This Faust-like and magical story of the humanization of a middle-aged misanthrope was described in The New York Times as a `savage indictment of bourgeois society`. But, as the author notes in this edition, "Steppenwolf" is a book that has been consistently misinterpreted. This self-portrait of a man who felt himself to be half-human and half-wolf can also be seen as a plea for rigorous self-examination and an indictment of intellectual hypocrisy.