Steppenwolf (urspr publ 1927; utgåvan 1969)

El lobo estepario (1927) es una de las obras más populares de Hermann Hesse. Trata sobre sobre la naturaleza doble del héroe, entre humana y de lobo, la cual condena al protagonista a una existencia perturbada.

"Nothing felt the least bit attractive; every thing had the smell of stale second-hand goods, of stale, lukewarm contentment."

A mess of thoughts.

Lone wolf in a city. Human in the streets. The bourgeois society.

Anguished. Tormented. Conflicted. Alienated. Scorned.

When the weight of existence was as heavy as the steps you take to move forward, why was there still a need to move forward?

Steppenwolf was not as much as finding a purpose but rather on the experience of knowing that life has no purpose. A pretty bleak and grim ensemble of emotions. A call and easy acceptance of death yet a fervent desire to master greatness through intellectual immortality; the inclusion and love of Goethe and Mozart; the hatred of Jazz music and technology. These were two identities of Harry clashing together, contradicting each other. But like most things, they did not fit into the binary. It was a reflection in the mirror only to be broken down into pieces to find hundreds of one's reflections. Who should you believe in? Everything was a part of you. ** "Pay at the door with your mind." The mind was indeed one of the most difficult foes but a friend for most of its illusions.

You were the predator of your own self.

What was absolutely resonating, overwhelming, was the feeling of homelessness despite life's stability in this novel. Although there was an undeniable depressive quality in Steppenwolf, which was largely impactful and gnawed at you (that reading it after Laing's The Lonely City gave me a relapse which I dreaded but thankfully was able to handle with relief), it ended in believing in our innermost potential; to be one with the 'Immortals'. Surprisingly, it reminded me of The Beatles' lyrics "Try to realize it's all within yourself, no one else can make you change. And to see you're really only very small and life flows on within you and without you." ( )

I read this book for the first time some 40 years ago in a Spanish translation. I didn't remember almost anything about it, except that it had made a great impression in my youth and that I had felt a great affinity for Harry Haller and his solitude. I bought this edition some ten years ago during one of my trips to Germany and it had been sitting on my shelves ever since. A few days ago I was rearranging some of my books and came across it, so I decided to finally read it again.

I had read "Knulp" in the original German before so I knew Hesse' prose was clear and to my level of fluency. This time around being older, the nihilism, the ennui and the Weltschmerz of Haller still leaves a profound impression, but this time I noticed that despite its darkness and the general perception about this novel being all about nihilism and suicide, in the end it's an affirmation of life and is misunderstood the same way that a lot of people misunderstand Nietzsche.

Harry's alienation from the world starts at an early age when conventional values are "beaten into him". His embrace of intellectual pursuits and high culture further alienates him from his inner wolf. The section where Hesse describes the duality of our civilized exterior and inner beast is brilliant. It's this inability to accept his duality, or more correctly the multiplicity of inner Harry's, that makes him fall into despair and contemplate suicide. Salvation comes from the acceptance of sensuality and "low culture" (jazz and dancing) and realizing, thanks to his conversation with Mozart during a drug induced hallucination, that he can have both.

On deeper level, Steppenwolf is an uncannily accurate description of the German soul during the 1920's and 30's. Behind the thin façade of high culture, intellectualism and deep romanticism lurks a murdering beast, ready to come out... and it did.

This is a short novel and definitely worth reading. ( )

El lobo estepario, publicado en su versión definitiva en 1928, es la obra maestra del escritor suizo Hermann Hesse, Premio Nobel de literatura en 1946. Se trata de una apasionante recreación del problema de la enajenación a través de la personalidad de su protagonista, sumido en su soledad como un lobo de la estepa y debatiendo en el conflicto entre conciencia moral y naturaleza animal.
La novela es un empeño por eliminar la zona oscura de la condición humana (el subconsciente) a fin de poner al descubierto su carga trágica y su incierto destino.
Fue un libro de culto para la generación hippie, surgida como protesta por la guerra de Vietnam.

Ironic, taut and wonderfully written; a book that I fittingly finished on April Fools day. One of the best pieces of literature I've ever had the pleasure to divert myself into.

A story that locks you in a machine of imagination and contorts itself wonderfully. ( )