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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | With its blend of Eastern mysticism and Western culture, Hesse’s best-known and most autobiographical work is one of literature’s most poetic evocations of the soul’s journey to liberationHarry Haller is a sad and lonely figure, a reclusive intellectual for whom life holds no joy. He struggles to reconcile the wild primeval wolf and the rational man within himself without surrendering to the bourgeois values he despises. His life changes dramatically when he meets a woman who is his opposite, the carefree and elusive Hermine. The tale of the Steppenwolf culminates in the surreal Magic Theater—For Madmen Only!Originally published in English in 1929, Steppenwolf ’s wisdom continues to speak to our souls and marks it as a classic of modern literature. | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Hermann Hesse | | Paperback: | 224 pages | | Publisher: | Picador | | Publication Date: | December 01, 2002 | | ISBN: | 0312278675 | | Package Length: | 8.2 inches | | Package Width: | 5.5 inches | | Package Height: | 0.8 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.45 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 131 reviews |
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Hermann Hesse's Mid-Life Crisis... Jul 03, 2008
"Ignorance is bliss," goes the old proverb coined by Thomas Gray, and I'd wager Hermann Hesse would agree. When you are as intelligent and sensitive a man as Hesse, the quotidian crap that assails you and the rest of humanity must be almost unbearable. But if felo-de-se is out of the question, how exactly do you bear up?
That seems to be the point of Steppenwolf, a clear-cut masterpiece whose omission from the MLA 100 is nothing if not a scandal. This is a deep book, a profound book, a book that is wearying to read, and which seems longer than its 208 pages. It is by no means a page-turner, nor is it as accessible as Siddhartha.
Steppenwolf raises many questions, and answers none satisfactorily--understandable given that human beings are essentially cosmic orphans, alone and adrift on a small planet, making everything up as they go along. Hesse does not like this. He seeks order and rationale, a raison d'etre...but all he finds is stupidity, primitiveness, and ennui.
This is ventriloquized through the perspective of the narrator, and there are pages and pages of angst-ridden, existential thrashing about. Sometimes these passages drag...but always--always--the sheer quality of the writing is evident. The talent on display is rare indeed, and appreciable even when you want to grab Hesse by the shoulders, give him a shake, and tell him to come to grips with life's meaninglessness and quit being such a pussy.
I recommend Steppenwolf to those who are interested moreso in philosophy than literature. If you are looking for a simple, straight-forward yarn, this ain't the book.
 Not a classic, but really has its impact May 01, 2008
There were many flaws with this book. The pace was meandering, going nowhere for long periods of time and some of the dialogue is trite
The main characters were shallow, but I'm assuming they archetypal, based on Carl Jung's phychology, so they were probably that way on purpose. One really does not know which character was real and which was a figment of Harry's bruised psyche. Hermine, Harry's opposite, forces Harry to forgo his prejudices against dancing, Jazz, and a more carefree way of life. This leads to finding at least some happiness, even if it never can completely make his loneliness fade away. Also on the path is a serene Goethe as well as Mozart, and culminates in the Magic Theatre, where Harry finally faces his inner conflicts.
There were many good thoughts in this book, as it shows that every human being consists of conflicting wants and feelings, all of which are clashing and causing stress on the person as a whole. The key to living a good life if for these desparate selves to live in harmony. Therefore the wolf has to live with the man and the man with the wolf. It also shows how inner conflict leads to us reinventing ourselves, dying several times in a life so to speak.
What was annoying is the main characters incessant complaints about bourgeoisie values. his hatred of Jazz as anti-intellectual(history has vindicated Jazz), and drug abuse. It was rather odd how he was exclaiming living a more full life by snorting cocaine at one point and sleeping with a prostitute, and I hardly see how this helps one rebuild himself.
Still, I go back to this book more than most, even several years after I read it, so obviously it had its moments that stuck to me. Recommended if you're up for a surreal and angst filled ride.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Almost perfect. Aug 27, 2007
Theres nothing much to say, its a good product, just wish it was a little smaller given that i got it paperback to carry it inside the jacket pockets, half an inch smaller would have been good, even if it still fits its troublesome and a little annoying that you have to struggle to tuck it in. Still the rest is pretty good and the cover picture is nice.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
The Man Who Understood Aug 13, 2007
There are people out there, reading this review now, who have gone thru life feeling as though no one has ever understood them. Some of those people will read this book, 'Steppenwolf', & it will hit them like a bolt(& some wont like it at all). Not only will a few of them feel as though they have finally been understood, but they might feel as though at last they can begin to understand themselves!
Yes, there is someone who understands. His name is Hesse. Unfortunately he has passed on, he was from an earlier generation. But you know, when he lived people from all over the world wrote him letters asking for his understanding. He answered them all, & he usually had good advise for them. & he was able to understand not only because he was intellgent, but also because he had also suffered the problems of his 'Steppenwolf' himself. Yes, it might seem that he were writing this best of all books about each of us individually, but it was, in fact, autobiography. Half autobiography, half poem, & 100% masterpiece. Please read it, & dont allow the 1st 80 pages throw you off- it is going to come alive for you, as it has for people since 1927. You might be in for a treat.
However, some dont feel this way, especially these days. It is a little odd, I feel, that Hesse (who was so popular with readers from my generation in the early 1970s) has had a decline in popularity from 1980 on. He doesnt seem to strike the same chord in todays young readers as he did 30 years ago. Maybe because his books spoke about the importance of spirt over that of technology, I dont know. I dont think Hesse would have seen the rise of the PC & the internet as a bad thing at all, & think it would have been right up his alley, & that he might have made the internet a better thing than it is. In fact, the theme of 'The Glass Bead Game' brings to mind todays internet, & there is a website devoted to just that. But, for me anyway, the fact that todays generation has sort of rejected Hesse is one of the more sad things about it, because I would have believed that they would have embraced him even more than mine did. I think the reason that they havnt might be because that while they are very much in favor of the enlightment that Siddhartha, Goldman, Harry Haller, Sinclair, etc ultimately reach, they have never experienced the PROBLEMS of the Steppenwolf that set those characters on that road in the 1st place. I think that those kinds of problems might have been unique to my generation, & that Hesse came along for Americans just at the right time. It seems that the times have changed.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Mix of Darkness and Mysticism Aug 02, 2007
In this unusual novel by Herman Hesse, Harry Haller is the Steppewolf, lonely, isolated, and struggling with conflicting desires of arrogance, emptiness, and longing. Things change dramatically when he meets a woman quite different from him. All seems to lead to the magic theatre, which made for interesting if confusing reading. Hesse blends eastern mysticism with western culture and a somewhat anti-bourgeois message, and many persons battling depression have apparently found it easy to identify with the main character. We read this book in a college literature class and it left us (and even the teacher) confused, although many say's the story is more comprehensible once you've read other Hesse novels. If you like dark stories with conflicting emotions and mysticism, this book may be for you.
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