Steppenwolf Author: [Germany] Hermann Hesse Translator: Zhao Dengrong/Ni Chengen Publisher: Shanghai Translation Publishing House Translator: Zhao Dengrong/Ni Chengen Douban Foreign Novels Top 100

Hermann Hesse (1877-1962), a German writer, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. Steppenwolf is a representative work of Hesse's middle period and a milestone in his creative career.

The protagonist of the novel, Haller, is an upright writer who despises the lifestyle of modern society and often stays indoors. The suffocating air makes him fall into a state of schizophrenia. One day, he accidentally read a small book "On the Steppenwolf" and suddenly woke up from his dream. He thought that he was a steppenwolf with both "humanity" and "wolf nature". Later, he was invited to a party and found that the participants all had narrow nationalist views. His anti-war remarks were reprimanded, and he felt more lonely. When he returned home, he met the bar girl Hermina and gained carnal pleasure. Through Hermina's introduction, he met the musician Pablo and a girl Maria. He forgot all his troubles and worries in music and sensory enjoyment. But when he saw Hermina and Pablo getting close, his "wolf nature" broke out and killed Hermina out of jealousy. The novel is full of fantasy and profound symbolism. It is considered to have a "surrealist" style; Thomas Mann called it "German Ulysses".

Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) was originally from Germany. He became a Swiss citizen in 1923 and lived in seclusion in the countryside of Switzerland for a long time. He was called the last knight of the German Romantic School. His masterpiece "Steppenwolf" (1927) caused a sensation in Europe and the United States. Thomas Mann praised it as the German "Ulysses". In 1946, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his inspiring works with powerful momentum and insight, and also for providing an example of lofty humanitarian ideals and noble style".