Harry Haller is almost fifty, a writer and intellectual in a German city, and he feels like a wolf from the steppes lost among people. His despair is deepening and he is considering suicide when he comes across the pamphlet Treatise on the Steppenwolf, which describes his divided soul. He meets Hermine, who becomes a sort of guide, teaching him to dance, taking him to nightclubs and introducing him to Maria and the saxophonist Pablo. The novel's final stretch, the Magic Theatre, is a hallucinatory trial of the self. Hermann Hesse wrote it in 1927 after his own crisis.
If you like philosophical novels that ask how to live with contradictions in yourself, this is a strong choice. It may especially speak to readers who feel out of step with the modern world and want a literary companion.
Deep, inward-looking, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1998
- Publisher
- Alianza Editorial
- ISBN
- 9788420633411
- Language
- ES
