MovieChat Forums > Deconstructing Harry (1998) Discussion > Steppenwolf reference?

Steppenwolf reference?

posted 19 years ago by frostbitten
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In Nobel laureate Herman Hesse's 1927 novel Steppenwolf, the main character Harry Haller philosophies about his personality and in some episodes he encounter many different bits and pieces of himself (or his soul), of different ages and moods. As I recently read this novel, I got to think about Harry Block. Could Woody Allen have been inspired by ideas in this book and as an homage (or clue) named his character as in the book?

It was a while ago I saw this film, but as I recall it Harry Block uses different pieces of himself to build different pices of the story. There are some resemblences.

[–] ldmaya-1 19 years ago

There is some Steppenwolf, but most is from Wild Strawberries, the movie by Ingmar Bergman. There are many common elements, i.e., in both moview the main character goes in a trip to receive an award from his old school, along the trip unexpected things and, in particular, old memories from childhood come alive.

Deconstructing Harry is Woody Allen's adaptation of Wild Strawberries for the American public. He does a great job, it is very entertaining, funny, and it keeps his styles as well as he gives homenage to Bergman. One great film master padding another one :)

Woody Allen has written a couple articles about Bergman. Very, very nice reads, by the way.