Steppenwolf (orig. German
Der Steppenwolf) is the tenth
novel by German-Swiss author
Hermann Hesse. Originally published in Germany in 1927, it was first translated into English in 1929. Combining
autobiographical and
psychoanalytic elements, the novel was named after the lonesome
wolf of the
steppes. The story in large part reflects a profound crisis in Hesse's spiritual world during the 1920s while memorably portraying the protagonist's split between his humanity and his wolf-like aggression and homelessness. Hesse would later assert that the book was largely misunderstood.