Rajat Ubhaykar's Reviews > Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf
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I read this book on a twenty four hour train journey surrounded by the bourgeois. It was a terrifying experience. The book didn't change my life and was not meant to, but it gave me hope and hope is always a good thing.
The influence of Indian spirituality on this book is apparent, but Hesse chooses to dissect it using the prism of Western pessimism. He talks about the multiplicity of the self and the infinite potential associated with it, how we often choose to attach fanciful restrictions to the limitless and that every man can have his place among the Immortals. The influence of unfulfilled desires in the making of the personality and its inherent disorders and the possibility of conquering those to mould a 'new' self are also prominent themes which again run parallel to the Indian concept of rebirth.
The book has layers far too many. Each time I indulge in a flight of introspection, much like Harry Haller, or so I would or wouldn't like to believe, I stumble upon a different and equally vague interpretation of the book.
This book is great literature. It is magnificently vague and by turns sincerely hopeless and insincerely hopeful but eventually redeems itself by offering hope for the hopeless.
The influence of Indian spirituality on this book is apparent, but Hesse chooses to dissect it using the prism of Western pessimism. He talks about the multiplicity of the self and the infinite potential associated with it, how we often choose to attach fanciful restrictions to the limitless and that every man can have his place among the Immortals. The influence of unfulfilled desires in the making of the personality and its inherent disorders and the possibility of conquering those to mould a 'new' self are also prominent themes which again run parallel to the Indian concept of rebirth.
The book has layers far too many. Each time I indulge in a flight of introspection, much like Harry Haller, or so I would or wouldn't like to believe, I stumble upon a different and equally vague interpretation of the book.
This book is great literature. It is magnificently vague and by turns sincerely hopeless and insincerely hopeful but eventually redeems itself by offering hope for the hopeless.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
March 16, 2011
–
Finished Reading
March 17, 2011
– Shelved
October 15, 2012
– Shelved as:
favorites
October 31, 2012
– Shelved as:
must-read-at-least-once
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![Nandakishore Mridula](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1723178344p1/6237864.jpg)
This book is great literature. It is magnificently vague and by turns sincerely hopeless and insincerely hopeful but eventually redeems itself by offering hope for the hopeless.
Very evocative writing. Congrats!
![Rajat Ubhaykar](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1352663955p1/4686064.jpg)
![Nandakishore Mridula](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1723178344p1/6237864.jpg)
Have you read any books by Joseph Campbell? If not, read The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Man and His Symbols compiled and edited by Jung is also a must-read for better appreciation of such novels as this.
![Rajat Ubhaykar](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1352663955p1/4686064.jpg)
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Thank you Romy! I'm planning to take it up again myself. :)
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![Pavan Josyula](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_25x33-8a3530ed95c3dbef8bf215b080559b09.png)
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Thank you Pavan! :)
![Rajat Ubhaykar](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1352663955p1/4686064.jpg)
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