Meg Grzenia Suda INTG 312 March 12, 2012 Hope: The Glimmering Letters of the Steppenwolfs Identity

Within Herman Hesses 20th century masterpiece, Steppenwolf, one may find that there are a myriad of themes, just as with the Steppenwolf, there are a myriad of selves. Suicide, duality, and the denial and acceptance of the bourgeoisie all manifest themselves as major components of the autobiographical work. Harry tinkers with the romanticism of succumbing to the seduction of death and argues with himself regarding its productive and destructive qualities. He speaks of the elements of the bourgeoisie and his revulsion at society continuing to use this simplistic nature with which to view the world. It is undeniable that a variety of doom and gloom topics emerge as Harry weaves in and out of conscious and unconscious thought. The reflective Hesse, however, argues in his authors note from 1961 that it becomes the task of the reader to interpret the text in whatever way he pleases: May everyone find in it what strikes a chord in him and is of some use to him! (6). Just as the Steppenwolf completely immerses himself in a self-examination and goes to all costs to come to a self-actualization, so does Hesse wish for the reader to accompany Harry in that profound journey. So, as previouslymentioned, the book delves deep into some very disheartening subjects containing the overarching questions pondered by humanity for ages. But it does not appear to be Hesses intent that we should focus solely upon the overwhelming, discouraging themes that the book provides; in fact, the psychoanalytic writer implores us to look for and acknowledge the glimmers of hope that flit in and out of the storyline. Hesse infers that even amongst the sorrows of life, there still remain pockets of happiness and moments of delight. I would be happy if

many of them [his readers] were to realize that the story of the Steppenwolf pictures a disease and crisisbut not one leading to death and destruction, on the contrary: to healing (6). These points illustrating optimistic moments in Harrys mid-life crisis demonstrate that there is, indeed, life after an unruly, troublesome period in ones existence. He finds solace and a respite from life through the healing powers of music and the sort of people (Hermine and Pablo) who have created such a remedy for the Steppenwolfs open woundssuicidal thoughts, the Hamletian struggle with the meaning of life, and the taming of his inner beast. It is the intention of this paper to study and make a critical examination of just that. In Steppenwolf, Harry Haller encounters three paramount, but very different, instances of hope through music that provide him with a mystical sense of the eternal, amend his need for the elements of an intellectual lifestyle, and incorporate an element of liberation from the bland processes of everyday pursuits. From the very beginning, the reader can recognize that Harrys true identity lies in that of the aesthetiche craves beauty, although, in contradiction, he constantly strives for the rational thinking that comes with that of an intellectual, scholastic approach to life. He appreciates the scientific method brought forth in the Enlightenment. A man of the Classical Age who had to live in medieval times would suffocate miserably just as a savage does in the midst of our civilization (22). Harry believes himself to be the savage within the time period in which he currently lives; he longs to live in the Age of Enlightenment when critical thinking was valued above all else and even nature itself was associated with and valued as the intellectual property that each man made of it. For this reason, Harry idolizes Mozart, a quintessential character of the Classical Age (a model of rational thinking) as well as man who values the aesthetic in life (someone Harry identifies with in his desire for beauty). He is the greatest combination, the perfect dichotomy, of what Harry can only wish for himself to be.

The intriguing element surrounding the enjoyment of these aesthetic moments comes from, according to The Treatise on the Steppenwolf, the man inside Harry, not the passionate creature found in the wolf. suddenly the wild and wicked wolf was also a man, and had hankerings after goodness and refinement, and wanted to hear Mozart, to read poetry, and to cherish human ideals (43). The reasoning behind emphasizing the word suddenly lies in the fact that the phrase was employed to describe the transition from wolf to man; and this transition appears to be facilitated by the sounds emanating from music or the reading of literature. Music is the therapy which tames the beast of the internal Harry. His external appearance is that of, and will always remain that of, a man. It is his internal being, which is usually dominated by the wolf, which becomes united with his public self at the reverberations of music. Inner man and outer man become one, and there is a sense of stability as Harry makes sense of his existence in the brief, shining moments of mystical clarity. One of the first instances that Harry expresses this complete captivation by melodious pieces is actually through the third person view of his landladys nephew. The advantageous part of observing the Steppenwolf through the nephews eyes is that the readers begin to understand that this notion of music as a transcendental quality is not only a dimension of one of Harrys personalities, but that it is visible to the public as well. He did not see meafter the Handel came a little symphony by Friedemann Bach, and I saw with surprise after a few bars my stranger began to smile and abandon himself to the music. He was completely absorbed in himself, and for about ten minutes so happily lost and rapt in pleasant dreams that I paid more attention to him than to the music (17). The nephew describes how Harry did not see him from the very beginning; this gives Hesses audience the impression that the Steppenwolf has yielded to a trance-like state. His detachment from the outer world signifies the unification of himself and his inner being, and from this hallowed meeting of the selves, Harry becomes one with the supernatural. This

