In this diploma work the reception of Hermann Hesse’s novel „Steppenwolf“ in Germany,
Switzerland and USA is analysed. Starting with the first reviews of Hermann Hesse’s work at
the turn of the century, the work focuses on readers’ first responses to “Steppenwolf” after its
first publication in 1927. Additionally the problem of the literary genre of the work is
analysed. Then the author discusses the reception of the work in Switzerland during the Nazi
rise to power and the following World War II as well as outlines the historical context for the
reception of the work after Hesse’s Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. In the end the author
focuses on the reception during the Hesse-wave in the late 1960s. Parallels in the reception of
the novel all throughout the three periods are drawn and the findings compared and
contrasted.
In this way the author tries to determine whether the novel “Steppenwolf“ was a product of its
time or whether it was an important cultural phenomenon in world literature.
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