The Steppenwolf: A Norton Critical Edition (Paperback). This item is unavailable.The Steppenwolf: A Norton Critical Edition (Paperback)

“Kurt Beals makes this 1927 classic of psychedelic dreams sparkle in new technicolor splendor. Talk to your doctor about possible side effects.” ―MARTIN PUCHNER, author of The Language of Thieves: My Family’s Obsession with a Secret Code the Nazis Tried to Eliminate

“Beals’s translation breathes new life into a modern classic, seamlessly transmitting the novel’s humor and complexity without shying away from its transgressions. A literary intervention as timely as it is daring.”―JON CHO-POLIZZI, University of Michigan

This Norton Critical Edition includes:

• Kurt Beals’s 2023 “splendid translation of this offbeat classic” (Doreen Densky, New York University), which restores much of Hesse’s original meaning and language.
• A compelling introduction, annotations, and a note on the critical edition by Beals.
• Contextual selections from texts that inspired Hesse, Hesse’s own writings, and correspondence from his contemporary Thomas Mann.
• Eight critical interpretations exploring philosophical and literary themes within the novel.
• A chronology of Hesse’s life and a selected bibliography.

Hermann Hesse was born in 1877 in Calw, Germany. He grew to become a celebrated author and the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946. As the son of missionaries, he developed a fascination with self-discovery and spiritual explorations, an interest also likely due in part to his lifelong struggle with depression, which led him to study Sigmund Freud and, later, to undergo psychoanalysis with Carl Jung. In 1912 he moved to Switzerland, where he wrote his best-known books, including the classic Siddhartha; composed poetry; and painted landscapes. He passed away in 1962 in Montagnola, Switzerland. Hesse is one of the most widely translated authors of the twentieth century; his work continues to have influence worldwide.

Kurt Beals is a visiting associate professor of German and a humanities fellow in literary translation at the University of Richmond. He has translated twentieth–century and contemporary works by Jenny Erpenbeck, Hermann Hesse, Reiner Stach, Regina Ullmann, and Anja Utler, among others. He lives in Virginia.