Second paragraph of third section:
| Der Steppenwolf hatte also zwei Naturen, eine menschliche und eine wölfische, dies war sein Schicksal, und es mag wohl sein, daß dies Schicksal kein so besonderes und seltenes war. Es sollen schon viele Menschen gesehen worden sein, welche viel vom Hund oder vom Fuchs, vom Fisch oder von der Schlange in sich hatten, ohne daß sie darum besondre Schwierigkeiten gehabt hätten. Bei diesen Menschen lebte eben der Mensch und der Fuchs, der Mensch und der Fisch nebeneinander her, und keiner tat dem andern weh, einer half sogar dem andern, und in manchem Manne, der es weit gebracht hat und beneidet wird, war es mehr der Fuchs oder Affe als der Mensch, der sein Glück gemacht hat. Dies ist ja jedermann bekannt. Bei Harry hingegen war es anders, in ihm liefen Mensch und Wolf nebeneinander her, und noch viel weniger halfen sie einander, sondern sie lagen in ständiger Todfeindschaft gegeneinander, und einer lebte dem andern lediglich zu Leide, und wenn Zwei in Einem Blut und Einer Seele miteinander todfeind sind, dann ist das ein übles Leben. Nun, jeder hat sein Los, und leicht ist keines. | And so the Steppenwolf had two natures, a human and a wolfish one. This was his fate, and it may well be that it was not a very exceptional one. There must have been many men who have had a good deal of the dog or the fox, of the fish or the serpent in them without experiencing any extraordinary difficulties on that account. In such cases, the man and the fish lived on together and neither did the other any harm. The one even helped the other. Many a man indeed has carried this condition to such enviable lengths that he has owed his happiness more to the fox or the ape in him than to the man. So much for common knowledge. In the case of Harry, however, it was just the opposite. In him the man and the wolf did not go the same way together, but were in continual and deadly enmity. One existed simply and solely to harm the other, and when there are two in one blood and in one soul who are at deadly enmity, then life fares ill. Well, to each his lot, and none is light. |
My record-keeping is not always perfect, and I discover now that I actually read this back in 2007. I wrote then:
It’s fundamentally a depressing German psychological-mystical novel, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting to. I was very much drawn into the narrator’s story of reconciling what he imagines to be the two sides of his own nature, and coming to terms with music, dancing and sex while remaining true to himself. The ending is a bit peculiar but that is in keeping with the tone of the rest. As I look back at my entries about Nobel prize-winners I see that I’ve ended quite a lot of them with the feeling that I might read more by that author, but this time I really mean it!
In the following 17 years my tolerance for whiny male protagonists has decreased, and I’m afraid I found this very unsatisfactory on a reread. I found the protagonist dull, self-obsessed and needlessly unpleasant to other people. It is mercifully short at least. You can get it here.
I (incorrectly) thought that this was my top unread book acquired so far this year, and my top unread non-genre fiction book. Next on both of those lists is The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck.
My German hasn’t decayed as much as I thought it had, I could follow that.