Foreword: I accidentally saw a notification on Xiaohongshu that read "This Nobel Prize winner's works can be read by ordinary people", which immediately attracted my interest. After clicking on it, I found the four books listed: "Siddhartha", "Demir", "Under the Wheel" and "Steppenwolf". After reading the first "Siddhartha", I started to read the second "Steppenwolf".
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A person's works must not be separated from the background and life experience of the times in which he lived. This is true at all times and in all countries. Therefore, whenever I read a book, I always pay attention to the background of the times in which the author lived and the stage of his life when he wrote the book. Each of us is affected by the background of the times we lived at that time and our own limitations. This is true for ordinary people, and so is the great man. Regardless of the imprint of this era or his personal imprint, it will definitely leave traces in his works, and this is also the best focus for us to understand him and understand him as much as possible. Hesse was born in Germany in 1877, moved to Switzerland in 1919, won the Nobel Prize for Literature at the age of 46, and died at his home in Switzerland in 1962 at the age of 85. Hesse's maternal grandfather was an Indian missionary who had been preaching in India for a long time; his mother was born in India and was a devout believer; his father was a Protestant pastor. Hesse grew up in a diverse and open environment. The mixture of multiple religions and cultures had a significant impact on Hesse's later literary creation.
Hesse's novel "Steppenwolf" was published in 1927 and is a representative of his mid-term works. Before "Steppenwolf" was published, Hesse's life had changed dramatically. After the success of his first novel "Peter Kamenzin", Hesse moved to Lake Constance, devoted himself to writing and lived a reclusive life. However, the outbreak of World War I had a great impact on Hesse. He began to write articles against the war and preached humanitarianism, but he was labeled a traitor by his own country. Many old friends broke with him and even lost their lives. House, family and property. Frustrated, Hesse broke away from his motherland and became a Swiss citizen in 1923. The downfall at the world level coupled with the breakdown of his marriage and family caused Hesse to fall into a serious mental crisis. Because of these changes, the style of this work has changed significantly compared to Hesse's previous poetic and aesthetic creations. The image of Harrell in "Steppenwolf" is also a true portrayal of Hesse himself.
Harry Harrell, the protagonist of "Steppenwolf" is a middle-aged man about fifty years old who suffers from gout. He rents a compound with two boxes and a large box of books. Rooftop loft and bedroom next door. He is quiet, unsociable and lives a solitary life; he is well-dressed, has a sharp personality and is irritable; he has bad living habits, likes to smoke and drink, and the room is often filled with smoke and bottles of wine on the floor. Steppenwolf is such a person. He is an honest writer, but at the same time he is a middle class person who hates the middle class very much. He considers himself to be half human and half wolf, so he sees himself as a "Steppenwolf". He attends a party, is scolded by attendees for his anti-war remarks, and finds himself increasingly alone. When he returned home, he met Hermine and gained sensual pleasure. Later, through Hermina, he met the musician Pablo and the girl Maria. He forgot the pain in music and senses, and in the hallucination, he found the true meaning of his life, and finally ended everything with violence. .
When I first read "Steppenwolf", I thought Harrell was mentally ill because he was always polite to others, but he said the most vicious words when he was alone. My initial feeling after reading this book was that Harrell had completed his self-redemption, but upon further reflection I found that the true meaning of this book was anything but that. A person who has suppressed his animal nature for a long time, when he realizes that his animal nature and human nature coexist, chooses to suppress his animal nature and reveal his humanity. But the result of this choice is that the animal nature continues to erode human nature in the midst of repression. At the moment when human nature collapses, the freedom and liberation of the animal nature allows it to respond to everything in the most primitive way.
Hesse's "Steppenwolf" does not only refer to Harel, but to all people in so-called civilized society. Humans claim to be advanced creatures and have the ability to think rationally. With this kind of rationality, man has woven various frameworks for society, nature, and almost everything he can touch. People call these frameworks the so-called civilization. In civilization, people turn their rationality into violence to maintain "everything" they believe in, but unknowingly, they release their instincts through so-called rationality, and then brutally carry out all the actions they think are natural. .
If you could sum up this work in one sentence, it would be "a mentally ill person constantly seeking death and redemption." When we take "Steppenwolf" and the contemporary "The Unqualified" Let’s do a little comparison, we will find that both are so sad, the protagonists both have mental problems, the authors both have mental problems, they are both autobiographical, they both talk about a certain woman(s)’s redemption of the self, and both The story of a man who is tired of the world and wants to commit suicide, and whose notes (notes) are discovered by a third party, is a bit interesting. Speaking of which, if you have seen Unqualified, you must watch Steppenwolf.
We all say that the era of "Steppenwolf" is a decadent era with a lack of faith. However, it has been so long since the First World War, who dares to say that there is no shadow of Steppenwolf's era in our bodies.
In this era of materialistic desires and increasingly abundant material life, people's spirits are confused and empty, and money and power have become more and more a belief...
Bai Yansong once said: "We You must have faith, and the core of faith is reverence. "Just like the embankments on both sides of a big river, one side is "respect" and the other side is "fear". As long as the embankment is high enough, no matter how rough the river is, it will not cause flooding. However, over the years, the river of reality's desires has been overflowing, often overflowing its banks. Today's people often have subjective wills that are not controlled by their brains. They like to say things they don't mean and wear hypocritical masks to behave. There are some words that many people will despise themselves the moment they say them. Isn't this the countless shadows that split from Steppenwolf and are enemies of themselves? In order to work and live, we have to be like Steppenwolf. Although we all know that such a life is tiring, we still let it go until we get used to it.
Conclusion: In fact, there is a Steppenwolf in everyone's heart, howling sadly behind the mask of numbness and mediocrity.