Sign in with Facebook
Dan Schwent's Reviews > Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf
by
by
Harry Haller fights a battle ever day against his animalistic nature, the Steppenwolf, the thing keeping him from fitting in with society. Will he conquer the Steppenwolf before it drives him to suicide?
I'd toyed with the idea of paraphrasing the opening of the 1970's Incredible Hulk TV show but it felt disrespectful to a book of this power. Steppenwolf is one of the more thought-provoking books I've ever read. I lost count of the number of times I stopped and pondered my own Steppenwolfishness.
Harry Haller is approaching 50, has few friends, and is contemplating suicide on his 50th birthday. For the most part, his friends are books and music. Seeing as how I'm writing this review on a website devoted to reading, I think more than a few of us can relate to Haller on some level. Who among us hasn't been at a party and thought "Man, I could be reading right now."
Haller's life starts spinning out of control when a strange man gives him a book entitled The Treatise of the Steppenwolf, in which he is mentioned by name. From there, Haller meets Hermine, a woman who guides him on a journey of self discovery (with sex and drugs.) The book takes a bizarre turn near the end.
The writing style is fairly accessible, even though it's been translated from German. Hesse throws a lot of big ideas around, like don't be afraid of life, don't let time get away from you, etc. I caught some references to Eastern religions, which makes sense since Hesse also wrote Siddhartha.
I don't think I'm doing a great job of conveying what I thought about this book. It reminded me of The Catcher in the Rye at some moments and G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday at others. I'm also struggling with how to rate it. I thought it was powerful and full of lots of interesting ideas but I'm not sure I actually liked it.
That's about all I have at the moment. I'm giving it a 4 with the caveat that I'll probably have to re-read it again sometime down the line to fully absorb it.
I'd toyed with the idea of paraphrasing the opening of the 1970's Incredible Hulk TV show but it felt disrespectful to a book of this power. Steppenwolf is one of the more thought-provoking books I've ever read. I lost count of the number of times I stopped and pondered my own Steppenwolfishness.
Harry Haller is approaching 50, has few friends, and is contemplating suicide on his 50th birthday. For the most part, his friends are books and music. Seeing as how I'm writing this review on a website devoted to reading, I think more than a few of us can relate to Haller on some level. Who among us hasn't been at a party and thought "Man, I could be reading right now."
Haller's life starts spinning out of control when a strange man gives him a book entitled The Treatise of the Steppenwolf, in which he is mentioned by name. From there, Haller meets Hermine, a woman who guides him on a journey of self discovery (with sex and drugs.) The book takes a bizarre turn near the end.
The writing style is fairly accessible, even though it's been translated from German. Hesse throws a lot of big ideas around, like don't be afraid of life, don't let time get away from you, etc. I caught some references to Eastern religions, which makes sense since Hesse also wrote Siddhartha.
I don't think I'm doing a great job of conveying what I thought about this book. It reminded me of The Catcher in the Rye at some moments and G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday at others. I'm also struggling with how to rate it. I thought it was powerful and full of lots of interesting ideas but I'm not sure I actually liked it.
That's about all I have at the moment. I'm giving it a 4 with the caveat that I'll probably have to re-read it again sometime down the line to fully absorb it.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Steppenwolf.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
May 2, 2011
– Shelved
May 3, 2011
–
Started Reading
September 29, 2011
– Shelved as:
2011
September 29, 2011
–
Finished Reading
January 10, 2012
– Shelved as:
homework-from-the-ladies
June 20, 2012
– Shelved as:
oldies
Comments Showing 1-18 of 18 (18 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Stephen
(new)
-
added it
Sep 29, 2011 07:28PM
Great review, Dan. I am going to pick up a copy of this.
reply
|
flag
Stephen wrote: "Great review, Dan. I am going to pick up a copy of this."Thanks. It's definitely worth a read but it's not something you can breeze through.
