Steppenwolf (original German title: Der Steppenwolf) is the tenth novel of Hermann Hesse. The plot is about Harry Haller, a middle-aged intellectual, who moves into a lodging house in a generic town. Despairing and melancholy, Harry feels himself to be “a wolf of the Steppes,” or “Steppenwolf,” adrift and alone in a world that is incomprehensible to him and offers him no joy. Steppenwolf recounts Harry’s pain and anxiety as he tries to overcome his crippling sense of dislocation and despair at the futility of humanity. Steppenwolf was wildly popular and has been a perpetual success across the decades, but Hesse later asserted that the book was largely misunderstood.
This novel contains the following tropes:
- Alliterative Name: Harry Haller.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: Hermine, who reminds Harry of his male childhood friend Hermann. At a party near the end of the novel, she dresses as a man and flirts with many reciprocating men.
- Author Avatar: Harry Haller, who has the same initials as the author. It is said that many of the internal conflicts that Harry shows in the novel were shared by Hesse as well.
- Broken Pedestal: Harry, to his idol, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. First, he sees Goethe in a skewed painting, vastly different from how he imagines him. Then when he sees the latter during his drug-induced dreams, the pedestal finally falls apart.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: After Harry kills Hermine in his dream, he is ridiculed by the imagined prosecutor. He sentences him to "eternal life, a twelve-hour long expulsion from the Dream Theatre, and one-time laughter at his cost".
- Eccentric Mentor: Hermine, a prostitute from the underworld, serves as Harry's mentor on his way to self-acceptance and soulfulness.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Hermine, as well as Maria. The latter was bought by Hermine to fulfill Harry's carnal pleasures, but it becomes apparent quickly that she genuinely likes and cares for him.
- Ineffectual Loner: Harry. After a long series of painful life events, he now prefers to be alone. He secretly desires the joys of a stable home life, but he knows that he cannot fully be a part of it.
- Long-Distance Relationship: Harry has one with Erika, but she's never actually seen during the novel.
- Man Versus Machine: In one of Harry's drug visions, he is in a war between humans and robots. Together with one former friend of his, he camps near a street with a rocket launcher, shooting at every passing car.
- Milestone Birthday Angst: At the beginning of the novel, Harry is 47 and shows suicidal tendencies. Shortly after the beginning of the novel, he gets the idea to commit suicide on the day of his 50th birthday.
- The Murder After: When Harry, during his drug rush, finds Hermine and Pablo naked on the floor, he murders her. However, it's strongly implied (though not confirmed) that he only imagined having killed her during his drug rush.
- Mushroom Samba: Hermine and Pablo take Harry to their 'Magic Theatre'(Not For Everyone/For Madmen Only/Price Of Admittance Your Mind) and they indulge in many drugs and Harry spends the last third of the novel reveling in hallucinatory adventures.
- Nested Story: The novel begins from the point of view of the unnamed nephew of Harry's landlord. He then claims to have found the records of Harry, which make up the major part of the novel - and within these records, there is also the "Steppenwolf's tractate", a description of the Steppenwolf from other people's point of view.
- Sexy Sax Man: Pablo is a saxophone player who Harry describes as extraordinarily attractive, in strong opposition to his own, aging self.
- Wish-Fulfillment: In one of Harry's drug visions, he relives every single female encounter of his life, no matter how insignificant, and ends up having a romantic relationship or sex with them.
