s: Jazz, a form of music imported from the United States, becomes extremely popular in Germany. During the Weimar Republic, jazz becomes almost the national music, heard in cafés, dance halls,...Steppenwolf is a poetical self-portrait of a man who felt himself to be half-human and half-wolf. This Faust-like and magical story is evidence of Hesse's searching philosophy and extraordinary sense of humanity as he tells of the humanization of a middle-aged misanthrope.
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Steppenwolf, published in 1927 by German-Swiss author Hermann Hesse, is a novel that explores the dual nature of humanity through the story of its protagonist, Harry Haller. Haller, a middle-aged intellectual, struggles with his own self-destructive tendencies and feelings of alienation from society.
At a Glance: Full title Steppenwolf, or Der Steppenwolf (The Steppenwolf) Author Hermann Hesse. Type of work Novel. Genre Bildungsroman; psychoanalytical adventure. Language German. Time and place written Mid-1920s, Switzerland. Date of first publication 1927. Publisher S. Fischer. In-depth Facts:
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This blistering portrait of a man who feels himself to be half human and half wolf was the bible of the 1960s counterculture, capturing the mood of a disaffected generation. It continues to resonate as a haunting story of estrangement, redemption, and the search for one’s place in the world.