Nice to see you read this Dan. I have been thinking alot about Hesse since Siddhartha. I was thinking about getting Steppenwolf as my second novel but i got swedish translation of Knulp instead.
Mohammed wrote: "Nice to see you read this Dan. I have been thinking alot about Hesse since Siddhartha. I was thinking about getting Steppenwolf as my second novel but i got swedish translation of Knulp instead."I liked Steppenwolf but it was a much harder read than Siddhartha. I'll be keeping an eye out for more Hesse in my adventures.
Steppenwolf is one of the most Buddhist novels I've ever read. I loved it, but did not like it much. ((Straight people having sex, ew.) The world, for Harry, is the snare of illusion; his voyage to understanding, like Siddhartha's, leads him through the deepest and most feared chambers of human baseness.THink about tackling "Magister Ludi" sometime. Very long, very very intriguing...a German idea of Utopia, published at the time when it would draw a really, really important counterpoint to rising Nazism.
Who among us hasn't been at a party and thought "Man, I could be reading right now." Amen. Great review.
Melissa wrote: "Who among us hasn't been at a party and thought "Man, I could be reading right now." Amen. Great review."
Thanks.
Oldfan wrote: "Steppenwolf is one of the most Buddhist novels I've ever read. I loved it, but did not like it much. ((Straight people having sex, ew.) The world, for Harry, is the snare of illusion; his voyage to..."I'll be on the lookout for Magister Ludi.
Dan wrote: "Mohammed wrote: "Nice to see you read this Dan. I have been thinking alot about Hesse since Siddhartha. I was thinking about getting Steppenwolf as my second novel but i got swedish translation..."Harder because it was not as simple style of storytelling or you didnt find the story as interesting ?
Harry Haller sounds my kind of bleak guy though. Not as inspiring as Siddhartha who made me feel a bit sad i didnt have as much faith as he did.
Siddhartha was told using a more simple style.Steppenwolf was inspirational at times but pretty bleak in others.
That very bleakness is the inspirational message of "Steppenwolf"--the inability of some to rise above the animal nature we all possess is counterpointed with the success others have at times in doing the heroic feat of being a better, more human, self. No one is always successful in beating down the beast within. Very much the reality of human life as I know it, so I vibrated like a tuning fork as I read this book.
Oldfan wrote: "That very bleakness is the inspirational message of "Steppenwolf"--the inability of some to rise above the animal nature we all possess is counterpointed with the success others have at times in do..."Some parts of the book made me a little uncomfortable because I kept seeing similarities between me and Haller. In fact, I'll be keeping an eye out for strangers offering me The Treatise of the Steppenwolf next time I'm out and about at night.
Dan wrote: "Some parts of the book made me a little uncomfortable because I kept seeing similarities between me and Haller. In fact, I'll be keeping an eye out for strangers offering me The Treatise of the Steppenwolf next time I'm out and about at night."Exactly the point he's making! Beware dark and smoky bars....
Magister Ludi is actually my favorite Hesse novel, but I remember reading Steppenwolf in college and feeling like it was surreal. Whereas the former was about finding "connections" everywhere in life, the latter seemed to be about feeling disconnected and trying (mostly in vain) to get connected via pleasure, philosophy, and partying. I should confess that I was in college in the sixties and the novel pretty well expressed what was out there.
There are some comparisons to Sartre's Roads to Freedom trilogy but I'd recommend Sartre for bleakness, that also for me contains some inspirational messages - be authentic...
Johnny wrote: "Magister Ludi is actually my favorite Hesse novel, but I remember reading Steppenwolf in college and feeling like it was surreal. Whereas the former was about finding "connections" everywhere in li..."I got my grubby mits on Magister Ludi a couple days ago so it's in the pipeline.
Hmm, I have few friends, love to read, and am approaching 50. I hope this book won't drive me over the edge.
Nancy wrote: "Hmm, I have few friends, love to read, and am approaching 50. I hope this book won't drive me over the edge."It's pretty bleak in places. You'll need a lighter read on standby after this.
