Hermann Hesse

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  Incapabil să savureze bucuriile mărunte ale vieţii, din ce în ce mai solitar şi mai izolat de lume, Harry Haller începe să semene tot mai mult cu un "lup de stepă". Singura soluţie pe care o întrevede este sinuciderea, însă teama de moarte îl împiedică să meargă până la capăt. Întâlnirea cu Hermine, omologul său feminin, reprezintă o adevărată iniţiere, o tulburătoare căutare a echilibrului fragil dintre corp şi spirit, fără de care fiinţa umană nu poate atinge perfecţiunea.


Lupul de stepă

Nona G

I was an avid reader while in high-school (still am, I just don't have that much time now). I was constantly borrowing 3 books from the library, every two weeks, and going through them like the wind, while also "stealing" books from my mom's bookcase. I was reading everything but what I was supposed to read for school because I always hated classic school readings. They were boring, unimaginative and mainly by Romanian authors unless you also took universal literature classes (which I only took because I was enrolled in a humanities studies class). So I read whatever felt interesting, without having much knowledge about the authors and their style (this was before the internet, so book reviews were scarce). 

Hermann Hesse was one of those authors I had discovered completely by accident. I had absolutely no idea what he was writing, I just took the first book that seemed interesting - that was Das Glasperlenspiel - and started reading. I was, I think, in 7th grade, so maybe 13 years old. I devoured it but, of course, didn't understand much; I hadn't taken any philosophy classes yet.

Steppenwolf followed right after that and I found myself thinking this is the greatest book in the world (I hadn't read One Hundred Years of Solitude at that point). I really thought I could identify with Harry Haller, the main character: I was in a very emo phase - before emo was even invented - and identified with every depressed and misunderstood character the literature could offer. 

Over the years, I grew up, I matured, I had life experiences that changed me, I'm not a depressed, grunge, black-wearing teen anymore. But Steppenwolf is still one of my favourite books. I reread it once every couple of years when it's "footprint" wears off and I feel I need a "healthy" dose of Hesse in my life. I only partially identify with Harry Haller anymore, having sometimes the feeling that the world is moving too fast for my taste and that I don't understand today's mores, music, distractions... 

But what I do get now is new meanings. Every time I read the book, there's a whole new universe unfolding for me. I find new meanings based on my mood, my relationship status, the experiences that have shaped me. It's one of those books that you can discover and rediscover time and time again, each time reading it with different eyes and focusing on different things: today it may be the relationship between Harry and Hermina, tomorrow it can be the political or the social context, or you can just read it as a fairytale, a game of mirrors where nothing is what it seems, a rollercoaster of emotions.

It's up to you, I guess, to find out what this book wants to say. To choose what aspects you want to pay attention to. To discover each layer and give your own meaning to each slice. After all, Hermann Hesse was very much a Jungian, and Jung saw the psyche as something that could be divided into component parts, each of them taking the spotlight at different times, depending on the situations we put ourselves into, the people we meet, the experiences we have.

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