Steppenwolf: A Novel by Hermann Hesse Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.46 You Save: $8.54 (57%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.36 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Steppenwolf: A Novel
Book Review: A Classic Tale, but Not a Casual Read
Summary: 4 Stars
In the post-millennial era, Herman Hesse's STEPPENWOLF seems like a quaint and faintly pompous throwback to the LSD-driven late 1960's - Woodstock, Joplin, Haight-Ashbury, Hendrix, the summer of love, Jim Morrison, and "Let It Be." The real surprise comes from realizing that Hesse published the original, German language version of this book in 1927, not 1972.
The story centers around a lonely intellectual named Harry Haller, a man of culture and taste who clearly holds himself in far higher esteem than his life's achievements would dictate. So much so, in fact, that Haller views most everyone and everything around him with a disdainful condescension. He even disdains the bourgeois class of which he is by all appearances a member (think Groucho Marx's line about not wanting to be a member of a club that would have someone like himself as a member). In his over-intellectualized manner, Harry has partitioned the world - and himself - into two modes: the rational, academic Harry Haller mode and the emotional, feeling world he ascribes Jekyll and Hyde-like to the wolf from the steppe that he harbors within himself. Naturally, it is the Steppenwolf that Haller struggles to hold at bay. As a consequence of his efforts, Harry is lonely, bored, and purposeless, at a stage where the only meaningful recourse is a razor blade applied to the wrists.
Everything begins to change when Harry stumbles across an advertisement for the anarchist Magic Theater and a pamphlet "Treatise on the Steppenwolf. Not for Everybody." whose message seems oddly tailored to Harry himself. Shortly after, he meets the mysteriously alluring Hermine and the elusive young jazz saxophonist Pablo (at, of all places, the Balance Hotel - get it?). Haller's first reaction to jazz is hyperintellectual, all music theory and analysis, but Hermine gradually brings him around to feeling the music for itself. She slowly but steadily opens Harry up to the wider world of feelings and emotions, using methods as varied as ballroom dance lessons and a surprising illicit lovemaking arrangement. After weeks of preparation and a certain amount of sexual teasing from the increasingly androgynous and shape-shifting Hermine, Harry is deemed finally ready to discover his multiple selves in the drug-inspired carnival of the Magic Theater. The grand finale reads like an extended Timothy Leary LSD trip.
Despite being decades ahead of its time in attitude, content, and frankness, STEPPENWOLF remains something of a chore for modern readers. Hesse's writing is dense and laboriously formal, and the sentiments expressed are incessantly despairing when not filled with tired and too-lengthy philosophical dissertations (never more so than in the the Steppenwolf pamphlet). The author's incorporation of Eastern mysticism as well hardly holds the edge it doubtless offered in 1927. Furthermore, Harry Haller is a decidedly unlikable protagonist - patrician, priggish, and an insufferable esthete. All that being said, STEPPENWOLF remains a remarkable literary accomplishment, a 40-year precursor of the 1960's counterculture movement and the so-called Age of Acquarius. "Know Yourself," "Make Love, Not War," and "If It Feels Good, Do It" sound like nothing so much as admonitions from Hermine and Pablo to live life in the moment. Perhaps the Magic Theater was reborn in MacArthur Park after all.
