"Steppenwolf" by Hermann Hesse: A Timeless Classic from Piador Modern Classics

Robert B Bux: Book is in good condition and reasonably priced

United States on Oct 03, 2023

fra7299: “I am in truth the Steppenwolf that I often call myself; the beast astray who finds neither home nor joy nor nourishment in a world that is strange and incomprehensible to him.”

I most likely will not do justice to this book with my review, as this is a novel that is quite complex, with so many layers and levels of meaning to unpack. But, wow, what a strange, enlightening experience and journey reading this novel is! This is definitely a novel that leaves the reader contemplating and reflecting, as it is a very ponderous, deep, and symbolic journey we embark on. We have a literal meaning, but we also have an allegorical meaning. I think that in many ways, this book in its barest and most simplistic way, is about finding oneself and meaning in one’s life, and keeping on in the game of life even in the moments of a severely depressive state. (The novel’s message goes exceptionally deeper than this, though).

Of all the novels, Hesse said of his novel that it was the one that was most often misinterpreted. I read the author’s note in the introduction and Hesse states “This book, no doubt, tells of griefs and needs; still it is not a book of a man despairing,...

United States on Jul 13, 2023

RYAN FIENNES: I purchased the Picador Modern Classic edition; and am very pleased with it.
These editions are compact hardback books - smaller than the average paperback. The print may be too small for some, but I haven't struggled with reading it; and due to the size of these editions, they are easy to carry and read anywhere.

United Kingdom on Apr 07, 2021

GREATLYAMUSED: Don't wait for a plot or any driving narrative, this piece of classic literature makes you work for meaning. Strangely satisfying.

United Kingdom on Dec 07, 2018

Karlander: This is a classic Hesse novel - in other words a masterpiece. No wonder he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Anyone that enjoys a book that is both deep and fun to read - even if painful at times. It reminded me a lot of The Man in Black Panther Skin with Butterfly Wings by Karelius Strala but I am sure Steppenwolf has inspired many novels and novelists since, enjoy!

Canada on Mar 25, 2017

John Clayton: Very clearly this book is a classic for a reason. In my opinion it speaks great honesty about 'anomie', as Emile Durkheim would put it, and the human condition. Some really sage lessons for all manner of people here, but for intellectuals of a melancholic and misanthropic sentiment then this book must be read. It will not bring hope, but it may bring acceptance, and that's valuable.

United Kingdom on Jun 11, 2015

Daffy Bibliophile: Hesse was fifty when he wrote this book and to me that's the key. The main character, Harry Haller is approaching fifty and is going through a crisis in his life, hence this is not the stuff for college kids to read as they apparently did back in the 1960s. How could a twenty-five year old possibly understand the problems of a fifty year old???

Harry was, in my opinion, suffering from depression; in the author's note written in 1961, Hesse states that this is a story of "a disease and crisis" and ultimately a healing. Harry Haller did not feel that he fit in with society, he felt contempt for life and for bourgeois society, for the modern world. His safety valve was his razor, the knowledge that he could commit suicide whenever he wanted. Bring it on life! The emergency door is always open!

What happened next is open to debate. How much of what Harry experiences after meeting Hermine (was she real?) and Maria and Pablo - how much of all that was real to Harry? I have no idea. Reading this book was a wonderful experience despite the ups and downs, but I don't claim to fully understand it. Kinda like life, I guess.

Canada on Aug 21, 2012

R. Schwartz: A 300 page book I read in two days. Interesting story with great self descriptions of a man torn away from society into himself and his two personas, Harry Haller and the Steppenwolf. Harry Haller is the bourgeois self, who is an intellectual, thinker and socially "normal" man and Steppenwolf is the rebel self who rebels from mediocre bourgeois living and is an angry skeptic. He then meets others, including intimacy with women, who also came to the same conclusions of life's emptiness through their personas, although they come from the superficial world of desires and pleasures, which is the majority of society.

The book continues through the struggles of Harry's troubled self personas and encounters he occurs. Ultimately, it is the recognition of the self, the persona(s) that are not anymore as serious and rather humorous. This is because the acknowledgment comes from a new awareness that the self is a construction of many different personas which are all part of a game, and the idea of a game suggests the illusion we carry in the seriousness of the role we play, the persona we emulate. It's an amazing self insight that allows him to perceive his life apart from his...

United States on Oct 17, 2004