HERMANN HESSE AND THE DIALECTICS OF TIME Salvatore C. P. ...

As noted above (6.1) that the last part of Der Steppenwolfis set against the backdrop of
a carnival atmosphere. When Haller joins the 'Maskenball', it is already in full swing:
In alien Ra'umen des grofien Gebaudes war Festbetrieb, in alien Salen wurde
getanzt, auch in Kellergeschofi, alle Korridore und Treppen waren von
Masken, Tanz, Musik, Gelachter und Gejage iiberflutet. (Ste, SW 4,154)
He is unsure whether to stay or leave the party, when he finds himself surrounded
by masked people, amongst whom some are dressed as clowns: '[ich] wurde
vertraulich angepufft, von Madchen zum Besuch der Champagnerstuben
aufgefordert, von Clowns auf die Schulter gehauen und mit du angeredet' (Ste, SW 4,
154). The saxophonist Pablo is there, playing in the band; Harry encounters Maria
soon after and, finally, Hermine, with whom he spends the rest of that night.
At the end of the ball, Pablo joins the couple and leads them into a room of the
dance hall, where he offers Haller a cigarette, the smoke of which is as thick as
incense, and a drink, an 'Elixier', that makes Harry feel weightless, as if he were 'mit
Gas gefiillt' (Ste, SW 4,165). After they have been engaged in conversation for a
while, Pablo invites the two to follow him into his little theatre, which he later refers
to as the 'Magisches Theater'. Harry and Hermine have to part, walking down two
corridors running along opposite wings of the theatre, and meet at the end. In the
boxes branching off the long round corridor, Harry is faced with several dream-like
experiences one takes place in a sort of circus, where an animal tamer plays tricks
with a 'Steppenwolf. Harry is still wandering along the corridor when he overhears
the music from Mozart's Don Giovanni and, not long after, he becomes acquainted
with someone resembling Mozart himself as had often appeared in Haller's dreams. 52
Like a clown, this character mocks and plays tricks on Haller. It is at the end of this
series of extraordinary events that, in a sort of epiphany, Haller realises that the
person in front of him is Pablo, not Mozart. The discussion in the foregoing chapters
has dealt with some of the implications of this sudden twist in the narration, which is
now examined in the light of those elements of Mozart's and Pablo's humour that
make them as incarnations of the 'joker' and, to some extent, of the 'fool' in
52 '»Mozart!« dachte ich und beschwor damit die geliebtesten und hochsten Bilder meines inneren Lebens'(SW
4, 191).
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