Steppenwolf

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 Theater—For Madmen Only.

Steppenwolf is Hesse's best-known and most autobiographical work. With its blend of Eastern mysticism and Western culture, it is one of literature's most poetic evocations of the soul's journey to liberation. Originally published in English in 1929, the novel's wisdom continues to speak to our souls and marks it as a classic of modern literature.

A note on the translation: this is the first revised edition of Basil Creighton's translation of 1929. Joseph Mileck and Horst Frenz write of their 1963 revision, "In the revision we were intent upon a more exact and more readily understood rendition. British spellings and idioms have been Americanized, Germanisms removed, awkward sentences improved, and misleading translations corrected."