The Magic Lantern Theater

The Magic Lantern Theater
by William Schaeffer

Interviewer: Angelo DiNallo

copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer

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From the novel "Steppenwolf" by Herman Hesse

The protagonist Harry Haller is living in post war Berlin. One night he sees The Magic Lantern Theater and goes to a late showing. He is given a copy of "The Treatise on the Steppenwolf" which is actually the story of his own life. He watches his own life acted out on the stage with detached disinterest and then leaves the theater.

Curiously, even though he returns numerous times to the same street, in the same neighborhood, he can never find The Magic Lantern Theater ever again.

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