Steppenwolf

First published in German in 1927, and first translated into English in 1929, Hermann Hesse’s “Steppenwolf” is the author’s semi-autobiographical novel concerning the themes of isolation and despair in the face of an inability to make lasting connections with others. Framed as a manuscript written by a middle-aged man named Harry Haller, the novel recounts Harry’s aimless wanderings amongst the city’s bourgeois society. Mirroring Hesse’s own spiritual crisis of the time, Harry finds himself ill-suited for the world of his time and contemplating suicide. At the heart of the protagonist’s dilemma is the struggle between his high-minded spiritual nature and his animalistic desires, like those of a “wolf of the steppes”. Harry befriends a young woman named Hermine, who, seeing his desperation, tries to help Harry find meaning in life. Hermine teaches him to dance, finds him a lover, Maria, and introduces him to casual drug use, and a mysterious saxophonist, Pablo, all in an attempt to make Harry see the worthy aspects of life. In retrospect, Hesse felt that “Steppenwolf” was one of his most misunderstood works, not merely an exposition on one man’s spiritual malaise, but also one for the possibility of transcendence.