Alan Conrad
"How I used to love the dark sad evenings
of late autumn and winter, how eagerly I
imbibed their moods of loneliness and
melancholy when wrapped in my cloak I
strode for half the night through rain and
storm, through the leafless winter
landscape.....
- Steppenwolf, 1927
of late autumn and winter, how eagerly I
imbibed their moods of loneliness and
melancholy when wrapped in my cloak I
strode for half the night through rain and
storm, through the leafless winter
landscape.....
- Steppenwolf, 1927
Herman Hesse's novel Steppenwolf has haunted readers since it was first published in
1927. It haunted me from the time I first read it in 1972. Yet, like so many others, I used to
be dissatisfied with the story's ending.
No, I didn't like the vague, indefinable conclusion in the Magic Theater. It's not that Harry
Haller, the steppenwolf, didn't need the life of the jazz clubs or the mysterious bar girl
Hermine. Harry needed that interlude to restore his spirit. The darkness of the human
world had been too much for him and he was on the verge of defeat. Before Hermine he
was at a dead end, with no way out except the suicide that he contemplated every night.
But the hypocrisy, superficiality, and moral darkness of the world that he had fought so
hard against was still there. All through the gay tumultuous night of the fancy dress ball, the
implacable modern world remained outside waiting for him. It was returning with the
dawn - the party was over - it was Harry's destiny to face again what was out there and I'm
sure he knew it. For if the steppenwolves among us won't do that, who will?
Learning to accept modern civilization would have been a cop out for the Steppenwolf. It's
one thing for a solitary man like Harry to learn about social life, appreciate it and
sympathize with those who live it, even sometimes to take part in it and find love there, but
that doesn't mean that a solitary person's destiny is in the social world.
Yes, the lone Steppenwolf belongs in those streets at night. That's who he is. That's why
we love him.
And, in fact, he is still there.
For the ending of Hesse's book is not where it appears to be. It's not on the last page
where Harry's consciousness is dissolving along with the image of Hermine. The ending
is actually in the beginning, in the prologue. The narrator of the prologue, who has read
the diary and confessed his affection for this 'wolf of the steppes' that had 'lost its way
and strayed into towns and the life of the herd', concludes 'No, I am sure he has not taken
his own life. He is still alive and somewhere wearily goes up and down the stairs of
strange houses, stares somewhere at clean-scoured parquet floors and carefully tended
araucarias, sits for days in libraries and nights in taverns …he has not killed himself, for a
glimmer of a belief still tells us that he is to drink this frightful suffering in his heart to the
dregs.' *
That is the real ending of the story.
And it's what we want isn't it? To know that the Steppenwolf is still out there, that someone
is still brave enough to reject the falseness of this world and remain apart from it. We want
the Steppenwolf, his spirit renewed from his encounter with Hermine and Pablo, to be out
in the streets at night, whatever the weather, his soul as resistant and romantic as ever.
For a long time these thoughts were on my mind. Finally, at fifty-one, the same age as the
Steppenwolf, I began a new story about him, one that would bring his up to date.
I set out searching for another answer to his predicament. But I soon realized that I didn't
know who the Steppenwolf was. That is, I didn't know why he was so different from other
people. Why do shy solitary people exist in a world where they don't seem to belong? I
didn't realize until then that Hesse hadn't addressed that question at all.
During the seven years I spent writing the new story, I learned some things that I didn't
know you could learn. They can be found in my novel The Birdcatcher. Though the
character's name is Christopher Stone, and though he has to work for a living, unlike
Harry Haller who had an independent income, I think you will recognize him immediately
as another Steppenwolf.
As the little magic book said, there are many of them.
There is another Hermine too, just as there had to be.
If you read The Birdcatcher (you can download a PDF copy free), I think you'll agree with
me that the story of the Steppenwolf isn't over yet. He is still out there on that path of his,
and I'm sure The Birdcatcher won't be the last of the stories about him.
The Birdcatcher
1927. It haunted me from the time I first read it in 1972. Yet, like so many others, I used to
be dissatisfied with the story's ending.
