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

'reality', that of Haller's soul, completely detached from the everyday level, and from
the 'reality' of the rest of the novel:
Die gesamte Welt des Magischen Theaters 1st [...] nicht nur von der real-
geschichtlichen Wirklichkeit abgegrenzt, sondern auch von der
Romanwirklichkeit, die sich fur eine bestimmte Realitat ausgibt. [...] Es ist
daher durchaus folgerichtig, wenn Pablo am Eingang des Magischen Theaters
den Protagonisten warnt, es gabe da nur Bilder, aber keine Wirklichkeit. Nur
scheint mancher Leser diese Warnung iiberhort zu haben, wenn er gleich
Theodore Ziolkowski versucht, die imaginaren Ereignisse von den realen
abzuheben. (Karalaschwili, 185)
Hollis, for his part, without refuting Ziolkowski's core argument, according to which
Der Steppenwolf lends itself to comparison with the standard structure of the sonata,
or the idea of events simultaneously unfolding on two levels of interpretation,
criticizes Ziolkowski for 'a certain one-sidedness' in favour of the everyday plane.41
While Karalaschwili's criticism partly misses the point, since the events in the
Magic Theatre are also explicable in terms of everyday reality, Hollis' argument rings
true in consideration of Ziolkowski's phrasing in certain points of his analysis, where
he seems to lay greater emphasis on the interpretation of the everyday plane: 'On the
realistic plane, it is nothing more than an opium fantasy in which Haller indulges after the
ball in the company of Pablo and Hermine' (1965, 216; my emphasis).42 It is however
irrefutable that Ziolkowski, the proponent of the 'technique of double perception',
restates the constant interplay and reciprocity of the two strands several times
throughout:
The Magic Theater, like every other incident in the novel, is open to
interpretation on two levels' or 'In the final tableau the two levels of reality become
so entangled as to be almost inextricable. (1965, 216 and 219; my emphasis)
It must be noted at this point that Ziolkowski's argument is less persuasive when he
considers parallels between two other sections of the novel referred to as 'Harry
Haller's Apprenticeship' (1965, 207) and The Magic Theater' (216)-and the two final
41 'While this [Ziolkowski's] is a possible interpretation of the occurrences in Steppenwolf, it does seem to suffer
from a certain one-sidedness; it turns a two-voiced melody into a single tune' (Hollis 1973, 80). 'Ziolkowski [...]
interprets all the supernatural side simply as hallucination' (Hollis 1973, 79).
42 See also: 'On the dream level Haller seems to take a knife and kill Hermine. The actual event probably
amounts to no more than an exclamation of jealousy and disgust' (219; my emphasis).
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