Publication
Suhrkamp Verlag GmbH (2012)
Original publication date
1943 (Fretz und Wasmuth Verlag, Zürich)
Collections
Genres
Awards
Nobel Prize in Literature (1946)
The Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read (Science Fiction and Fantasy)
Description
The final novel of Hermann Hesse, for which he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946, The Glass Bead Game is a fascinating tale of the complexity of modern life as well as a classic of modern literature. Set in the twenty-third century, The Glass Bead Game is the story of Joseph Knecht, who has been raised in Castalia, the remote place his society has provided for the intellectual elite to grow and flourish. Since childhood, Knecht has been consumed with mastering the Glass Bead Game, which requires a synthesis of aesthetics and scientific arts, such as mathematics, music, logic, and philosophy, which he achieves in adulthood, becoming a Magister Ludi (Master of the Game).
User reviews
LibraryThing member poetontheone
Around the time I turned thirteen, my grandfather took me to the bookstore. Not for me to peruse and pick something to my own liking, but specifically to buy this book and have me read it. This is a novel that was very important to him. No doubt it was a major marker in his intellectual and
My grandfather passed three years ago, and The Glass Bead Game has remained unread on my shelf all that time since. I felt that I have continually postponed a commitment, a sort of duty, by not reading it. Perhaps the daunting length was still a factor. Maybe the personal importance I have placed upon the work deterred me in some way, as though to encounter it was a great task or a rare privilege to be taken up with caution. Maybe so. Despite this, I am fairly sure that any sentimental value I place upon the work does not too drastically affect my opinion of it.
It is Hesse's magnum opus, truly. Here again, he explores duality. The duality between the intellectual life and the worldly life. In the end, it is shown that the intellectual life, fully realized, must have as its goal some service to the greater human community. It is a clever joke then that the book is written in the form of an indulgent scholarly biography, as Joseph Knecht ultimately rejects such a life. To simply restate the overarching themes of this book does little good. It is quite unlike any other, even among Hesse's own work. I now wonder how my experience of reading the book might have changed if I first read the appended posthumous writings attributed to Knecht. They hint at the ideas that are more fully elaborated upon in the main work.
Some may yawn at the prospect of being cast into some elite province of the far future (which, in turn, feels wonderfully ancient) that is cut off from everything worldly to trace the purely cerebral life of an austere and confident man. Let them not be fooled. Hesse makes us feel attachment and concern for Knecht and his companions, crafting a tale that in all its headiness and calm, never bores. Joseph Knecht learns much, and so do we. A reader might be more gratified, perhaps, with the mysticism of Siddhartha or the tale of chaotic transformation found in Steppenwolf. Though Demian or Narcissus and Goldmund might be my favorite of his, I can say without hesitation that this is the most intricate and fully realized among Hesse's major works. I didn't mark up this book as I have his others, but if it is not necessarily quotable it is memorable. It is not so much here about the structure of a phrase, but the structure of the overall narrative and the depth of characterization. It is a journey, and one I am so glad to have taken. Thanks Grandpa.
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spiritual development. He spoke often of Hesse, and particularly of The Glass Bead Game, of the Magister Ludi. At that time, I made a feeble attempt to read it, but soon lost interest. Perhaps the premise seemed boring to me, young as I was. Maybe I was intimidated by the book’s length. One year later, I came across Siddhartha. It was there that my own love affair with Hesse began. I soon devoured Steppenwolf, and then a few years later read Demian, and then Narcissus and Goldmund only two summers ago. It is true I have taken long breaks, but each time I return I feel as though I am stepping through the door to home. I am with friends. My grandfather passed three years ago, and The Glass Bead Game has remained unread on my shelf all that time since. I felt that I have continually postponed a commitment, a sort of duty, by not reading it. Perhaps the daunting length was still a factor. Maybe the personal importance I have placed upon the work deterred me in some way, as though to encounter it was a great task or a rare privilege to be taken up with caution. Maybe so. Despite this, I am fairly sure that any sentimental value I place upon the work does not too drastically affect my opinion of it.
It is Hesse's magnum opus, truly. Here again, he explores duality. The duality between the intellectual life and the worldly life. In the end, it is shown that the intellectual life, fully realized, must have as its goal some service to the greater human community. It is a clever joke then that the book is written in the form of an indulgent scholarly biography, as Joseph Knecht ultimately rejects such a life. To simply restate the overarching themes of this book does little good. It is quite unlike any other, even among Hesse's own work. I now wonder how my experience of reading the book might have changed if I first read the appended posthumous writings attributed to Knecht. They hint at the ideas that are more fully elaborated upon in the main work.
Some may yawn at the prospect of being cast into some elite province of the far future (which, in turn, feels wonderfully ancient) that is cut off from everything worldly to trace the purely cerebral life of an austere and confident man. Let them not be fooled. Hesse makes us feel attachment and concern for Knecht and his companions, crafting a tale that in all its headiness and calm, never bores. Joseph Knecht learns much, and so do we. A reader might be more gratified, perhaps, with the mysticism of Siddhartha or the tale of chaotic transformation found in Steppenwolf. Though Demian or Narcissus and Goldmund might be my favorite of his, I can say without hesitation that this is the most intricate and fully realized among Hesse's major works. I didn't mark up this book as I have his others, but if it is not necessarily quotable it is memorable. It is not so much here about the structure of a phrase, but the structure of the overall narrative and the depth of characterization. It is a journey, and one I am so glad to have taken. Thanks Grandpa.
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LibraryThing member paradoxosalpha
The Glass Bead Game (the title Magister Ludi was an imposition of the first English translation) was Hesse's final novel, separated from his penultimate one Journey to the East by over a decade. I think it has been even longer for me between the reading of the two, and I wish that I had a fresher
I have seen reviewers refer to the imagined society of Castalia that Hesse presents (set several centuries in our future) as "utopian" and as "dystopian," and I found it to be neither, although it is set at a certain extreme of social development for an intellectual aristocracy. Accordingly, the prose style and structure of the book is not that of a novel, but rather that of scholarship. It is easy for me to imagine this approach putting off many readers, and a quick scan of online reviews shows that it is so. The pace is slow, the narrative voice is pedantic, and the details are often not the ones in which a readerly imagination will take the most interest.
Still, I found this book enormously engaging and rewarding. It centers on the career of Joseph Knecht in the elite academy that has for its transcendent superfluity -- something between a sport, a performance art, and a scholarly discipline -- the Glass Bead Game which synthesizes cultural legacies into symbolically-integrated abstractions. The actual "rules of the game" are never presented; it is rather treated as an opaque object at the acme of a set of social and cultural concerns.
