Steppenwolf’s producer Gabriel Mekler was the one who had read Hesse’s book and suggested the band name. The novel takes its name from the German word for steppe wolf, a species of grey wolves that live near the Caspian Sea.
The name Steppenwolf derives from the 1927 novel, Steppenwolf, by German author Hermann Hesse, which captures his struggle with isolation and spirituality at the time. Until today the novel is considered an important read for the young adult in search of his identity.The band Steppenwolf was formed in 1967 by lead singer John Kay, drummer Jerry Edmonton and keyboardist Goldy McJohn, all of whom were previously part of a band known as the Sparrows, and were soon joined by guitarists Michael Monarch and Rushton Moreve that same year. “Der Steppenwolf” became the bible of the hippie movement and, as such, returned to Germany, where more than 800,000 copies were sold in 19 alone. Those who were searching for something outside their parents’ bourgeois life, who broke with all the conventions of their parents’ generation to find their own way, also found themselves in Harry. If you wanted to be a hippie, you not only had to grow your hair long and smoke weed, you also had to at least read the Steppenwolf. And they would have remained there, if the conflicted figure of Harry Haller did not capture the feeling of a whole generation, which broke free in the US in the 1960s. But notable German literary critics would still call his works “kitsch”. When the novel was published by Manesse in 1946, Hermann Hesse had just been awarded the Nobel Prize, above all for his pacifist attitude, which was representative for a different, peace-loving kind of German literature.
When the novel was published in 1927, it was one among many, even, as some critics claimed, one without any literary significance whatsoever. After all there’s a reason why his hero’s initials match his own.
“Der Steppenwolf” was written by Hermann Hesse (1877-1962), influenced by Hesse’s own doubts about the society he lived in after the First World War. He is a lonesome outsider, jealous of all those who are happy with their meaningless little lives, able to enjoy the moment. On the other hand, he is sometimes overcome by his other side, the “Steppenwolf” (a “coyote”), who disregards all conventions and has long broken with his bourgeois lifestyle. On the one hand, he really badly wants to be a respectable citizen with a desire for security and love. It’s not easy being Harry Haller, the focal character of the novel “Der Steppenwolf”. Published by Manesse, Bibliothek der Weltliteratur, 1946
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