Book Review: A Nietzschean Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
Coming from a philosophy background, with a predominant interest in Nietzsche, I find it hard to ignore the numerous aspects of Nietzsche in "Steppenwolf". Viewing the self as a multiplicity, favoring humor over seriousness, recognition of life's suffering while striving to overcome it, anti-nationalism-- are all major themes of Nietzsche and each of these views is voiced in the novel. As every true pupil of Nietzsche's is instructed Hesse takes Nietzschean themes as a ground and develops them in his own way and without any strict adherence to Nietzsche's philosophy. As a novel of ideas Hesse's Steppenwolf demonstrates a philosophy of life that cannot be captured within the confines of a stereotypical philosophical treatise. This novel is a breath of fresh air for anyone searching for meaning or anyone who is not content to be told how to feel or what to believe. This is the first Herman Hesse novel I have read and will surely not be the last.Book Review: A book for healing the troubled spirit
Summary: 5 Stars
"Steppenwolf" is in part an autobiographical novel exploring the mid-life crisis of Hermann Hesse. Readers should be aware that German nationalists up to this point had criticised Hesse for his pacifist writings and activities during WWI. He like so many of his generation had helplessly watched the socio-economic turmoil and transition of Germany during the Weimar Republic, although he had long ago immigrated to Switzerland. He witnessed the deterioration of his first wife's mental health, which subsequently lead to their divorce. And he was afflicted with gout and other physical ailments, some of which are mentioned in the novel. With these tragic events weighing heavily on Hesse, he suffered a nervous break down, whereupon he underwent Jungian psychoanalysis and was inspired by it to put his accounts to paper.
The result was "Steppenwolf", a poetic tale about a middle-aged man who is spiritually, emotionally and physically sick. Any doubt to its subject matter can be easily dispelled in the book of poetry entitled "Crisis" or Crisis Pages From a Diary (Noonday), which Hesse published in 1927 at the same time as "Steppenwolf". It contains two poems found in "Steppenwolf" and a number of confessional poems describing his despair and personal loss.
Despite the abundance of reviews and narratives written on "Steppenwolf" and Hesse's philosophical position it was, he confided in the preface of editions printed after 1961, his most "violently misunderstood" work. Hippies in the late sixties embraced the book's references to drug use, anti-war activity, provocative music and sexual promiscuity. Even counter-culture guru and psychiatrist Dr. Timothy Leary speculated in his book The Politics of Ecstasy (Leary, Timothy) what types of medication Hesse had been prescribed, based on his dream and surrealistic images in the novel.
In truth, Hesse's intention was to paint the picture of Steppenwolf's (or Harry Haller's) state of mind. To portray this personality, Hesse resorted to Jungian psychology, particularly the principals of `ego', `animus/anima' and `self'. Harry Haller is his `ego'. Hermine is his `anima' (animus in women). Pablo and Maria are his `self'. Harry Haller (whose initials H.H. are the same as Hermann Hesse's), however, is unable to integrate the opposite and multiple pieces in his psychological make up. Unity of the personality is attainable by emulating the immortals' (Mozart, Goethe, Nietzsche, Novalis) sense of humour or adaptability whenever confronted with rigid conformity and resistance to change.
When Hesse introduces the reader to Hermine, he is referring to the `anima' in himself; Hermine is the feminine name for Hermann. In Jungian psychology, this is the feminine principal present in the male consciousness or the inner personality in communication with the subconscious. Hermine is in effect the inner voice of Harry Haller (Hermann Hesse) helping him to unify his `ego' and `self'. She encourages the intellectual and serious side of Harry - the `ego' - to recognise and accept the sensual and animal (Steppenwolf) side of his personality - the `self' - which jazz musician Pablo and escort Maria are only too willing to nurture. Hermine is the unifying force of the `ego' and `self', leading to the realm of the immortals in The Magic Theatre where multiple aspects of his personality are synthesised and made whole.
In this respect, The Magic Theatre becomes a metaphorical extension of Harry Haller's mind. All that Harry loathes about the mediocrity of the bourgeois, all that he loves about Mozart, Goethe, Novalis and Nietzsche, all the passion he feels for past loves and Hermine -- in essence, all that comprises Harry -- is distilled and fused as one. For instance, the music of his revered Mozart is played through the radio he so despises; the ugliness of war he dislikes, he embraces with a theologian friend in a war against the automobile (or machine); and when he figuratively kills Hermine, expecting the jury of immortals to sentence him to the gallows, he is heartily laughed down by them.
As for the structure of the novel, one literary critic has compared it to a sonata. "Steppenwolf" is comprised of three movements. In the first movement the narrator introduces us to Harry Haller and his peculiarities; the second movement elaborates on the "Treatise Of The Steppenwolf" to explain his personality and behaviour; and the third movement resolves the psychological conflict in The Magic Theatre. It is a plausible premise, considering Hesse's knowledge of classical music and his allusions to classical musicians in this novel.
