Sunday 24 October 2010

Steppenwolf

No, I'm not talking about the rock band. Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf is one of my favorite books. I liked it so much that I just started reading it for the second time. I didn't really understood the part called ''Treatise on the Steppenwolf'' the first time. I really like Hesse's writing style. It is fluid like water. He goes straight to the point without wasting time on secondary details. Steppenwolf is fictional but the author was inspired by his own life. The protagonist is Harry Haller and call himself  ''The Steppenwolf''. Harry is approching 50 years old and suffers from social isolation. The story takes place in a town in 1920's Germany. It contains a lot of fantastic elements, especially towards the end. I won't make a review, you can check the plot summary on wikipedia. It was a cult book in the 60's and 70's and it got Hesse the nobel prize in literature in 1946 along with his other books like Siddhartha. I recommend this book to any intellectual who has social problems.

9 comments:

  1. i'll check it out as well. i have a huge back list of books to read, so it might take a while. currently, i am reading angela's ashes. it was in my house for a long time, but i never bothered to read it up until now.

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  2. Never read it, but have heard of it, Ill be sure to check it out!

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  3. Haven't read it, I'll look into it and see if its something I might like.

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  4. Hmm, I have a feeling it'll depress me but I'll check it out at least. The benefits of living down the block from a library.

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