Walter Sorell Boeken

Steppenwolf is a poetical self-portrait of a man who felt himself to be half-human and half-wolf. This Faust-like and magical story is evidence of Hesse's searching philosophy and extraordinary sense of humanity as he tells of the humanization of a middle-aged misanthrope. Yet this novel can also be seen as a plea for rigorous self-examination and an indictment of the intellectual hypocrisy of the period. As Hesse himself remarked, "Of all my books Steppenwolf is the one that was more often and more violently misunderstood than any other".

This German and English collection of autobiographical essays and poems is the last of Sorell's two dozen volumes and serves as his literary and human testament. Its centerpiece is an extended meditation on the bilingual author's relationship to his mother tongue and to the English language. Sorell distills the wisdom of a long and uncommonly creative life. The result is a book of great power and poignance.