The Glass Bead Game: (Magister Ludi) A Novel

So disappointed - bought this solely because it won a Pulitzer. Writing was heavy handed and the vocabulary condescending. Seriously, how many times is too many to use the work "bourgeoisie" in the first few pages. Compared to elegant Siddhartha, this book is a mess.

It probably took me four months to finish this pretentious bore of a book. The only reason I persisted was nostalgia for my late teen years when my Arts major friends were saying what a wonderful book it was and how reading it had changed their lives. I wanted to see if there were any redeeming features
Maybe it was the translation but this ponderous allegory was, for me, a total disappointment. If the author takes the time to tell you, at the start of a chapter, that the contents of that chapter are based on the recollections of scholars studying the recollections of colleagues of the protagonist, I don't expect the chapter to be full of first person introspective self justification.
Yes, the concept of a unifying theory of all arts, philosophies and some politics, into a coherent whole, expressed as a game, is intriguing. Such a game does not exist in reality and, because of this, almost impossible to express satisfactorily. I don't think Hesse achieved it and I don't think he should have tried.
For me, the only redeeming feature of the book was the three short stories at the end. Yes, he telegraphed his ending and how, in the first of the three, the most primitive Hunter Gatherer tribe managed to have currency without any true social structure, is a mystery, but they were quite short with a simple single message.

Hermann Hesse's 1943 novel The Glass Bead Game, also known by the title Magister Ludi, is set in a utopian future. Following the brutal wars and cultural decay of the 20th century, mankind sanctions the formation of a brotherhood to act as stewards to the world's intellectual heritage. This secular priesthood is headquartered in the European province of Castalia, a sort of secular Vatican. The Castalians do not create new art, science, or literature, but rather analyze, interpret, and preserve existing cultural artifacts. Their highest ceremonial act of intellectual "worship" is the Glass Bead Game. This Game utilizes a sort of gigantic alphabet in which various intellectual concepts like a passage of music, a mathematical theorem, or a philosophical postulate are signified by graphic symbols akin to Chinese characters. With this vocabulary of symbols, the players artfully construct a drawing or map which illuminates parallels and relations between interdisciplinary fields of thought. The novel relates the fictional biography of Joseph Knecht, a member of the order who rose to the high office of Magister Ludi, or Master of the Glass Bead Game. The future biographer expresses admiration for Knecht as a model Castalian, but illustrates that he was also in many ways a rebel and an iconoclast.

Shortly after publishing this book, Hesse won the Nobel Prize in Literature. This was his final book, and it definitely feels like the culmination of his career, as it combines so many themes from his earlier novels. Here we have the critique of the educational system from Beneath the Wheel, the coming of age story from Demian, the spiritual journey of Siddhartha, and the conflict between scholarly and worldly pursuits from Narcissus and Goldmund. The Journey to the East can be seen as a sort of prelude to this book, and events from that earlier novel are in fact mentioned in the first chapter of this one. The Glass Bead Game is the quintessential Hesse novel, summing up his life's work, but that doesn't mean it's his best piece of writing.

Four words continually sprang to my mind as I read this novel: Get on with it. Hesse delves so deeply into the minutiae of Castalian hierarchy and policy that often the book reads exactly like what it pretends to be--an institutional history. Hesse examines Knecht's personal life with the same fine-toothed comb. Knecht has four or five close friends over the course of his life, each of which brings out certain qualities in him, and vice versa. While these relationships are important elements of the book, Hesse belabors them to the point of tedium. The novel could have been shortened considerably by eliminating all the redundant conversations. The idea of Castalia is a brilliant concept, and Hesse does a great job establishing setting and atmosphere, but he doesn't put the same degree of effort into the plot, and the novel suffers as a result. Though the philosophical concepts are quite thought-provoking, the story itself is a bore.

Following the conclusion of the novel, there is another hundred pages of supplemental materials, billed as the writings of Joseph Knecht. Included among these are several poems and three "lives"--short stories penned by Knecht during his student days. Each is a piece of historical fiction that describes the personal spiritual and ethical journey of its protagonist. These three stories are better than the actual novel itself and call to mind Hesse's great novels Steppenwolf and Siddhartha. While The Glass Bead Game is a good book, it's not quite in the same league with those two exceptional works.

