Two novels by Herman Hesse: Demian and Der Steppenwolf

Abstract

As the section of this study devoted to Der Steppenwolf will demonstrate , much secondary literature treating Hermann Hesse has confined itself to an uncritical, frequently adulatory discussion of his oeuvre , many articles and even books consisting merely in a recapitulation or paraphrase of his various works. Seymour Flaxman is an exemplary representative of this tendency. A contrasting trend is, however, extant. As the section on Demian will clarify, Hugo Ball and Colin Wilson are two critics not as willing as many scholars to accept Hesse at face value. Yet their critiques are not related in detail to textual phenomena, stemming more from subjective criteria and feelings.