Steppenwolf

I speak here from memory, but let me caution you that over the course of my life, I have discovered that many of the things that I once held preciously in memory did not happen the way I recalled them.  Memory can be a trickster.

Note the similarity of the word Steppen to Stephen, and of Steppenwolf to Stephen Wolf.   I've read Steppenwolf at least once before, in my late teens, perhaps again another time. When I was a sophomore in college, I saw the German film of the same name, the year it was released (1974). It adheres precisely to the novel.  The film is a work of art in its own right, and it had the same impact on me as the book.

I had a desire to re-read the novel, and yesterday I borrowed a copy from my local library. The beginning has a note from the author, Herman Hesse, stating that the overwhelming majority of people who read the book grossly misunderstood it.  On prior readings, I did not understand it at all.  I only understood that the Harry Haller was very emotionally upset about a number of relationships and dilemmas which he couldn't resolve or at least not easily, quickly, or effectively.  Hesse says that he wrote the book at age fifty, with all of the experiences and anxieties that a man of fifty is capable. Hesse says that the young people who loved the book did so for reasons he hadn't foreseen. After re-reading this time, my take on Harry was that he was having a mid-life crisis.  Hesse says that the older generation of readers had correctly understood the angst of Harry Haller but missed the overall meaning of the book, which Hesse says is about faith and healing.   

Near the beginning of the story, Harry Haller expresses an inner conflict between his loner, aggressive, wolf-like nature and his humanity. I recall that when I read the book forty years ago, I found this conflict disturbing and not something I wanted to contemplate. I recall that is how Harry Haller reacted to his conflict as well.

At one point, Harry was invited to a dinner party. The newspapers had been talking about the possibility of going to war [in fact what was to become the Great War--World War I]. In response, Harry had just published an article in a newspaper that was anti-war. At the dinner party, the friend who had invited Harry brought up the article in conversation, but he had not realized that Harry wrote it. The friend sharply criticized the article and the author (Harry). This caused Harry a great deal of emotional pain. I identify strongly with the fact that Harry had taken a principled stand on something that was against the common mentality and that he had to suffer severe personal criticism as a result.

Harry's initial encounter with the nightclub known as The Magic Theater was enchanting. But just as with Harry, the activities in the theater soon caused me fear and anxiety. That is how I recall it anyway. I am not sure that I fully understood what went on in the theater, I am not sure that Harry did either. 

The setting for Steppenwolf is Switzerland, certainly inspired by Basel, since Hesse once lived there.  Basel borders Germany and was completely Weimar in culture.  Historians describe the nightlife culture of Weimar as morally depraved. In the novel, the prostitutes, drug use, jazz music, and theater are Hesse's artistic representations of the popular nightlife culture of Weimar.  From the viewpoint of having last read the novel as much as forty years ago, I suspect that the effect of The Magic Theater was to force Harry to confront many of the issues within himself that he needed to confront. Perhaps my subconscious motivation in re-reading the book now is the same.

Perhaps with this reading, I will understand the novel the way Hesse intended it.  

Would anyone else like to visit The Magic Theater with me?