The themes of the book include aspiration, pedagogy, cultural difference, intellectual legacy, and confrontations between spiritual and material priorities. In addition, there are large pieces of end matter within the frame of the fiction: a set of poems written by Knecht in his youth, and three "lives" written during his studies. These latter are imagined prior incarnations, used to provide narrative expression of the writer's research into earlier ages and archaic cultures. Any of this material could be read with interest on its own, and it seems that much of it may have been written by Hesse before he built the larger Glass Bead Game framework into which it is now fitted. Still, read retrospectively, the end matter pieces all echo and illuminate core features of the Knecht story.
My Bantam mass market paperback copy has a foreword by Theodore Ziolkowski, ostensibly to justify the production of a new translation. This essay is interesting and enlightening, but it is replete with spoilers, and ironically enough, it subjects the text to analysis and situates it in Hesse's oeuvre, after complaining that too few people approach the book for the pleasure of reading it rather than some duty of study. One of Ziolkowski's best services in the introduction is to point out the roman a clef elements in characters based on other men of German letters, such as Nietzsche, Burkhardt, and Mann. I would recommend reading this essay after the novel itself.
The Glass Bead Game is not light or quick reading, but it has a lot to offer the reflective reader. I'm not sure that I would have appreciated it if I had read it when I was younger, but I could easily see revisiting it (along with Journey to the East) another 20 years from now.
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memory of the earlier book, because it's clear that they have some themes and questions in common, but possibly some different conclusions. I have seen reviewers refer to the imagined society of Castalia that Hesse presents (set several centuries in our future) as "utopian" and as "dystopian," and I found it to be neither, although it is set at a certain extreme of social development for an intellectual aristocracy. Accordingly, the prose style and structure of the book is not that of a novel, but rather that of scholarship. It is easy for me to imagine this approach putting off many readers, and a quick scan of online reviews shows that it is so. The pace is slow, the narrative voice is pedantic, and the details are often not the ones in which a readerly imagination will take the most interest.
Still, I found this book enormously engaging and rewarding. It centers on the career of Joseph Knecht in the elite academy that has for its transcendent superfluity -- something between a sport, a performance art, and a scholarly discipline -- the Glass Bead Game which synthesizes cultural legacies into symbolically-integrated abstractions. The actual "rules of the game" are never presented; it is rather treated as an opaque object at the acme of a set of social and cultural concerns.
The themes of the book include aspiration, pedagogy, cultural difference, intellectual legacy, and confrontations between spiritual and material priorities. In addition, there are large pieces of end matter within the frame of the fiction: a set of poems written by Knecht in his youth, and three "lives" written during his studies. These latter are imagined prior incarnations, used to provide narrative expression of the writer's research into earlier ages and archaic cultures. Any of this material could be read with interest on its own, and it seems that much of it may have been written by Hesse before he built the larger Glass Bead Game framework into which it is now fitted. Still, read retrospectively, the end matter pieces all echo and illuminate core features of the Knecht story.
My Bantam mass market paperback copy has a foreword by Theodore Ziolkowski, ostensibly to justify the production of a new translation. This essay is interesting and enlightening, but it is replete with spoilers, and ironically enough, it subjects the text to analysis and situates it in Hesse's oeuvre, after complaining that too few people approach the book for the pleasure of reading it rather than some duty of study. One of Ziolkowski's best services in the introduction is to point out the roman a clef elements in characters based on other men of German letters, such as Nietzsche, Burkhardt, and Mann. I would recommend reading this essay after the novel itself.
The Glass Bead Game is not light or quick reading, but it has a lot to offer the reflective reader. I'm not sure that I would have appreciated it if I had read it when I was younger, but I could easily see revisiting it (along with Journey to the East) another 20 years from now.
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LibraryThing member wirkman
This was the last prose fiction of Hesse's I read, and I read it over 20 years ago. Much of it is dim memory now, but I do remember my impression: this was the best of Hesse's books. Long, slow, thoughtful, brilliant -- a strange utopia, or dystopia. It seemed the most mature book by the author
But then, I could very well be wrong. I was no more than 22 when I read it; probably much younger. I had read through the Usual Suspects of Hesse's oeuvre quickly, in a mad rush. Perhaps I stopped here because I saw that Hesse was no longer mad, but in repose. He'd finally found his major statement. And I didn't need to read on.
Knowing that this was Hesse's last book may have added spurs to this judgment, which was probably to my misfortunte; I never did read "Narcissus and Goldmund."
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perhaps because Hesse finally allowed some irony to stand not as humor, but as a philosophical point.But then, I could very well be wrong. I was no more than 22 when I read it; probably much younger. I had read through the Usual Suspects of Hesse's oeuvre quickly, in a mad rush. Perhaps I stopped here because I saw that Hesse was no longer mad, but in repose. He'd finally found his major statement. And I didn't need to read on.
Knowing that this was Hesse's last book may have added spurs to this judgment, which was probably to my misfortunte; I never did read "Narcissus and Goldmund."
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LibraryThing member amerynth
Can't believe that Hermann Hesse's "The Glass Bead Game" won a Nobel Prize for literature! (I've since learned it was not for this book in particular but for his work in general.) I guess I just didn't get it because the whole story bored me to tears. In fact, the only part I really enjoyed was the
The novel is a biography of Joseph Knecht, one of the elite, whose education gives him the right to sit penned up from society and basically think about the connections between things. All of these educated folks play the Glass Bead Game to show how connected things are while they themselves are completely apart from the rest of the world.
My major problem with the book was that it was very dry -- almost like a lecture and Hesse did a lot of telling rather than showing. Knecht was a thoroughly boring individual and it was hard to read more than 30 pages of this dense prose without falling asleep.
This is the only book by Hesse I've read... I'm not sure if I just started with the wrong one or he is an author that just doesn't click with me. Given that I disliked this book, which is considered his magnum opus, I'm guessing it's the latter.
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three stories at the end, which were supposedly written by the book's main character.The novel is a biography of Joseph Knecht, one of the elite, whose education gives him the right to sit penned up from society and basically think about the connections between things. All of these educated folks play the Glass Bead Game to show how connected things are while they themselves are completely apart from the rest of the world.
My major problem with the book was that it was very dry -- almost like a lecture and Hesse did a lot of telling rather than showing. Knecht was a thoroughly boring individual and it was hard to read more than 30 pages of this dense prose without falling asleep.
This is the only book by Hesse I've read... I'm not sure if I just started with the wrong one or he is an author that just doesn't click with me. Given that I disliked this book, which is considered his magnum opus, I'm guessing it's the latter.