Remembering Siddhartha as one of the pivotal books of my youth, I felt I was ready to approach this great and highly praised book (tome?). I can only say that I finished it. This was partly, perhaps mainly, because I was reading concurrently with my wife and we discussed it in depth. I found it interesting if not really enjoyable, a bit tedious. I think that authors are often rewarded prizes for their writing that is seen as unusual or experimental. Hence Faulkner's Sound and Fury, or James Joyce Ulysses, other great works read but largely wasted on me even as I enjoy their other books. Of course, I think that to be my failure since most people who have read it rave about it, but I cannot join them. It should be approached as a long and leisurely read. Unlike Siddhartha there was no real take away for me, only a life lived.

The Glass Bead Game is presented as a biography, posthumously narrated by an evident admirer of the protagonist. This loving narrator's voice is vital for the charm of the book. The protagonist himself, Joseph Knecht, lives the life of a secular saint. The plot does not progress through overt drama. Indeed, Knecht has every wish fulfilled with scarcely any oppostion. The interest of the reader is sustained through a kind of magic - we are invited to see Knecht through the eyes of the narrator, and so share the narrator's love of Knecht.

The laws of drama are not wholly ignored. While there is little external conflict, internally Knecht is conflicted. However, this conflict might not resonate with all readers. At one level, it is the conflict between attaining worldly success versus living a more personally fulfilling, but ordinary, life. The worldly success, however, is not of a material nature, neither monetary nor ostensibly political, but rather what would typically be considered intellectual, or even spiritual, achievement. It is as if Knecht is choosing between the life of the Roman Catholic Pope and the life of a Catholic monk, devoted to teaching school children. This is hardly the conflict which many of us face.

Knecht does change, but the change is not catalysed by external events. Rather, it is more like watching a seed grow into a tree - the process of development is internally generated, the environment offering encouragement rather than opposition. Given the narrator's reverence for Knecht, it is a iittle like hearing a proud parent telling the life history of a favoured child.

While the Order of Castalia to which Knecht belongs is secular, in the book links are made to the Roman Catholic Church. A subplot concerns the Castalian heirachy's desire for a closer association with the Catholic Church, seeing the two orders as compatible, and an alliance as beneficial to the survival of both. The Castalian elite are male, celibate, and renounce monetary success, in return for security and the freedom to pursue their intellectual cum aesthetic interests, these being scholarly and contemplative, akin to a spiritual endeavour. Sex is conspicuously absent in the book. Women are entirely peripheral. The analogy with the Catholic Church, its heirarchy and clerical life, is imperfect but suggestive; Hesse's engagement with Eastern religions also bears on his vision of Castalia, meditation explicitly featuring in Castalian practices, as do the ideals of detachment and control over one's emotions and desires. A further somewhat tangential link to Christianity resides in the fictional origins of the Glass Bead Game being said to lie in the study of the music of the 16th through 18th centuries, this being largely religious music, typified by that of J.S.Bach. In sum, Castalia feels like a curious amalgam of Catholic heirarchy, Buddhist spirit and practices, and the study of music is German academe.

Being bereft of women, the novel has a certain sterile quality. Knecht is an orphan, so there is not even the background figure of a mother. Some commentators of Hesse have opened the question whether there is an implicit homosexual theme running through his work, but it is difficult to ground such readings in the text. If Knecht ever entertains a sexual thought, the reader is not allowed to eavesdrop.

The introduction to this edition suggests that the narrator's pompous and protective voice is meant to be taken ironically, even humorously. It seems unlikely to me that many readers will laugh along with merry old Hermann. I can't imagine Groucho Marx, John Cleese, or Tina Fey would be seen as competition for Mr.Hesse. Maybe the irony tempers what would otherwise be an offensively reactionary veneration of a rigidly stratified society. How much it tempers this, I'm not sure. Hesse seems to be enamored of a world where there is a talented elite who are loved and elevated by their not-so-talented populace, and where even if one renounces the privileges of the elite, as per Knecht, still life is a matter of some kind of personal ascension towards rewards.

The three "lives", or life stories, that end the book, were written by Hesse prior to the bulk of the novel. Initially, we're told in the introduction, he saw the Knecht chapter as being equal in length and importance to the other three tales. Things changed. In any case, his themes of attaining worldly success of one kind or another, and the vanity of such a quest in the face of mortality, are further explored - if anything more poignantly.

