As a callow 16 year old virgin, forced by circumstances beyond my control to take premature control of my life, I had many romantic ideas about the world.
Herman Hesse's The Glass Bead Game completely revolutionized the way I saw the world, showed me the limitations of fixed beliefs and committed me to a life of transcending the usual life options. Or so it seemed at the time.
This is a great, if lengthy, book which repays the persistent reader with a wonderful work of fiction, science fiction, a tantalising concept, the Glass Bead Game itself, and a profound understanding of human nature. Great stuff!
I can't better the write-up at Amazon, so I’ll quote it.
"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 23rd 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)."
The really great thing is that Knecht (German for servant, I suspect), despite his intellectual brilliance, never forgets the importance of simple human life, indeed comes to value it more highly than intellectual perfection.
Many people are fascinated with the game itself and there many sites devoted to it, notably The Glass Bead Game.
This post can also be seen in Alienboy's World.
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Article comments
1 - alienboy
So here I am, a newbie Blogcritic. The curious or the bored can find out more here, see my blogroll here, help my finances here or here, or sort out your business here
2 - Lono
Alienboy,
Welcome to the fold. I too am a huge Herman Hesse fan, and had a similar impressionistic experience with Narcissus & Goldmund. All his work is great. Be sure to also catch Siddartha & Steppenwolfe.
3 - mpho
Ah ha ha, I find it rather funny that you have written this piece since you've seem to like to pick my postings apart in rather obnoxious but easily handled fashion. However, you must be a decent fellow if you like Hesse. I've read a lot of his stuff, inc. Beneath the Wheel (which I read in 6th grade), Siddartha (which I loathed), Damian (my fave), Steppenwolf (my second fave), Journey to the East and Narcisscus and Goldmund. The one I haven't yet read but have wanted to forever is The Glass Bead Game. Thanks for reminding me about it. I think 2005 will be the year I finally embark upon it. Have you ever played the game? Have you read any of his other works?
4 - El Bicho
Aside from his novels, I enjoyed his work as Dr. Johnny Fever in WKRP in Cincinnati.
5 - Steve S
Welcome alienboy.
As someone who has never read Herman Hesse, I can't tell much about it from this post.
The book
showed me the limitations of fixed beliefs and looks like it has a moral of never forgetting the importance of simple human life. At face value, those sound contradictory to me, can you elaborate?
I've always found people with fixed beliefs to be happiest in life, even if those beliefs are totally wrong. I guess if you just stay in your rut, you don't know what you are missing and ignorance is bliss and all that. But people who have that never satisfied search for answers, and who are always learning and therefore modifying/changing their beliefs over time, tend to be happiest with themselves, but they're never content with life itself, because they're always looking for more.
6 - Steve S
My whole post came out italicized. The quotes below were all that were to be italicized because I was quoting/paraphrasing your comments.
The book
"showed me the limitations of fixed beliefs" and looks like it has a moral of "never forgetting the importance of simple human life." At face value, those sound contradictory to me, can you elaborate?
7 - Eric Olsen
wasn't you Steve, EB left the WKRP indent open
8 - copygodd
read damian in college.
remember liking it.
don't remember much other than that, though.
ah, college...
9 - sol
i love hesse, though two of my favorites are siddharta and the steppenwolf