The critic Ziolkowski has described Steppenwolfas "A Sonata in Prose," examining the musical aspects of the novel's structure. In simpler terms, the story falls roughly into thirds: the "Preface" and Harry Haller's records, entitled "For Madmen Only"; the early passages of the "Treatise on the Steppenwolf," up to the point where Haller first enters the Magic Theatre; and the rest of the book. Unlike Siddhartha and Demian, after the "Preface" there are no chapter divisions in this novel; the narrative forges ahead without pause. The central part of the book covers a period of about a month, though any sense of time is pretty much abandoned in the surreal passages that conclude the novel.

These surrealistic effects, while by no means unique, are especially daring in Steppenwolf. Often, the only real connection between one event and the one that follows it is that Harry Haller experiences both.

For...