To me, Hesse's vision is decidely abstract. He references religious writings, Jungian psychology, and music, more than he references his literary antecedents, and in this he is quite unlike most other celebrated writers of the early twentieth century. The reality that he does draw on is that of childhood, specifically a childhood shaped by the education system present in Germany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, that is a system that is a formal meritocracy, one of the few ways to overcome barriers of class, with family at one remove. His protagonists feel detached from their own emotions, hoping instead to find security through the approval of others, usually older men in the role of mentors, or the approval of the impersonal system. Their relationship to the cosmos has a similar feel - they seek a benign protector, one who will treat them with the love that the narrator bestows upon Joseph Knecht in this book.

I hope this review gives prospective readers some sense of what awaits. If you do like this book most of Hesse's work is self-recommending. Narcissus and Goldmund is probably the novel closest in feel.

This is Hesse's last novel and, along with "Narcissus and Goldmund", the best. Basically it tells the life of Joseph Knecht, an orphan who, thanks to his intelligence, dedication, and strength of character, is chosen to be a member of The Order and to live in Castalia, the place of residence of the intellectual elite of an imaginary nation, at some point in the future. Through years of intense study, especially of mathematics, music, literature, and history, Knecht works his way up the hierarchical ladder. He gets involved in the Glass Bead Game, an enigmatic pastime that has become a true calling for many of the most brilliant minds. More than having a plot, the book is the story of Knecht's spiritual development. When his formal studies are over, Knecht, according to tradition, enjoys several years of free learning (we all should have that chance!), which he uses to visit his dear mentor, the Master of Music, from whom he learns that the goal in life is to attain wisdom, meaning a state of "cheerful serenity", through knowledge, music, and meditation. He also spends some time with a sort of hermit who lives in a Chinese garden, where Knecht meditates as he stares at a pond's fish, and learns to play the I Ching. But after that happy period, he is called back to Castalia, where he receives the comission to travel to a Benedictine monastery in order to build a diplomatic relationship with the Catholic Church. Finally, after several crucial services and an impressive development as player, he is designated Magister Ludi, the Master of the Game, one of the top positions at Castalia. He receives this distinction with mixed feelings for, although it represents the apex of his vocation, it entails serious administrative and political responsibilities which will take away precious time for study and meditation.

In what follows, Knecht will find himself trapped between two opposing forces, represented by two old comrades: on the one hand, the intellectual emptiness of ordinary, social life, business, politics, etc. On the other, the emptiness of an intellectual life completely isolated from real human worries and tribulations, the practice of study as a vacuous game devoid of objectives. The resolution of this tension is the culmination of the novel itself, but not of the book, as it has, in the final part, three short stories of sacrifice, redemption, and altruism. They are very beautiful and can be read before the novel.

This book may be interpreted both as a bildungsroman and a parody, with no mutual exclusion of both perspectives. It certainly is a moving and engaging story, the development of a strong mind always being interesting to look at, and of course Hesse's prose, at his highest point of maturity, is beautiful and inspiring. But there also seems to be, lurking in the background, a sense of mocking at intellectual life, as understood since the dawn of civilizations by priests, monks, hermits, and intellectual reclusives of all kinds. The book raises several important issues, such as the relationship between the intellectual experience and the vital, sensual, emotional experience. It could be said that one conclusion is that both, isolated and without mutual feedback, are worthless and leave humans alone. Instead, they should complement and nurture each other. Another conclusion may be that it is worth living bravely, humbly, serving our fellow humans, studying, and in general searching for that mysterious wisdom, that "cheerful serenity". But of course a complex and rich book such as this will contain different messages for different people, so read it and find for yourself.

The Glass Bead Game is divided into four distinct parts. Part 1, the general introduction to the game, is likely to be the least interesting to the general reader and may be skipped without concern that important information to understand the story will be lost. Part 2 is the fictional biography of Jospeph Knecht, the Magister Ludi of the title of the novel. As other reviewers have noted, the entertainment value of this biography is slight. The story starts slowly with Knecht's childhood and education and then moves to the point in the middle of the novel where he is appointed Magister Ludi (teacher of the game). I was interested in the various problems Knecht faced as Magister in the future world called Castalia. Knecht slowly moves toward enlightenment and we watch his steady progress. His journey becomes more interesting as he faces obstacles, not only with the ruling elite of Castalia, but also in himself. Everyone recognizes that Knecht is an extraordinary human being, but he challenges the status quo and has genuine concerns about the future of Castalia that not everyone wants to hear. The end of Knecht's story comes as an abrupt surprise to the reader.

