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Alan Bray
- Dec 23, 2021
- 4 min
Jolly Hunting
A friend recently wrote that he would be interested in my thinking about Steppenwolf in light of recent mass and/or school shootings, as...


Alan Bray
- Dec 16, 2021
- 4 min
Hot For Teacher
Last week, I said, “Although it masquerades as one, this (Steppenwolf) is not a realist novel that attempts to show “life as it really...


Alan Bray
- Dec 9, 2021
- 4 min
There Are No Coincidences
– Don Juan, in Carlos Castenada’s The Teachings of Don Juan No coincidence, no story - an ancient Chinese saying. Two mutually exclusive...


Alan Bray
- Dec 2, 2021
- 5 min
Magic Theater
Last week, we talked about how the first section of Steppenwolf—after the preface—describes Harry Haller’s painful existence. He is glum,...


Alan Bray
- Nov 25, 2021
- 4 min
Rage Against the Machine
Harry Haller’s purported journal begins with a description of his day—written in past tense, something we must return to later. He is, to...


Alan Bray
- Nov 18, 2021
- 4 min
Get Your Motor Running
This week, a new book, Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf, first published in 1927. I am using a Picador edition published in 1963 which...