Is he a man, or a beast? Or a better question: is any man more than another brute animal? This is one of the primary questions addressed in Hesse's classic novel, Steppenwolf. Its protagonist is an aging man who finds himself in a world he no longer understands, a world in which all the things he once held dear are being replaced by things that seem heartless, meaningless, soulless. But is it the world that is decaying, or is it simply that he cannot keep up with the changes? What is perception, and what is reality? Maybe the world had always been like this, and the Steppenwolf simply hadn't noticed until now. This book is a must-read for anyone who ever finds himself mired in existential dilemmas.
