Steppenwolf (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Hermann Hesse
- First Published: 1927
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The 1920’s
- Setting: Germany
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Magical Realism, Fantasy
- Subjects: Suicide, Self, Music or musicians, Middle classes, Prostitution or prostitutes, Alienation, 1920’s, Hallucinations or illusions, Capitalism, Germany or German people, Metamorphosis or transmogrification, Mirrors or lenses
- Locales: Germany
Characters Discussed
Harry Haller, a steppenwolf, part man and part wolf. He has a strange period in his life, when he is fifty years old, in which he haunts taverns and picks up unusual friends, both men and women. Previously a quiet man with suppressed emotions, he finds a new addiction to alcohol, sexual eroticism, and narcotics that helps him to see his many selves for the first time, as exemplified in Pablo’s hall of mirrors. There, he encounters Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, stabs Hermine, and is sentenced by the court to eternal life.
Erica, Harry Haller’s wife, a...
[The entire page is 539 words long]
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