‘Steppenwolf’(1927) by Herman Hesse

Sex, Drugs, and Rock ’n’ Roll.

Photo by Peter Forster on Unsplash

“There was once a man, Harry, called the steppenwolf. He went on two legs, wore clothes and was a human being, but nevertheless he was in reality a wolf of the steppes. He had learned a good deal of all that people of a good intelligence can, and was a fairly clever fellow. What he had not learned, however, was this: to find contentment in himself and his own life.” ― Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse is without doubt a strange book. But strange is good. It is different. This strange is weird and it is beautiful. I had heard much about the story but I was not expecting to find myself becoming so closely engaged with the character of Harry Haller/Steppenwolf during the book.

There are many parts of his fictional life that I had experienced for myself and we are a full century apart: living in rented accommodation, depression, and generally getting older with more and more gray hairs appearing in the bathroom mirror. Harry Haller approaches his fiftieth year with increasing despair. Been there done that but have no t-shirt…