No, I didn't like the vague, indefinable conclusion in the Magic Theater. It's not that Harry
Haller, the steppenwolf, didn't need the life of the jazz clubs or the mysterious bar girl
Hermine. Harry needed that interlude to restore his spirit. The darkness of the human
world had been too much for him and he was on the verge of defeat. Before Hermine he
was at a dead end, with no way out except the suicide that he contemplated every night.
But the hypocrisy, superficiality, and moral darkness of the world that he had fought so
hard against was still there. All through the gay tumultuous night of the fancy dress ball, the
implacable modern world remained outside waiting for him. It was returning with the
dawn - the party was over - it was Harry's destiny to face again what was out there and I'm
sure he knew it. For if the steppenwolves among us won't do that, who will?
Learning to accept modern civilization would have been a cop out for the Steppenwolf. It's
one thing for a solitary man like Harry to learn about social life, appreciate it and
sympathize with those who live it, even sometimes to take part in it and find love there, but
that doesn't mean that a solitary person's destiny is in the social world.
Yes, the lone Steppenwolf belongs in those streets at night. That's who he is. That's why
we love him.
And, in fact, he is still there.
For the ending of Hesse's book is not where it appears to be. It's not on the last page
where Harry's consciousness is dissolving along with the image of Hermine. The ending
is actually in the beginning, in the prologue. The narrator of the prologue, who has read
the diary and confessed his affection for this 'wolf of the steppes' that had 'lost its way
and strayed into towns and the life of the herd', concludes 'No, I am sure he has not taken
his own life. He is still alive and somewhere wearily goes up and down the stairs of
strange houses, stares somewhere at clean-scoured parquet floors and carefully tended
araucarias, sits for days in libraries and nights in taverns …he has not killed himself, for a
glimmer of a belief still tells us that he is to drink this frightful suffering in his heart to the
dregs.' *
That is the real ending of the story.
And it's what we want isn't it? To know that the Steppenwolf is still out there, that someone
is still brave enough to reject the falseness of this world and remain apart from it. We want
the Steppenwolf, his spirit renewed from his encounter with Hermine and Pablo, to be out
in the streets at night, whatever the weather, his soul as resistant and romantic as ever.
For a long time these thoughts were on my mind. Finally, at fifty-one, the same age as the
Steppenwolf, I began a new story about him, one that would bring his up to date.
I set out searching for another answer to his predicament. But I soon realized that I didn't
know who the Steppenwolf was. That is, I didn't know why he was so different from other
people. Why do shy solitary people exist in a world where they don't seem to belong? I
didn't realize until then that Hesse hadn't addressed that question at all.
During the seven years I spent writing the new story, I learned some things that I didn't
know you could learn. They can be found in my novel The Birdcatcher. Though the
character's name is Christopher Stone, and though he has to work for a living, unlike
Harry Haller who had an independent income, I think you will recognize him immediately
as another Steppenwolf.
As the little magic book said, there are many of them.
There is another Hermine too, just as there had to be.
If you read The Birdcatcher (you can download a PDF copy free), I think you'll agree with
me that the story of the Steppenwolf isn't over yet. He is still out there on that path of his,
and I'm sure The Birdcatcher won't be the last of the stories about him.
The Birdcatcher
Photograph: The image above was borrowed from a postcard I bought in Zurich in December 1965 during a
winter I spent traveling alone through Europe. The photographer isn't named on the card and the distributor's
identity is illegible (time, abuse and my handwriting have left only 'Verlag Ber….). If anyone can direct me to the
photographer or owner of the copyright it will be appreciated.
* The quotation is from the Henry Holt & Co Inc, New York/Owl Book edition, 1990, based on the 1929 Basil
Creighton translation – p.29.
* "No I am sure he has not…." – p.20.
winter I spent traveling alone through Europe. The photographer isn't named on the card and the distributor's
identity is illegible (time, abuse and my handwriting have left only 'Verlag Ber….). If anyone can direct me to the
photographer or owner of the copyright it will be appreciated.
* The quotation is from the Henry Holt & Co Inc, New York/Owl Book edition, 1990, based on the 1929 Basil
Creighton translation – p.29.
* "No I am sure he has not…." – p.20.