Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf is a poetical self-portrait of a man who felt himself to be half-human and half-wolf.

Harry Haller, the protagonist of Steppenwolf, calls himself a "wolf of the steppes," the steppes being the alien domain to which such divided personalities are exiled by self and society. He has very little to do with the pleasures of life, and spends most of his days in his room with his books, and most of his nights in lonely taverns. His life changes dramatically when he meets a woman who is his opposite, the carefree and elusive Hermine.

Hermine is a beautiful woman who seems to know more about him than he himself. Harry becomes her obedient student. She teaches him little things about life that the middle class society finds pleasurable, and teaches him things about himself that had eluded him before. Hermine has the ability to take the Steppenwolf under her wing and understand his self torture, luring him out of deaths door.

Originally published in English in 1929, Steppenwolf 's wisdom continues to speak to our souls and marks it as a classic of modern literature.