„THE SORROWS OF YOUNG WERTHER” AND „STEPPENWOLF”: PRODUCTIVE RECEPTION IN MODERN GERMAN LITERATURE
„THE SORROWS OF YOUNG WERTHER” AND „STEPPENWOLF”: PRODUCTIVE RECEPTION IN MODERN GERMAN LITERATURE

Summary/Abstract: This paper proposes a theoretical and hermeneutic framework that connects productive reception, solipsism, and autobiography as complementary perspectives in literary interpretation. Drawing upon the reader-response theories of Hans Robert Jauss and Wolfgang Iser and the philosophical reflections of Paul Ricoeur and Edmund Husserl, the study approaches reading as an act of self-construction and identity formation. The comparative analysis of Goethe’s „Die Leiden des jungen Werther” and Hesse’s „Der Steppenwolf” reveals how both authors use solipsistic perspectives and autofictional structures to engage the reader as a co-creator of meaning. Through the productive reception of Goethe, Hermann Hesse transforms the Wertherian model into a modern form of existential solitude and narrative self-reflection. The article argues that reading itself becomes a hermeneutic practice of self-knowledge, where the boundaries between fiction and identity dissolve in the creative encounter between text and reader.

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