Joseph Knecht's poetry comprises Part 3 of the novel. The poems help us to understand the inner life and world of Knecht and are useful in that regard. The poems are worth reading even if they did not relate directly to the story.

In Part 4, the final section of the book, Hesse gives us three long stories related to the novel. Many readers will find these stories the most entertaining part of the novel. In fact, another review suggests readers begin their reading of the novel with these stories - not a bad idea. The stories are well told and genuinely interesting. I read the poems along with the stories; some poems - Stages - I read several times.

Summary: Many people will not get beyond the general introduction to The Glass Bead Game (Part 1); watching paint dry is how some readers have described it. Joseph Knecht's story (Part 2) will interest those readers who love the work of Hermann Hesse and want to read his final novel, his crowning achievement, as some have called it. I am in this category of readers and read with interest this final novel. The poetry and short stories which complete the novel are genuinely entertaining and similar in style to much of Hesse's other work. If the general reader starts at the end and enjoys the short stories and poetry, skips the general introduction, and then moves quickly through the early life of Joseph Knecht, reading The Glass Bead Game may be an enjoyable experience.

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 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".

Stephen C. Bird, Author of "Any Resemblance To A Coincidence Is Accidental"

Set in an undefined but obviously distant future (the papacy of Pius XV is mentioned), Hermann Hesse's novel "The Glass Bead Game" (1949) is not so much science fiction as philosophy fiction, taking place in a monastic yet secular realm where life is balanced by the cerebral excercises of the mysterious titular Game. (I don't know why the alternate title "Magister Ludi" was given to the English translation. The original German title "Das Glasperlenspiel" translates directly as "The Glass Bead Game".) The fact that the Game is never described in detail only adds to its mystery. Evidently it is not a regulated game of strategy like chess, not an execution but rather an inspiration based on a single concept, be it a detail in Chinese architecture or a passage from a Mozart andante. Castalia,the realm where this game is idealized, is outside the everyday world of business and society and has been inaugurated for the very purpose of maintaining spirtual and educational ideals after a long period of destructive wars and facile culture referred to as the Digest Age. By having his futuristic characters look back on this epoch with distaste, one can only assume that Hesse was referring not only to the 20th Century but to the 21st as well. If there is satire intended here, it has eluded me. Within Castalia is the Vicus Lusorum (Game Town) where the Game is played and polished and where the Master of the Game (the Magister Ludi) is in serene control. The novel's central character is Joseph Knecht, who during the course of the story becomes Game Master. Oddly enough, the word Knecht in German means servant, and at one point he reveals that as Master he associates himself with Christopher, the saint who gladly accepted burdens. Thus it is partly out of intellectual curiosity and partly out of political spying he visits a Confucian hermit and a Benedictine monk in order to understand their viewpoints, visits which are not completely approved of by the pedagogy in Castalia. He also holds long discussions with Plinio Designori, a civilized but somewhat decadent man from the outside world (shades of "Steppenwolf"!), and eventually becomes tutor to the man's son. In order to take this worldly position, he must renounce Castalia and the Glass Bead Game, leaving his colleagues and superiors shocked and saddened. (At this point I can't resist stating that in many ways "The Glass Bead Game" resembles Mann's "The Magic Mountain".) Hesse's book closes with13 poems and "three reincarnations", supposedly student works of Knecht's published posthumously. The three stories (the third one, a study of Yoga, is especially interesting) are reminiscent of the novelle of Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, a writer probably admired by Hesse in his youth. Speaking of youth: I attempted to read this book when I was in my 20s. Personally I was not prepared, but that doesn't mean other young readers can't appreciate it. Though it requires serious concentration and some patience, particularly in the opening pages, "The Glass Bead Game" is a fascinating example of Hesse's ideals, what one reference book calls his "spirtual search for new goals and values to replace the no longer valid, traditional ones."

I read this, my favorite novel, about once a decade and it speaks to me at a new level each time, in line with my own expanding life experience. I fell in love with it in my early 20s when I recognized my heart and soul in the main character despite his vastly different circumstances. Later I came to see how the eponymous Game itself implicates (and is implicated by) all forms of human intellectual endeavor, putting both on trial, and demanding most especially a defense of aesthetics vis-à-vis culture at large. Only in my latest read, just completed, do I more fully appreciate how the resolution of the dilemma lies not in culture per se, but in the individual who most effectively leverages his/her own culture to achieve the transcendent.

