Hesse, in his autobiographical book, is a man drunk on Nietzsche and Schopenhauerian pessimism, with an added dose of Eastern mysticism. This novel, written in 1927, contains savage indictments of conventional bourgeois morality and searching philosophic forays into the role of art, music and the independent, self-willed individual.

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 Theater--For 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.