Steppenwolf: A Novel [Paperback]

With its blend of Eastern mysticism and Western culture, Hesse's best-known and most autobiographical work is one of literature's most poetic evocations of the soul's journey to liberation

Harry Haller is a sad and lonely figure, a reclusive intellectual for whom life holds no joy. He struggles to reconcile the wild primeval wolf and the rational man within himself without surrendering to the bourgeois values he despises. His life changes dramatically when he meets a woman who is his opposite, the carefree and elusive Hermine. The tale of the Steppenwolf culminates in the surreal Magic TheaterFor Madmen Only!

Originally published in English in 1929,Steppenwolf's wisdom continues to speak to our souls and marks it as a classic of modern literature.

Hermann Hessewas born in Germany in 1877 and later became a citizen of Switzerland. As a Western man profoundly affected by the mysticism of Eastern thought, he wrote novels, stories, and essays bearing a vital spiritual force that has captured the imagination and loyalty of many generations of readers. His works includeSteppenwolf,Narcissus and Goldmund, andThe Glass Bead Game. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946. Hermann Hesse died in 1962.

Hesse is a writer of suggestion, of nuance, of spiritual intimation. The Christian Science Monitor

For all its savagely articulate descriptions of torment and isolation, it is most eloquent about something less glamorous but far more important: healing. The Guardian