Like so many teens, Siddhartha had a profound impact upon me, and in the next few years I set out to read all his works. Seeing the same message presented over and over as Hesse's style evolved provided some appreciation, but it also helped me realize a bit more how The Glass Bead Game was such an amazing achievement. Three years after it was published, Hesse won the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature. It was his last work.

While Hesse's masterpiece has the same theme as Siddhartha, it's not the same short, simple work as that and his other classics. Magister Ludi's inventive setting and method takes the basically unchanged storyline (gifted young man progressing, achieving, and finally discovering the true meaning of life), and creates a historical biography of the protagonist -- to include a collection of "posthumous" writings by the character.

Different people will identify more readily with various incarnations of the Siddhartha/Demian/Steppenwolf/Josef Knecht character (Siddhartha, one of his earliest, is the easiest read), but Glass Bead Game is so worth any extra effort that may needed. I've read it several times, and will read it yet again.

It's a synthesis. Imagine the sum of human perspectives and knowledge reduced into symbols and played like a symphony to permute meanings and explore conclusions. That's the glass bead game, which approaches a spiritual experience if played correctly. Frankly, it's a wonderful dream.

Despite the flaws of old literature and translations, I found this book riveting. The first fifty pages of background is not absorbing, and the style makes it hard it get into. The wonderfulness is because rather than the soul-crushing themes hedonism and nihilism present in so much modern 'literature,' this book is a celebration of living life and the best of man. The conceptualization of the Glass Bead Game itself overshadowed the flaws in plot structure and the overwhelming use of telling over showing into unimportant considerations.

A classic work that's stood the test of time, much more than the sum of it's parts. Recommended read for intellectuals.

This is Hesses testament and his most complex book. It took me 6 years to manage to read it, and I tried many times. If you want to read it you have to be prepared to put in an effort, if not, you should read his other books before you decide if it is worth it. Start with Demian, before Sidharta or the Steppenwolf (which is filmed and quite well also with Max von Sydow as Henry Haller (HH!)).
If you want to get a feeling of the Glas Bead Game, read the introduction and then skip to the last part; the short stories which are excellent.
If you like this boook, you will probably also like Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintainance by Pirsig, and you are probably also addicted to works of writers like Dostojevsky or Gunter Grass or Stefan Zweig?
This is not a easy read and one needs to have reached a place in life to be able to appriciate it (which does not necessary have any thing to do with age). Therefor be patient and let it lay waiting for you until you are ready for it. I pity for those of you who have to read it to take some class, but I pity still more for those who give it for someone to read in class. I presume they feel that their classe is only for those who are prepared for this kind of books!
One of the best and most complicated books I have read. Enjoy it at some stage of your life.

After Bernie Dodge mentioned The Glass Bead Game in his presentation about gaming, I decided to read it. If I'd been assigned this book in high school, I probably would have been overwhelmed. However at his point in my life I found the book fascinating. Although it dragged a little in the middle, the ending and particularly the appendix was worth the wait. This 1946 Nobel Prize winner is one of those books that can be read at many levels. A mixture of science fiction, biography, philosophy, irony, history, humor, and more... The Glass Bead Game should be on everyone's "classics" list.

This book is brilliantly written (and brilliantly translated, I might add), but there is so much more to it than Joseph Knect's awakening and his poignant ending. The book is so subtle and so masterfully written it's scarry. Here are some examples.
As the book begins, the narrator, far removed in time from Knect himself, seems rather indifferent towards the Knect, the glass bead game, and Castalia. As the book progresses, the narrator comes to admire Joseph Knect just as the reader does. His praise comes more often and his admiration is obvious. The writing style becomes more florid and poetic rather than the historical account of the first chapter. This illustrates how Knect puts a spell on people and is liked by all, including the narrator.
Also, as the book begins from outside Castalia, there is copious detail about the surroundings and the world. As Knect becomes part of Castalia and the Order, the detail vanishes and instead becomes introspective, meditative prose that is based only on thoughts. Then at the end it goes back into vivid description of the setting. This shows how the world is more material and Castalia is more intellectual. During his time at the order, except during moments when he seems to be a citizen of the world, the book is virtually devoid of physical detail.
Finally, the ending. I won't say what it is, but it is brilliant. When the beauty of reality and the genuine action of the "world" converged with the beauty of the intellectual and Cultural Castalia, you something momentus had to happen. Something had to give, but something was also created, almost greater because of the youth.
If you haven't figured out already, I want you to READ THIS BOOK. I know I've missed much of it, but I wanted to relate what I did think I understood to you so that you might have a more enjoyable read. Also, in response to someone who thought it was boring. Although I see where he comes from, I disagree. I read the whole book in less than a week.
Thanks for your time {{{milo}}}