Despite the complexities of "Steppenwolf", it is a fascinating novel to read. Every word and passage is heartfelt and meaningful. Hesse pours out his soul, probing his psyche, confessing his insecurities and beliefs, his sorrows and joys, his sensuality and intellect, analysing his (the individual's) role in society and offering some form of spiritual solace. He speaks to us all, regardless of age, sex, race or culture. For we have all at some point in life experienced the bittersweet condition of the Steppenwolf.
As a companion piece to the novel, I would recommend the 1974 movie, Steppenwolf. Max von Sydow (Harry Haller), Dominique Sanda (Hermine), Pierre Clementi (Pablo) and Carla Romanelli (Maria) deliver credible performances, faithful to their respective characters. Storyline is true to the book as well. The editing is hurried and choppy in the first half of the film, making it difficult to connect emotionally with the Steppenwolf's plight, whereas the surrealistic scenes in The Magic Theatre are superbly executed (pardon the pun). Nevertheless, it's a movie not to be overlooked if you love this amazing book by one of the 20th century's great writers.
Book Review: A classic philosophical novel about the meaning of self and the source of personality
Summary: 4 Stars
Steppenwolf is Hermann Hesse's classic philosophical novel about the meaning of self and the source of personality. The protagonist Harry Haller thinks he has two souls--that of a man and that of a Steppenwolf (a wolf of the Steppes)--"in continual and deadly enmity." Over the course of many fantastical events, including a couple love affairs, a frenetic masked ball, and a magical theater filled with illusions, Haller is forced to abandon his view of himself as a flawed, two-souled creature and embrace the idea that each person consists of thousands of souls living in a single body:
"The breast and the body are indeed one, but the souls that dwell in it are not two, nor five, but countless in number. Man is an onion made up of a hundred integuments, a texture made up of many threads."
In this slim novel, Hesse examines many complicated philosophical ideas all wrapped up in an entertaining tale. Recommended.
Book Review: A fantastic book, read it soon
Summary: 5 Stars
In light of verbosity and the ability of writers these days to be charmingly ersatz, it has become harder to separate the wheat from the chaff. Not so with Steppenwolf, one of the formidable masterpieces of the 20th century. Having been completely bowled over last year by Hesse's more famous hat trick- N&G, Demian and Siddhartha- I had to steel myself to pick up this particular hue and cry. They're all grim, this one was rumoured to take the cake. Point of fact, it *was* grim. But also brilliant and affecting. In Steppenwolf, Hesse draws an unsettling parallel between Deutschland's socioeconomic turmoil (the deterioration of the Weimar Republic) and the abject despair of a man mired in intense internal struggle- he is Harry Haller, Hesse's poorly veiled doppleganger and one of the most remarkable characters in literature. Frankly, anyone who reads at a high-school level and claims an inability to identify with Haller's miseries or hopes is a liar. Haller is one-stop shopping- he catalogues the entire repertoire of human internal struggle so comprehensively that I feel Hesse must have sat down with a rubric of history's great philosophers from Aristotle to Kierkegaard so that every conceivable natural and contrived source of mental anguish would emerge in the character. Perhaps, then, the totality of Haller's agony and sadness is the reason why he is a palpable reality to the reader rather than just a person in the pages. My gripe (and this is a common gripe among those that are familiar with the rest of Hesse's works)- initially Hesse contends that Haller's dual personality oversimplifies the "real man", a nebulous web of many different personas. But Hesse lets this fall by the wayside and resurrects the idea only in the final passages of the book. Why? The novel would have been even *more* effective had that been carried through. For that reason, I feel that "Siddhartha" in it's simplicity and consistency stands as the jewel of Hesse's crown. Blunders aside, there aren't many books out there that so completely encompass the common struggles of living. To read "Steppenwolf" is a demolishing and exhilarating experience and I highly recommend it. In fact, bump it to the top of your list.