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LibraryThing member BayardUS
The Glass Bead Game is set in a dystopian future where the age of creation and creativity is long past, where the best and brightest are culled from the population and brought to the province of Castalia. There, they are indoctrinated in the approved subject matter (no history, of course, lest they
Most of these points have been made before, but I'll reiterate them briefly: The main character Joseph Knecht is incredibly boring, with little personality for the vast majority of the book, but despite that he is beloved by everyone for no discernible reason. He rises rapidly in the hierarchy through luck, not because it makes any sense, but because Hesse wanted to tell the story of a person rapidly rising in the hierarchy. His speech is bland, you never get a sense of his motivations until the book has them come out of nowhere, and in general it is all but impossible to get invested or excited by his life. There are a few other characters that might have been more intriguing, but we never follow anyone else so it's an academic point.
The writing in general is incredibly flat. There are few descriptions and the prose lacks beauty, and while you could attribute this to the story supposedly being written in an era that eschews beautiful prose in favor of a more scientific account of a person's biography, this interpretation is undercut by the dialogue also being subpar. Every character talks in the same voice, consistently delivering page-long speeches in a way that no real person ever talks. There is a segment where Knecht talks to a young boy in the same longwinded academic style he does to everyone else, and the effect is laughable. With this being a fictional biography you could attribute even this flaw in the writing to the writer-character, but if Hesse set up a story so that it necessitated poor writing then he made an even bigger flaw.
So if the characters are boring and the writing is flat, you would hope that the concepts the book explores would be interesting. Sadly, this isn't the case. I already presented what I found to be the most interesting interpretation of the book in my opening paragraph, but I'm the first to admit that such an interpretation requires the text to be stretched. A more supported interpretation of the text is that it centers on what is basically a fictional university, isolated from the outside world, where perpetual studenthood is allowed and even encouraged. Despite the text’s assertions to the contrary, Castalia isn’t much different from an elite university town, except for the fact that it is the bastion of the Glass Bead Game. At first, this game appears to encompass all human knowledge, and based on the fact that it supplies the title of the book I thought the book would delve into this concept. Just hearing the premise, I thought of the Borges story “On Exactitude in Science” wherein a map was created in such detail that it covers all the land it is meant to depict, and effectively becomes that land. Such seems the inevitable outcome of a game that actually encompassed all knowledge. Instead Hesse’s game, from what little the text presents of it, isn’t about actual knowledge but the association of concepts and the recombination of previously thought of ideas. Knecht spends years actually learning the material gone over in a single game, highlighting that such games merely require a familiarity with a concept, not understanding of it. Of course I could be way off base about this, but that is because The Glass Bead Game is never clearly laid out. In truth I don’t think Hesse had a clear idea in his head of how the game worked or even how it looked; if he had, then at a minimum he didn’t communicate it to the reader. What should have been the most interesting part of this book was instead a nonentity.
An uninteresting main character, a text that isn’t engaging, subpar writing, and a lack of truly interesting ideas combine to make this a book you should skip. Also, it is about twice as long as it needed to be to explore what Hesse wanted to explore, with the excess length mostly created by the long speeches every character feels obliged to say at each other at every opportunity. I would skip this one, but I’m giving it three stars because while nothing in the text was done well, nothing was so poorly done to reach the level of embarrassment, and it was interesting to reinterpret the story in such a way as to make it less boring. So one of these stars is for me, I guess.
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realize how terrible life is now compared to earlier eras), assigned a path in life by the superiors in the Castalian hierarchy without any say as to their own preference, and pushed into a life of celibacy and isolation from the outside world. The closest they can get to doing anything creative is playing the titular Glass Bead Game, a game which at first appears to be a systematic understanding of all human knowledge, but on closer inspection reveals itself to be a nebulous construct where elements of previous knowledge are endlessly recombined without actual comprehension. Even the rules of this game are impervious to any attempt at creativity: the first section of the book makes clear that changes to the rules are now all but impossible, and while winning a specific tournament creates the potential for a person's proposed changes to be adopted, in practice the winner of that tournament is the one who plays the most conservatively, without proposing new additions to the preexisting rules. Even the way people speak is regulated so that everyone sounds the same. The perfect person in this world is a servant, not a leader. Those who disappoint the Castalian hierarchy or attempt to leave it are met with swift death. At least this is how I chose to interpret the book, because if I read this work as merely the story of a boring character working his way through a slightly futuristic university it would have been unbearably dull. Most of these points have been made before, but I'll reiterate them briefly: The main character Joseph Knecht is incredibly boring, with little personality for the vast majority of the book, but despite that he is beloved by everyone for no discernible reason. He rises rapidly in the hierarchy through luck, not because it makes any sense, but because Hesse wanted to tell the story of a person rapidly rising in the hierarchy. His speech is bland, you never get a sense of his motivations until the book has them come out of nowhere, and in general it is all but impossible to get invested or excited by his life. There are a few other characters that might have been more intriguing, but we never follow anyone else so it's an academic point.
The writing in general is incredibly flat. There are few descriptions and the prose lacks beauty, and while you could attribute this to the story supposedly being written in an era that eschews beautiful prose in favor of a more scientific account of a person's biography, this interpretation is undercut by the dialogue also being subpar. Every character talks in the same voice, consistently delivering page-long speeches in a way that no real person ever talks. There is a segment where Knecht talks to a young boy in the same longwinded academic style he does to everyone else, and the effect is laughable. With this being a fictional biography you could attribute even this flaw in the writing to the writer-character, but if Hesse set up a story so that it necessitated poor writing then he made an even bigger flaw.
So if the characters are boring and the writing is flat, you would hope that the concepts the book explores would be interesting. Sadly, this isn't the case. I already presented what I found to be the most interesting interpretation of the book in my opening paragraph, but I'm the first to admit that such an interpretation requires the text to be stretched. A more supported interpretation of the text is that it centers on what is basically a fictional university, isolated from the outside world, where perpetual studenthood is allowed and even encouraged. Despite the text’s assertions to the contrary, Castalia isn’t much different from an elite university town, except for the fact that it is the bastion of the Glass Bead Game. At first, this game appears to encompass all human knowledge, and based on the fact that it supplies the title of the book I thought the book would delve into this concept. Just hearing the premise, I thought of the Borges story “On Exactitude in Science” wherein a map was created in such detail that it covers all the land it is meant to depict, and effectively becomes that land. Such seems the inevitable outcome of a game that actually encompassed all knowledge. Instead Hesse’s game, from what little the text presents of it, isn’t about actual knowledge but the association of concepts and the recombination of previously thought of ideas. Knecht spends years actually learning the material gone over in a single game, highlighting that such games merely require a familiarity with a concept, not understanding of it. Of course I could be way off base about this, but that is because The Glass Bead Game is never clearly laid out. In truth I don’t think Hesse had a clear idea in his head of how the game worked or even how it looked; if he had, then at a minimum he didn’t communicate it to the reader. What should have been the most interesting part of this book was instead a nonentity.
