One of the greatest books I have ever read - Hesse's poetic writing is without parallel - Rated 
This was the first of Hesse's books that I ever read, and at a very young age. Perhaps because I still had the imagination of a child the poetry of his writing completely took me over - without his special way of expressing ideas and emotions and just putting words together it would have been just a fairly strange story. I was hooked, and even though some of his other writings did not 'hit' me quite as much (how could they, after this masterpiece!), I eventually found my way through most of his writing, with gems such as Narziss and Goldmund and The Glass Bead game also making their own special mark on my 'mindset', changing me for ever. Having said that, Steppenwolf was the first and for me therefore best piece of poetic writing I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying. I have read and owned it several times, only to lose it to another 'convert' once they had 'borrowed' and read it.... I'm keeping hold of my current copy for ever!!!
A great psychological exploration - Rated
I love this book. The "magic theatre" of the mind in which Harry Haller, Hesse's protagonist, explores different aspects of himself via strange narcotic potions created for him by the dream-like drug dealer Pablo, is a hymn to altered states of consciousness and modes of self-exploration. This extraordinary novel was far ahead of its time (it was first published in 1927) and has stood the test of time incredibly well. The only recent novel that gets anywhere close to this, for me, is Sebastian Beaumont's Thirteen which achieves internal exploration via sleep deprivation rather than drugs.
a psychedelic classic - Rated
It's certainly no coincidence that Timothy Leary thought highly about this book and actually used it as manual for some of his public performances, where he tried to transmit the psychedelic experience to a wider audience.
And it's more than probable that Hesse himself experimented with mescaline, in a small group of likeminded people amongst them the famous painter Paul Klee. So the last third of the book, the intriguing scenes in Pablo's Magical Theatre is undoubtedly based on the author's authentic experiences with altered states of consciousness.
Another main feature in the book is the importance of eastern philosophy. Demonstrating that the faustian concept of 'two souls living in my breast' is far too simplistic. That in fact the human being doesn't have a fixed personality, and what we consider our 'personality' really is just an illusion. And that the only way out of our dilemmas is to transcend the level of everyday reality and join what Hesse calls "the immortals", the mystics, artists (like Goethe and Mozart), saints in their sphere of the timeless and 'cool' Beyond.
I find this a very moving book, in it's essence absolutely relevant for people of today. In a culture where materialism is all prevalent and where people who seems to embody an extra dimension, as the beautiful Hermine puts it, is completely marginalized by the dominant medias. Although we perhaps can find comfort in the fact that there are more thriving spiritual milieus to day than at Hesse's time.
All in all a deeply fascinating and intriguing novel. I loved it when I first read it as a 19-year old, and I loved it even more when I re-read it a month ago (for god know which time). A true classic and in my eyes by far Hesse's greatest work of art.
Sublime - Rated
Magic theatre. Entrance not for everyone. For madmen only. Steppenwolf is surely one of the pinnacles of so-called "modern" fiction. It draws the reader into the murky consciousness of its troubled protagonist to offer a moving and enthralling story of a man losing his reason and discovering his passions. Hesse shows us the impossibility of separating out our "intellectual" life from our "animal" passions, but puts across an upbeat message: celebrate the diversity; celebrate life as it really is.
It's easy to slap the label existentialist on this, easy but dubious: it is something subtler; a lush, hazy journey of the mind in which the reality of human experience has only a supporting role. It's not philosophy. It's just a wonderful novel. The Glass Bead Game, Hesse's masterpiece, makes a similar case in a very different and even more powerful way. Read Steppenwolf first.
A bona fide masterpiece - Rated
Here is an unbearably beautiful book, full of poetry, pathos, and thought-provoking philosophy. It has a surprisingly upbeat ending too.
We are all familiar with the doppelganger in literature (or the alter ego, split personality, call it what you like) and this often presents a binary (Jekyll against Hyde) - but this book exquisitely reveals the danger of thinking so simplistically. We are not merely made up of man and wolf - we have literally thousands of sides to our personalities, as the dazzling 'theatre of magic' shows. In this respect it reminded me of a wholly different book, about scizophrenia, entitled 'Sibyll' (later made into a movie with Sally Field) - but this was essentially a case history, something I read during my A Level Psychology course. Steppenwolf is a work of art. Poetic, gorgeous, sublime. I truly sympathised with the remarkable Steppenwolf, as will all outcasts, rebels, and misfits. The other great twentieth century novel focusing on the doppelganger is Margaret Atwood's 'The Robber Bride'.
|