certainly counts as a moment of hope throughout his depressing musings. Later on, Harry describes this mystical experience in his own words: I sped through heaven and saw God at workI caught a glimpse of it now and thensometimes for a minute or two I saw it clearly, threading my life like a divine and golden track (30). His reference to the golden track, an ambiguous term for the divine or the spiritual essences felt in this life, weaves in and out of his life and is Harrys confirmation that, although not always obvious, this life is worth living because of these glimpses of eternity. What is it that keeps one hanging onto his existence? Why does one hesitate when it comes to interplay with oneself on the possibility of suicide? He mentions that it is difficult to seek out these instances of divine inspiration, yet he never fails and endures in this everlasting search (30). The great 20th century philosopher Alfred Schweitzer asserted that the most primal sense of ours is that of the will to live; this simple statement is something that Harry transcends and makes more complicated through his will to live in elated moments of time. Harry longs for a reality beyond himself and it appears that this is his reason for being so discontent with the world in which he lives. The brief moments of rapture and elation found through music can be compared to the nature of the letters which appear on the wall of the Magic Theater. [I saw] letters dancing and then disappearing, returning and vanishing once morebut they were hard to read even by guess work, for they came with very irregular spaces between them and very family, and then abruptly vanished (32). Every so often, the divine grants us with these rapturous moments. Yet, we become frustrated with the divine for not allowing these moments to become days or even years. They are, as the Steppenwolf describes them, very irregular. They remain, however, the model of a Hallerian lifestyle. As a Schweitzerian lifestyle focuses

on fulfilling the needs of the beings with the will to live, the Hallerian reverence for life comes from transcending that life into a new, more gratifying eternal existence. It appears that to Harry, music is something that belongs to the eternal world. The Steppenwolf, however, tends to manipulate the inspirational characteristics of the art in such a way that it is made an intellectual subject. Because of his extensive background in education and methodical thought, he feels he ought to approach music in an academic manner. This is especially apparent in one of Harrys first conversations with Pablo, a curious jazz musician who generally speaks very little. According to Pablo, music requires no man-made channels (for instance words themselves) to describe it. In fact, music should not even be analyzed or spoken of. I never talk about music. You see, I am a musician, not a professor, and I dont believe that, as regards music, there is the least point in being right. Music does not depend on being right, on having good taste and education and all that (132). Harry becomes frustrated with Pablos simplistic description of something related to the immortals (Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, etc.). After conversing on the topic of music at some length, Harry appears to come to a similar conclusion as Pablo, even though he may not recognize this agreement himself. He mentions that one can lie in bed and still recall music to mind without actually hearing the original melody at the same time (133). Harry finds that there are no words with which to reproduce music, only the sounds that reverberate through our memory of it, just as Pablo had insinuated beforehand. Although the level of losing oneself in music is rather low when he recalls the melody, there is still a small sense of enjoyment that is rooted in this activity. Harry appreciates this, although he may not put the kind of moment on the same level as that in the books beginning when he completely loses himself to the compositions of Handel.

He even goes so far to admit that, none of us intellectuals is at home in reality (136). So while he has just gone through the process of arguing with Pablo about the intellectualism music should possess, he turns on this assertion. The German intellectual has constantly rebelled against the word and against reason and courted music, reflects Harry (135). Deep down, the Steppenwolf understands that music is the one release, the one escape, of life that offers him respite from his never-ending analyzing of most every subject he encounters. It is not the music then, but the mere fact of its illogical nature, that offers hope to Harry. Music has no intention of representing something that already exists, but rather creates meaning for things that we have no tangible sense of understanding. And if we are lucky, we may just come to finding out these intangible truths every once in a while. For Harry, the very fact that music is not a rational process proves to be a form of hope for the lost nature of the Steppenwolf. He is satisfied in his needs for an intellectual lifestyle in that there is none in this casehe is relieved by this; it is in a liberating fashion that he surrenders to the aesthetic hold that music brings into his life. Harry admits that it is only natural that humanity submits to the mystical spirituality music offers itthis appealing and fatal relation [is] the destiny of the German spirit (135). He assigns this destiny not only to himself, but to his people, therefore, making a connection with the modern culture he had initially spurned. Here, Harry finds hope for his restless spirit as well as for humanity. As the reader comes to the end of the journey of self-examination with Harry, he will come across the most poignant point rendering a fresh view on the divine experiences of the protagonist. In this instance, the Steppenwolf comes to terms with the modern device of the radio emanating music and breaching elements of time and space. Harry is initially disgusted with the radio (and the gramophone) in that it contaminated his carefully tended garden of