An uninteresting main character, a text that isn’t engaging, subpar writing, and a lack of truly interesting ideas combine to make this a book you should skip. Also, it is about twice as long as it needed to be to explore what Hesse wanted to explore, with the excess length mostly created by the long speeches every character feels obliged to say at each other at every opportunity. I would skip this one, but I’m giving it three stars because while nothing in the text was done well, nothing was so poorly done to reach the level of embarrassment, and it was interesting to reinterpret the story in such a way as to make it less boring. So one of these stars is for me, I guess.
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LibraryThing member gbsallery
The Times reviewed this as "one of the most important books of the century, in any language". I have no reason to disagree. Rich in scope yet simply humane, Hesse weaves a pattern from the threads of a life which helps us understand the tapestry of our own. The person who cannot gain some morsel of
Except for the fact that forced study of cultural touchstones invariably kills them instantly, I would recommend that it be added to the curriculum of all schools (both for pupils and more importantly teachers). As it is, it will remain a gem to be discovered serendipitously, its value all the more radiant when faced one-to-one.
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insight from this book is functionally incomplete. Except for the fact that forced study of cultural touchstones invariably kills them instantly, I would recommend that it be added to the curriculum of all schools (both for pupils and more importantly teachers). As it is, it will remain a gem to be discovered serendipitously, its value all the more radiant when faced one-to-one.
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LibraryThing member DellaWanna
I'm glad that I came late to this book because I don't believe I had the emotional maturity to take this journey earlier in my life. The numerous passages that I copied into my notebook may not have resonated in my earlier years. This is an immersive meditation on the tension between the active
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life and the contemplative life. A jewel. Show Less
LibraryThing member mikefitch
Hesse's masterpiece. Read Siddhartha before reading this one.
LibraryThing member stephencbird
Previous to "The Glass Bead Game" -- I had only read "Siddhartha" by Hesse. Having enjoyed that book -- When a friend suggested GBG -- I didn't hesitate to start it. The principal protagonist, Joseph Knecht (German for "servant"), in attaining the position of "Magister Ludi", becomes successful
Knecht is blessed with an easy-going, pragmatic personality and is perhaps naive in his reactions to how his success has been thrust upon him. He is a "servant" who follows the path that has been presented to him. He does not stray or rebel, he takes advantage of every opportunity along the way, he masters whatever task is presented to him that will be necessary for him to move forward to the next level. At the same time Knecht appears to be genuinely creative and enough of a people person so that he can sublimate his energies into the social realm -- Thus minimizing any major professional conflicts. He is all business, he avoids and / or manipulates those who could be a threat to his career -- While simultaneously exhibiting compassion for his fellows. Knecht seems to be the envy of his subordinates and yet all is not well within his inner paradise, where his doubts and misgivings about Castalian society continue to multiply -- Via an expansion of knowledge gained through experience. He ultimately realizes that in the philosophical-intellectual-artistic-spiritual confluence that defines life in Castalia -- Its inhabitants live an over-protected, privileged world where they will never rub up against the shoulders of the common man living "outside Castalia". Most Castalians (with the exception of Knecht, who at one point is utilized by the Castalian hierarchy as a kind of ambassador-envoy) are unlikely to visit the world beyond their borders and to know the particular suffering of the "Outsider". If the reader were to see the world of GBG in a futuristic context, it could be viewed as a kind of "Star Trek" where the Castalians, in the manner of the Vulcans, have mastered baser human emotions via "meditation" (which could also be interpreted as "mind control"). The Castalian practice of meditation has taken the place of organized religion and their society is therefore technically godless.
That being said -- Knecht is a spiritual man -- As well as one who wears masks for the sake of his career. As humble as he seems to have been portrayed in GBG -- Perhaps Knecht overreaches his grasp and ultimately tries too hard to be good. Thereby he attempts to share his goodness in situations where it is not called for or even desired. He may even be suicidal and unaware of it. He is after all a man blessed with so much good fortune that it would be easy for him to delude himself into thinking that no achievement exists that is beyond his grasp. Thus the end of the book is devastating: Although a tragedy is alluded to by the narrator, I had no idea what form it would eventually take. There are layered / multiple meanings inherent in the ending that I pondered over for days after finishing this novel -- There are so many ways that its conclusion can be interpreted. Fortunately the 3 chapters that ended the book (following a short addendum of Knecht's poetry), entitled "The Three Lives", helped me to recover from the unfortunate yet realistic conclusion of "Magister Ludi" Joseph Knecht's biography -- As well as to gain an understanding of the work in its entirety. Knecht has a lifetime of good luck behind him when he finally "disappears". Why this happens is as much of a mystery as the mystery of life and death itself. In the end the message that this book relayed to me is as follows: Even if one has everything planned out perfectly in one's life, and even if one successfully executes everything that one has planned -- All of that can be lost via the misfortune of one random event, through a thrust of fate, or by means of a miscalculation based on human error.
In closing: The character who best represents the attribute of "goodness" in this novel is actually the Music Master -- Who guides Knecht forward in life -- Beginning in Knecht's childhood and onwards to his success in Castalia. In one haunting section of the book -- The Music Master is dying and essentially transforms into a blazing sunset of serenity. In this moment -- One can see the arc of a truly fulfilled life and the effect is almost chilling. The Music Master enters into a Nirvana-like state during his last days on the planet and Knecht is a witness to this metamorphosis. It is probably in this moment that Knecht realizes that this is how he would have wanted to be himself. But at this point it is too late -- Knecht has virtually been locked into his position as Magister Ludi -- A position he will be expected by the Castalian hierarchy to retain and maintain until the end of his days. Knecht, whether inadvertently or not, has chased power and fame, has been granted the gifts of its privileges, and will ultimately pay a price for having made that decision. His life becomes both a blessing and a curse. Though he becomes a master of "The Glass Bead Game" -- The game that he does not master, and that no man can master, is "The Game of Life".
