Steppenwolf

De: Hermann Hesse

Narrado por: Peter Weller

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.

With its blend of Eastern mysticism and Western culture, Steppenwolf, Hesse' best-known and most autobiographical work, originally published in English in 1929, continues to speak to our souls as a classic of modern literature.

©1927 S. Fischer Verlag A. G., Berlin. Renewal copyright 1955 Hermann Hesse. English translation copyright B 1929 Henry Holt and Company. Renewal copyright 1957 Hermann Hesse. Revised translation copyright 1963 Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc. Author's note copyright 1961 Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt Am Main (P)2008 BBC Audiobooks America

Hesse

Back in the 70's when I was in college and the army Herman Hesse had a surge of popularity that was deemed comin of age stories. Back then I read most of his books. I decided to listen to Steppenwolf to see if anything changed, if I had a diferenct perspective. I don't know that I have the answer, Hesse wrote a forward to this book 30 years or so after he wrote it mentioning how the young enjoyed his writing. But he wrote Steppenwolf when he was around 50 and he said that it was as much about finding peace of mind, your placein life than anything. He mentions that each reader gets somthing diffeerent from the story and any author wants his readers to relate to their stories in whatever way workds for them. This is a book for thinkers, I'm one, if you're one you may enjoy this tale.

If you like Nietzsche, you'll love Der Steppenwolf

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this to intelligent introspective friends who may have read some Nietzsche. Those would get the most out of it. I saw on the wiki page for the book that Jack Kerouac "dismissed" this book in Big Sur. While I've only read one of Kerouac's books, I can say the two aren't remotely on the same level. I think Hesse's work was just beyond him.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Der Steppenwolf of course.

What does Peter Weller bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Peter was an interesting choice. I can understand why he was offered the job, he often represents the lone wolf in movies.His pronunciation was decent but don't forget about the speed function on your audible player. I found 1.25x normal a very comfortable listening speed.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A new life is yours to take.

Any additional comments?

Psychologic, philosophic, and existential

omg

it was slowly building wrapped in both exileration and calm to a magnificent ending. boom. My favorite author by far.

Book just kinda ends.

I loved Siddhartha. This book starts slow. Then has a lot of character development. Then kinda ends leaving lots to be explained.

Not meant for audiobook

Any additional comments?

This book is very much a work of philosophy. Many of the sentences are meandering philosphical statements that most accessible when read more than once. The performance is monotone (which I suppose is fitting for the story) and tends to be boring. Buy this as a real book to truly access this classic.