music (128). Its distortion of sound takes away from what could be a mystical experience in the eyes of Harry. Perhaps he detests it because it is just another example of the fragmentation of humanity, only one of the elements to have come out of World War I. If this is the case, the antiwar mentality Harry possesses must have some association with his utter hatred for new technologies. Even one of his favorite immortals, Mozart, briefly touches on the disadvantages of listening to music through this modernistic mechanism. When you listen to radio you are a witness of the everlasting war between idea and appearance, between time and eternity, between the human and the divine (213). It is, however, from Mozart that Harry learns and accepts a new truth about the radio. Exactly as it strips this music of its sensuous beauty, spoils and scratches and beslimes it and yet cannot altogether destroy its spirit, just so does life, the so-called reality, deal with the sublime picture-play of the world and make a hurley-burley of it (213). Mozarts profound words truly strike a chord with Harry, who has needed some resolution to his thoughts on music for most of his academic career. The Immortals nonchalance in regards to life in general, and even to his music, inspires in Harry a similar attitude. Although thought of as other-worldly up until this point, Mozart deigns himself to speak about music on the same level as mortal life (so does life deal with the sublime pictureplay of the world and make a hurley-burley of it.). Through this phraseology, Mozart is expressing that no matter how we view a certain idea, philosophy, etc, we can never truly have a pure, unadulterated perspective on it. Life is a distortion in and of itself because billions of perspectives have been created in regards to it. So if life, something so very fundamental and the reason behind our existence, is a distortion, cannot music then be a distortion? In this way, Mozart seems to simplify music, but also elevates it by having Harry accept that we can only make sense of it through human terms. We should not take it seriously because life itself cannot

be taken seriously in many cases. Learn what is to be taken seriously and laugh at the rest advises the Immortal (213). The confirmation of this raw approach to music which comes from the very person Harry idolizes most offers the Steppenwolf great hope for not only music, but for life itself. The once suicidal man becomes enlivened with this fresh perception of how to live life. Music is a science, a math, a foreign language, a physical education, or an art. But who is to say that it cannot be something else? Harry becomes liberated through Mozarts description of music in that it not only provides new way of thinking about his methods of connecting to the eternal, but an innovative way to think about most any subject presented before him. He is given a new hope and fresh surge of energy as he begins to identify and connect with the thinking of the immortals and carry out his life in a liberated manner. These three instances, his connection with Handels music, his conversation with Pablo, as well as his dialogue with Mozart, all offer Harry hope through the lens of the eternal. He comes to terms with the mystical qualities of music and learns to dismiss it as a rational subject. In the end, because of his search for meaning in music, he ultimately finds meaning in life and the will to not only survive, but to thrive. In the words of the immortal and beloved Mozart, Harry learns to listen to the cursed radio music of life and to reverence the spirit behind it, laughing at its distortion (216).

Addendum In Hesses text, I most definitely see a part of myself within Harry. His ultimate goal, it seems, is to find meaning in life, and a perfect way in which to analyze the world. When I was younger, I always felt as though I could analyze the world in a strict, tunnel-vision manner. I had my own ideals and could form others opinions to meet those. Now, however, after having experienced the greater part of my liberal arts education, I understand and appreciate the multiple ways in which to view the world. I most definitely see myself in the text through Harrys identification with music and an alternative, supernatural world. For me, some of the more poignant segments of Steppenwolf have to do with the theme of music and its strange, but wonderful power over us human beings. Like Harry, I believe I have an old soul and thoroughly enjoy listening to music of past ages rather than even attempting to listen to the popular music of our time. Those mystical moments Harry experiences are points that I can identify with as I have, if only rarely, felt much of the same kind of sensations in the past. The following quote was one which truly struck a chord with me: a refreshing laughter rose in me, and suddenly the forgotten melody of those notes of the piano came back to me again. It soared aloft like a soap bubble, reflecting the whole world in a miniature on its rainbow surface, and softly burstI might be a beast astray, with no sense of its environment, yet there was some meaning in my foolish life, something in me gave an answer and was the receiver of those distant calls from worlds far above. (35). Hesse has also helped me in evaluating aspects of my sense of who I am as a being. His reference to the thousand selves which we all possess made me realize just how many selves I actually have and helped me break these different identities down. I can see myself as an academic who conflicts with my love of pleasurable things which conflict with my religion. All of my selves are in a constant chaotic cyclone of attempting to conform with or please each other, just as Harrys selves operate.

My experience with Hesses Steppenwolf has most certainly been an eye-opening one. I have come across new interpretations of war, music, the bourgeoisie, suicide, spirituality, and the meaning of life in general. Studying the psychology of the mind after war, especially World War I and the fragmentation to human thought that accompanied it, has always been of great interest to me. This book brought that to fruition through the multiplicity of feelings on war through Harrys experiences in the Magic Theater. The works aesthetically pleasing writing qualities helped to keep me intrigued and wanting for more each time I picked up the book. It is a kind of magic theater in and of itself in that one can become lost within the plot and find himself by the end through the sentence to live and learn to laugh.