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with minimal effort on his part in his life in Castalia, the province of the intellectual elite in GBG. Although this novel is set in the 23rd century, there are no obvious clues in the text that render the environment of the book to be futuristic. Thus one can read this work as if it had been set in the present day. A complementary world of organized religion exists along with Castalia -- In that world, Knecht comes into contact Father Jacobus and expands his knowledge of history. Both societies appear to be monastic -- And both view one another with suspicion. The only female character I can recall is the wife of Knecht's classmate from his youth (Plinio Designori) -- She is described as being cold and lacking in compassion [Knecht has 3 major friendships in this work -- All of which are meaningful and important at various points in the novel - Though they suffer due to Knecht's inaccessibility in his role as Magister Ludi]. At one point early on in the book -- Castalia is described as being a place where women are available to young men. But this element of Castalian society is never spelled out in detail. And so the Castalians seem to live as monks. Which comes as no surprise given that the "Glass Bead Game" is an ultimate synthesis of the philosophical, the intellectual, the artistic and the spiritual -- As opposed to the physical, the carnal and anything that could qualify as a baser element of human expression. The entire concept of The Glass Bead Game is veiled in mystery -- Which makes it all the more intriguing -- As the reader can only imagine how this game ultimately manifests, in the context of a technology existing 200 or more years from the present day.Knecht is blessed with an easy-going, pragmatic personality and is perhaps naive in his reactions to how his success has been thrust upon him. He is a "servant" who follows the path that has been presented to him. He does not stray or rebel, he takes advantage of every opportunity along the way, he masters whatever task is presented to him that will be necessary for him to move forward to the next level. At the same time Knecht appears to be genuinely creative and enough of a people person so that he can sublimate his energies into the social realm -- Thus minimizing any major professional conflicts. He is all business, he avoids and / or manipulates those who could be a threat to his career -- While simultaneously exhibiting compassion for his fellows. Knecht seems to be the envy of his subordinates and yet all is not well within his inner paradise, where his doubts and misgivings about Castalian society continue to multiply -- Via an expansion of knowledge gained through experience. He ultimately realizes that in the philosophical-intellectual-artistic-spiritual confluence that defines life in Castalia -- Its inhabitants live an over-protected, privileged world where they will never rub up against the shoulders of the common man living "outside Castalia". Most Castalians (with the exception of Knecht, who at one point is utilized by the Castalian hierarchy as a kind of ambassador-envoy) are unlikely to visit the world beyond their borders and to know the particular suffering of the "Outsider". If the reader were to see the world of GBG in a futuristic context, it could be viewed as a kind of "Star Trek" where the Castalians, in the manner of the Vulcans, have mastered baser human emotions via "meditation" (which could also be interpreted as "mind control"). The Castalian practice of meditation has taken the place of organized religion and their society is therefore technically godless.
That being said -- Knecht is a spiritual man -- As well as one who wears masks for the sake of his career. As humble as he seems to have been portrayed in GBG -- Perhaps Knecht overreaches his grasp and ultimately tries too hard to be good. Thereby he attempts to share his goodness in situations where it is not called for or even desired. He may even be suicidal and unaware of it. He is after all a man blessed with so much good fortune that it would be easy for him to delude himself into thinking that no achievement exists that is beyond his grasp. Thus the end of the book is devastating: Although a tragedy is alluded to by the narrator, I had no idea what form it would eventually take. There are layered / multiple meanings inherent in the ending that I pondered over for days after finishing this novel -- There are so many ways that its conclusion can be interpreted. Fortunately the 3 chapters that ended the book (following a short addendum of Knecht's poetry), entitled "The Three Lives", helped me to recover from the unfortunate yet realistic conclusion of "Magister Ludi" Joseph Knecht's biography -- As well as to gain an understanding of the work in its entirety. Knecht has a lifetime of good luck behind him when he finally "disappears". Why this happens is as much of a mystery as the mystery of life and death itself. In the end the message that this book relayed to me is as follows: Even if one has everything planned out perfectly in one's life, and even if one successfully executes everything that one has planned -- All of that can be lost via the misfortune of one random event, through a thrust of fate, or by means of a miscalculation based on human error.
In closing: The character who best represents the attribute of "goodness" in this novel is actually the Music Master -- Who guides Knecht forward in life -- Beginning in Knecht's childhood and onwards to his success in Castalia. In one haunting section of the book -- The Music Master is dying and essentially transforms into a blazing sunset of serenity. In this moment -- One can see the arc of a truly fulfilled life and the effect is almost chilling. The Music Master enters into a Nirvana-like state during his last days on the planet and Knecht is a witness to this metamorphosis. It is probably in this moment that Knecht realizes that this is how he would have wanted to be himself. But at this point it is too late -- Knecht has virtually been locked into his position as Magister Ludi -- A position he will be expected by the Castalian hierarchy to retain and maintain until the end of his days. Knecht, whether inadvertently or not, has chased power and fame, has been granted the gifts of its privileges, and will ultimately pay a price for having made that decision. His life becomes both a blessing and a curse. Though he becomes a master of "The Glass Bead Game" -- The game that he does not master, and that no man can master, is "The Game of Life".
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LibraryThing member kakadoo202
not my cup of tea
LibraryThing member jakjonsun
Glass Bead Game is the most complex of Hesse's work. I think the mistake people make is taking the characters, plot, setting in literal terms. Ultimately, Glass Bead Game is best appreciated as metaphor -- an elaborate, detail-rich metaphor of the unconscious struggle with the world of conception
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and idea, and the world of actual experience. It is also revealing to look into the book's subtleties. Hesse doesn't come out directly and tell us what he's doing, he intends for us to earn it. We must remember that the book is about the famous Joseph Knecht (the perspective implies a future wholly influenced by him). The setting is an intellectual community, reaching it's zenith of thought. Castalia is presented in overwhelmingly positive terms--a harmonized utopia of art, music, and science. The focus on such an idealistic setting is often misplaced; rather, the focus should be on Joseph Knecht's famous act: rejecting, or more accurately--fulfilling the role of Castalia, and leaving the world of symbols, thoughts, and dualistic study of the external, and experiencing the world, free of the dependence of thought. This one act, seemingly has enormous consequences. We must take a step back and imagine the repercussions: a world thoroughly free of the domination of conception, both in the lives of individuals and society in general; a world which is constantly taking creative leaps of faith, and constantly becoming rather than mere witnessing or studying. Looked at in metaphorical terms, the Glass Bead Game is not a piece of literature, but rather a spiritual road map intended to influence well into the future. It is also worth noting that this is the last major work of Hesse. Is it quite easy to draw the comparison between Hesse and Knecht. The Glass Bead Game was that final leap from thought into the calm, engulfing waters of sheer being. Hesse went to the forest never to come back, but he left this special little book as a helpful guide. Show Less
LibraryThing member antao
I read this in German a long time ago (2002-06-15).
I suppose it depends on whether working through the difficulty brings you genuine insights into the human condition. I'm ashamed to say I've only read one book on this list - Ulysses - and enjoyed it. I like modernism, and Joyce's Portrait of the
I heard a radio adaptation of Tristram Shandy - I'm a big fan of digression and unreliable narrators - which inspired me to a hitherto unfulfilled wish to read the book. Doctor Faustus is another of those unfulfilled wishes. The rest of the list (apart from a couple I hadn't heard of) I have avoided not quite like the plague.
Sometimes it's just because the book is cool for its time. I waded through Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game as a teenager and was none the wiser at the end. But at least I had the bragging rights. Later I re-read it. And I loved the Glass Bead Game but I'm never sure why. I'd describe it as boring, but it's one book I've actually re-bought when I lost a copy. I'm never quite sure if it's sending up or celebrating intense academic specialisation and culture for cultures sake, but the most sympathetic character is the main character's friend, who leaves to be something important in the 'real world'. You admire Joseph Knecht for his dedication to somewhat esoteric knowledge and understanding of the game but are also left thinking that outside of that particular environment, it has very little use or meaning.
It is a familiar theme of Hesse's work - the contrast of worldly life with academia or religious training. I suspect he found himself drawn to the latter but with the fear of losing touch with normality in a religious or academic cocoon. I do love the sense of things happening just outside, threatening the enclosed world of the universities. And hence outside pupils who go through the schools but are expected to return to the world. And there are hints of a complicated history, and how the universities came to be what they are, and we're, frustratingly almost, made to focus on the interior of this world. Knecht does leave though, and suffers one of the weirdest deaths in literature.
I did read all the Hermann Hesse novels at the time because he was the man with the Truth, but they've mostly all blurred together into a generic Hessian fable. Apart from Steppenwolf, with whom I desperately identified, and Siddartha.
I suppose it depends on whether working through the difficulty brings you genuine insights into the human condition. I'm ashamed to say I've only read one book on this list - Ulysses - and enjoyed it. I like modernism, and Joyce's Portrait of the
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Artist as a Young Man is one of my favourites. Woolf is a bit daunting, but Mrs. Dalloway is superb.I heard a radio adaptation of Tristram Shandy - I'm a big fan of digression and unreliable narrators - which inspired me to a hitherto unfulfilled wish to read the book. Doctor Faustus is another of those unfulfilled wishes. The rest of the list (apart from a couple I hadn't heard of) I have avoided not quite like the plague.
Sometimes it's just because the book is cool for its time. I waded through Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game as a teenager and was none the wiser at the end. But at least I had the bragging rights. Later I re-read it. And I loved the Glass Bead Game but I'm never sure why. I'd describe it as boring, but it's one book I've actually re-bought when I lost a copy. I'm never quite sure if it's sending up or celebrating intense academic specialisation and culture for cultures sake, but the most sympathetic character is the main character's friend, who leaves to be something important in the 'real world'. You admire Joseph Knecht for his dedication to somewhat esoteric knowledge and understanding of the game but are also left thinking that outside of that particular environment, it has very little use or meaning.
It is a familiar theme of Hesse's work - the contrast of worldly life with academia or religious training. I suspect he found himself drawn to the latter but with the fear of losing touch with normality in a religious or academic cocoon. I do love the sense of things happening just outside, threatening the enclosed world of the universities. And hence outside pupils who go through the schools but are expected to return to the world. And there are hints of a complicated history, and how the universities came to be what they are, and we're, frustratingly almost, made to focus on the interior of this world. Knecht does leave though, and suffers one of the weirdest deaths in literature.
I did read all the Hermann Hesse novels at the time because he was the man with the Truth, but they've mostly all blurred together into a generic Hessian fable. Apart from Steppenwolf, with whom I desperately identified, and Siddartha.
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LibraryThing member BooksForDinner
For my money, and there isn't a lot of it, this is Hesse's greatest achievement. Sure, the weird abrupt ending, the lack of real description of the game itself, all the things that critics of the book hoot about... it all, for me, adds to its greatness. Steppenwolf will always have my heart since
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it was the first Hesse novel I read, but this is my favorite. Show Less
LibraryThing member keylawk
The Glass Bead Game is something like chess, but more intricate. Only scholars play it, isolated within the Castalia, an elite institution devoted to the mind. Hesse displays the conflicts between action and thought, the flesh and the intellect, and the need for synthesis.
LibraryThing member jtp146
The Glass Bead Game takes the reader into the academic utopia world called Castalia by following the development of its hero Joseph Knecht from the time of his childhood all the way through his career. One overarching theme of this book was the constant battle between "the world" and Castalia.
Much of the beginning of the book dwells on the power of the Glass Bead Game, which I understood it to be a battle of wits in which the game's language allowed opponents to use any means of knowledge to counter another's logic. The language of the game has been developed so that a mathematical equation might be use to argue a musical interpretation. The Glass Bead Game was used to show just how unworldly this Castalia had become as people devote lifetimes to the pursuit of this purely academic profession.
There was also a lot of time spent on meditation in the book. Meditation and aura. The Musical Master was an important character who provided mentorship for Knecht. He was a sage character who reaches an enlightened state by the end of his life yet it seems only Knecht understands that the master is on another plane.
Knecht makes his way through the order of Castalia to the highest rank, Magister Ludi, but finds discord within himself as the "Ivory Tower" of this culture is too out of touch with reality for him. In fact, he has never known what outside reality is. He takes on the tutorship of a student and by the end of this life, he becomes elevated into sainthood or enlightenment, and as he drowns in a lake his spirit is passed on to the student in which he hadn't even begun to tutor.
There are several incarnations of Knecht that take place at the end of the book and yet occur in the past. In one story he is a tribe's rainmaker, one who is so in touch with the world that he can affect the weather. In another he is an Indian prince who passes through an entire lifetime during a meditation only to find out that the entire life had never even occurred. Then there is the his life as a shahman who outwardly has not a judgment nor a selfish feeling and only hears others sins. However, he deals with issues of happiness and needs to fight against a depression.
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While the students at the communal Castalia were able to concentrate on their studies free from the worries of worldly problems, the rest of the country had to deal with politics, war, and poverty. Why should some chosen few get to live lives that are free of these issues when in fact it is the people who are dealing with the problems who are supporting the welfare of Castalia? Knecht devotes and sacrifices his life to bridge this gap. Much of the beginning of the book dwells on the power of the Glass Bead Game, which I understood it to be a battle of wits in which the game's language allowed opponents to use any means of knowledge to counter another's logic. The language of the game has been developed so that a mathematical equation might be use to argue a musical interpretation. The Glass Bead Game was used to show just how unworldly this Castalia had become as people devote lifetimes to the pursuit of this purely academic profession.
There was also a lot of time spent on meditation in the book. Meditation and aura. The Musical Master was an important character who provided mentorship for Knecht. He was a sage character who reaches an enlightened state by the end of his life yet it seems only Knecht understands that the master is on another plane.
Knecht makes his way through the order of Castalia to the highest rank, Magister Ludi, but finds discord within himself as the "Ivory Tower" of this culture is too out of touch with reality for him. In fact, he has never known what outside reality is. He takes on the tutorship of a student and by the end of this life, he becomes elevated into sainthood or enlightenment, and as he drowns in a lake his spirit is passed on to the student in which he hadn't even begun to tutor.
There are several incarnations of Knecht that take place at the end of the book and yet occur in the past. In one story he is a tribe's rainmaker, one who is so in touch with the world that he can affect the weather. In another he is an Indian prince who passes through an entire lifetime during a meditation only to find out that the entire life had never even occurred. Then there is the his life as a shahman who outwardly has not a judgment nor a selfish feeling and only hears others sins. However, he deals with issues of happiness and needs to fight against a depression.
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LibraryThing member Cecrow
This novel of a distant future is presented as a scholarly work about the life of Joseph Knecht, a man who rose to distinction as the master (i.e. Magister Ludi) of the Glass Bead Game. The game itself is vaguely described but consists of extrapolating relationships between disparate bodies of
It's a tedious read for its sustained lack of conflict if the novel's central questions don't grab you. Hermann Hesse explored the quest for perfect knowledge and being in his fiction, and this last novel is the culminating expression of that quest, but it results in a rather different conclusion than the insular view he previously espoused. In this instance the spotlight falls on determining whether such personal epiphany should be put in service to practical application. Does a man of knowledge bears any responsibility towards influencing the course of the world in which he is raised and has achieved insight? To put it still another way: must we remember our roots?
Others have pointed out that Hesse comes closest here to detailing how our inner and outer lives must ideally intersect, but still falls short. Is this failure or done on purpose? From a scene in the novel where one character admires another's work: "Each of these Games moved with such gravity and sincerity toward solution, only at the last to so nobly forgo the attempt at solution, that it was like a perfect elegy upon the transitoriness inherent in all beautiful things and the ultimate dubiety immanent in all soaring flights of the intellect."
Note, this novel is unusually structured; my edition, at least, features three short stories as appendices purportedly written by the central character during his student days. At the point they were mentioned I put the novel on pause and read them before continuing. Given the foreshadowing that resulted, I'd recommend that approach to other readers.
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knowledge (e.g. chemistry and music), played with enthusiasm for centuries and which brings (at least to the most erudite) a sort of insight into the human condition. This game is somewhat like a vision of the Internet - a bringing together and sharing of all knowledge, only more rigid and static.It's a tedious read for its sustained lack of conflict if the novel's central questions don't grab you. Hermann Hesse explored the quest for perfect knowledge and being in his fiction, and this last novel is the culminating expression of that quest, but it results in a rather different conclusion than the insular view he previously espoused. In this instance the spotlight falls on determining whether such personal epiphany should be put in service to practical application. Does a man of knowledge bears any responsibility towards influencing the course of the world in which he is raised and has achieved insight? To put it still another way: must we remember our roots?
Others have pointed out that Hesse comes closest here to detailing how our inner and outer lives must ideally intersect, but still falls short. Is this failure or done on purpose? From a scene in the novel where one character admires another's work: "Each of these Games moved with such gravity and sincerity toward solution, only at the last to so nobly forgo the attempt at solution, that it was like a perfect elegy upon the transitoriness inherent in all beautiful things and the ultimate dubiety immanent in all soaring flights of the intellect."
Note, this novel is unusually structured; my edition, at least, features three short stories as appendices purportedly written by the central character during his student days. At the point they were mentioned I put the novel on pause and read them before continuing. Given the foreshadowing that resulted, I'd recommend that approach to other readers.
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LibraryThing member blake.rosser
I love Hesse, one of my favorite authors ever. Not only is the spirtualism/sensualism dichotomy (which forms the major theme of all of his works) one of the more interesting philosophical questions of mankind, but I can't think of any author who has continually revealed his own personal neuroses
One of the more fascinating thought exercises related to Hesse is studying his works as attempts to reconcile these two aspects of life: the ethereal, divine and ecstatic with the corporeal, material and sensual. As brilliant as he was, he never figured out how to do it completely, which is what makes all of his novels ultimately unsatisfying. The interesting part, however, is that each successive novel comes closer to the answer, so that Demian feels by far the least developed, and while Hesse realizes "Nirvana" in Siddhartha, it never feels authentically earned. Steppenwolf feels altogether more on the right track before devolving into a psychedelic madhouse (perhaps precisely because he didn't know where next to take it?), and then Narcissus and Goldmund and The Journey to the East get even closer to the ultimate reconciliation while still falling short. The Glass Bead Game is by far the most developed of his novels and gets tantalizingly close to a "solution" for this problem, but it still leaves the reader vaguely grasping at the "how" of Hesse's prescription.
As obsessed as Hesse was with this issue, he was never able to solve it, and it leaves us with the suspicion that it is an insoluble problem, perhaps THE insoluble issue of humanity. His books are so enjoyable, though, precisely because nobody has ever taken up the question with such earnest seriousness. All of his books leave us unsatisfied, but upon further thought one concludes that they are unsatisfactory only because they so unerringly reflect the great human predicament: the paradox of the divine animal. **Full Disclosure: I can no longer remember concretely, but I suspect that I owe a lot of credit for this analysis to Colin Wilson, from his fantastic The Outsider.**
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and self-doubts through their characters. This quality has always provoked a certain empathy, admiration, and even self-recognition when I read his books. As someone concerned with those important questions of life, I can identify with his characters, and, because his characters are so autobiographical, I feel like I can consequently identify with Hesse himself.One of the more fascinating thought exercises related to Hesse is studying his works as attempts to reconcile these two aspects of life: the ethereal, divine and ecstatic with the corporeal, material and sensual. As brilliant as he was, he never figured out how to do it completely, which is what makes all of his novels ultimately unsatisfying. The interesting part, however, is that each successive novel comes closer to the answer, so that Demian feels by far the least developed, and while Hesse realizes "Nirvana" in Siddhartha, it never feels authentically earned. Steppenwolf feels altogether more on the right track before devolving into a psychedelic madhouse (perhaps precisely because he didn't know where next to take it?), and then Narcissus and Goldmund and The Journey to the East get even closer to the ultimate reconciliation while still falling short. The Glass Bead Game is by far the most developed of his novels and gets tantalizingly close to a "solution" for this problem, but it still leaves the reader vaguely grasping at the "how" of Hesse's prescription.
As obsessed as Hesse was with this issue, he was never able to solve it, and it leaves us with the suspicion that it is an insoluble problem, perhaps THE insoluble issue of humanity. His books are so enjoyable, though, precisely because nobody has ever taken up the question with such earnest seriousness. All of his books leave us unsatisfied, but upon further thought one concludes that they are unsatisfactory only because they so unerringly reflect the great human predicament: the paradox of the divine animal. **Full Disclosure: I can no longer remember concretely, but I suspect that I owe a lot of credit for this analysis to Colin Wilson, from his fantastic The Outsider.**
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LibraryThing member AshRyan
The Glass Bead Game is about a future society called Castalia in which the most highly regarded cultural institution, almost a religion, is the game of the title, in which players relate ideas to one another in a sort of cabalistic exercise but encompassing every field of human knowledge (but
The story follows one past (to the narrator) Magister Ludi, or Master of the Game, and tells of his eventual disillusionment as he learns more of history and the outside world. "I regarded it as my mission," as he puts it, "to expand Castalian life and thought"---but ultimately, he resigns his post and leaves Castalia altogether.
His resignation ties the story, which seems a bit disjointed up to that point, together: "But I must also tell you the meaning that the word 'transcend' has had for me since my student years and my 'awakening.' It came to me, I think, while reading a philosopher of the Enlightenment...and ever since then it has been a veritable magic word for me, like 'awakening,' an impetus, a consolation, and a promise. My life, I resolved, ought to be a perpetual transcending, a progression from stage to stage; I wanted it to pass through one area after the next, leaving each behind, as music moves on from theme to theme, from tempo to tempo, playing each out to the end, completing each and leaving it behind, never tiring, never sleeping, forever wakeful, forever in the present."
The Glass Bead Game is a great novel and probably Hesse's masterpiece, certainly better than Demian or Siddhartha, though personally I probably enjoyed Narcissus and Goldmund more. It starts off a bit slowly, but builds and builds and is ultimately fascinating and quite satisfying. Definitely worth a read.
If you enjoyed The Glass Bead Game, you might want to check out James Beckel's Pulitzer-prize nominated horn concerto of the same title, inspired by and loosely based on the novel (all the more appropriate given the important role of music in the story).
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especially mathematics and music) rather than just scripture. The Game, however, has little connection to real life but operates in a sort of Platonic world of Forms, as the relations between ideas it establishes are generally superficial rather than based on real, essential or fundamental similarities.The story follows one past (to the narrator) Magister Ludi, or Master of the Game, and tells of his eventual disillusionment as he learns more of history and the outside world. "I regarded it as my mission," as he puts it, "to expand Castalian life and thought"---but ultimately, he resigns his post and leaves Castalia altogether.
His resignation ties the story, which seems a bit disjointed up to that point, together: "But I must also tell you the meaning that the word 'transcend' has had for me since my student years and my 'awakening.' It came to me, I think, while reading a philosopher of the Enlightenment...and ever since then it has been a veritable magic word for me, like 'awakening,' an impetus, a consolation, and a promise. My life, I resolved, ought to be a perpetual transcending, a progression from stage to stage; I wanted it to pass through one area after the next, leaving each behind, as music moves on from theme to theme, from tempo to tempo, playing each out to the end, completing each and leaving it behind, never tiring, never sleeping, forever wakeful, forever in the present."
The Glass Bead Game is a great novel and probably Hesse's masterpiece, certainly better than Demian or Siddhartha, though personally I probably enjoyed Narcissus and Goldmund more. It starts off a bit slowly, but builds and builds and is ultimately fascinating and quite satisfying. Definitely worth a read.
If you enjoyed The Glass Bead Game, you might want to check out James Beckel's Pulitzer-prize nominated horn concerto of the same title, inspired by and loosely based on the novel (all the more appropriate given the important role of music in the story).
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LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne
It has been decades since I last read this book. It pulled me in again. When I'm not actually reading I see a lot of problems with it - first and foremost, of course, that women aren't real people in it. The whole idea of the game is unrealistic ... But when you are reading, none of this matters.
LibraryThing member debnance
I read this in my senior year of high school for my class, Western Thought. I thought it was one of the most fascinating books I had ever read. It is a book I've thought about a lot and I've always intended to read it again.
LibraryThing member ragwaine
I love Hermann Hesse. I've read at least 3 of his other novels maybe 4 or 5. This one - not so much.
This book starts off very scholarly sounding and really doesn't change. I thought the "intro" was really just an intro and that it might even be talking about something that was factual. But the
If this wasn't on audio I would have never finished. It's just too dry and long. There really was no "climax". There was social commentary and some interesting parts but overall it seemed like a waste of time. I ended up liking the short stories at the end better than the actual novel.
I'm not swearing off Hesse or anything I just wish this is one I would have never got to.
This book starts off very scholarly sounding and really doesn't change. I thought the "intro" was really just an intro and that it might even be talking about something that was factual. But the
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whole story is fictional and about a fictional game and group of scholars.If this wasn't on audio I would have never finished. It's just too dry and long. There really was no "climax". There was social commentary and some interesting parts but overall it seemed like a waste of time. I ended up liking the short stories at the end better than the actual novel.
I'm not swearing off Hesse or anything I just wish this is one I would have never got to.
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LibraryThing member 10s_linger
The Glass Bead Game is a book of ideas, specifically of a purely intellectual elite cloistered from society and the schools at an early age. These elite elaborate on and develop relationships of all the classical arts and sciences with an emphasis on music prior to the 1800's. Lots of use of
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Oriental and Pythagorian Philosophy. More a Philosophical treatise than a story but if you are interested in these subjects you might find it fascinating. Having read it 30 years ago and now rereading it was astounding. To the reviewer that commented Hesse was blind to feminism. He is either blind or unbelievably observant. Show Less
LibraryThing member questbird
Fiction. Excellent book except for the very end which seemed a bit laboured.
LibraryThing member GaryPatella
I consider this Hesse's greatest work. It is a celebration of intellectual topics. It reveals a truth that most intellectuals begin to discover: various topics that seem unrelated still have some connection that can bring them together. It is intense, but worth reading.
LibraryThing member plabebob
A thought provoking account of the academic life & the dichotomy between individual & state, intellectualism & practicality.
Media reviews
LE JEU DES PERLES DE VERRE, de Hermann Hesse (Calmann-Lévy), n'est pas un roman d'anticipation, mais une exploration de la vie intérieure. Il n'est pas question de savoir si la possibilité, dans un avenir proche ou lointain, de l'établissement d'une province où tous les raffinements de la
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a culture se seraient réfugiés en une sorte de monachisme laïc est purement utopique et si, en réaction contre l'effusion de bestialité et de sottise, le jeu sublime des "perles de verre" peut devenir le symbole du salut de l'esprit humain.
Une utopie contient toujours, même sur un fond de désenchantement, une bonne part d'optimisme ; il n'y en a aucun dans le roman de Hermann Hesse, et la tragédie de son héros, Joseph Valet (ce qui est la traduction du nom allemand du personnage : Knecht), ne nous laisse plus qu'un seul espoir : que toute chose soit illusion, maya, comme disent les hindous, et que l'action ait aussi peu d'importance que la non-action.
Il a paru durant les dix dernières années peu de livres aussi importants que celui-ci ; peu de livres capables de remuer aussi profondément l'inquiétude de tout homme d'aujourd'hui partagé entre la tentation de la sécurité intellectuelle, de la paix spirituelle qu'offre la province idéale de Castalie, à l'écart de tous les orages de la conscience et de la société, et la tentation de participer à la vie émouvante, impure, dangereuse, d'un monde où l'action n'est pas la soeur du rêve. Show Less
Language
Original language
German
ISBN
3518463578 / 9783518463574
Physical description
920 p.; 3.7 inches
Pages
920