This book, along with the rest of the Hesse catalog, and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance changed my life forever. I am sure many have said this and many more will in years to come.
I started reading Hesse when my best friend in high school got me to read Steppenwolf. I worked my way through Siddartha, Narcissus and Goldmund, Beneath the Wheel etc. But Magister Ludi was hard for me. I had a very hard time getting through the book for some reason. perhaps it is so dense and perhaps it is because I read it while I was in graduate school. But the book was difficult when I found other Hesse books absorbing. But like Pirsigs book, I understood that sometimes the hardest books to start are the ones that are the most rewarding. It is with that conviction that I finally finished reading Magister Ludi.
The philosophical points and ideas in this book have transformed my world views and have given my life a meaning that wasn't there before. For better or for worse, this book change my world view and made introspection a daily part of my life.
I think that this is a must read for any intelligent adolescent and that we need to require everyone who has read it to reread it at least once during their lifetime.

The Glass Bead Game is the pinnacle of intelligence, wisdom and learning that the 23rd century Castalia has to offer. Students are plucked from their families and lives at a young age to become 'elite' pupils, gradually inducted into the Order and the Game to carry on the traditions and ceremonies of Castalia. The Order's purpose is two-fold: One, to protect the sanctity and accuracy of knowledge from the current time down to antiquity, and two, to showcase the talents and minds of the elite with dazzling, lengthy Glass Bead Games.
But there is a problem, and only Joseph Knecht, the Magister Ludi - Master of the Game and hero of the story - can see it. The Glass Bead Game, while being the pinnacle of intellectual achievement, has no creativity side, no ability to move beyond what it currently is. Philosophy, music, art, mathematics, sciences: All these are condensed into symbols representing, say, a piece by Bach or a mathematical equation. However, no new symbols are allowed, or if they are, the process is so mired in bureaucracy that it may as well be impossible.
We follow Joseph from childhood to Magister Ludi, and we learn through him what Castalia is and is capable of. A supreme intellect, his life culminates not in the appointment of Magister Ludi - as so many other great player's would consider it to be - but rather with his famous 'circular letter', addressed to the other members of the Board, highlighting his concerns with the Glass Bead Game.
The plot of the book is minimal, and we are all but told it at the very beginning. Rather, we are invited to take a look at this could be-world of Hesse's. Castalia, however, is not the entirety of the world, as much as the inhabitants would like to think. No, they are 'merely' an enclosed, fully-supported (but not self-supported) university like establishment, churning out works that may or may not have any real use outside of their walls.
At first, the book mercilessly attacks our time, with its commercialism, its way of turning men intelligent in one field into minor celebrities in another, its way of asking movie stars or musicians to comment on the state of the world even though there talents lie elsewhere, its way of putting wealth above all. It seems at times as though Hesse was caricaturing his own time, but the frightening thing is, in 2004, we have become this caricature. After this attack, the beauty of Castalia is revealed, as explained above. But then, as Joseph Knecht learns and discovers and becomes Magister Ludi, we learn that Castalia is not so important, not so wonderful, not so essential as first presented. It is difficult for him to accept this, but easier for us.
In the end, no solution is given. Hesse emphatically states that our present time is too shallow to be the answer, but so is the staid environment of Castalia. It is worth noticing that no character beyond Knecht has a personality; even his is poor. Females do not play a part, and there is no conflict. Is Hesse saying that a world without creativity becomes a lifeless, boring world capable of beauty but incapable of appreciation of this beauty?

The modern idealists' guiding light.

"The Glass Bead Game" could be the most important work of fiction of the Twentieth Century. Rather than addressing symptoms, it addresses underlying spiritual, philosophical, and academic short-comings that crippled human growth in the XXth Century. The plot is both very straight forward, a biography of a man who is promoted to the highest academic office in his land, then goes through a crisis of professional conscience and resigns to obscurity, and very complex, almost rococo with delicate themes woven through out the larger story.

The only caveat is that this book will be slow going until one has completed a couple of years of college. Some of his characters are academic archetypes, and unless you have spent time in the company of people who behave like that, they can be implausible.

Simply by the conceptual scale of the book, it is hard to appreciate in a single reading. It is devoid of action, relationships are muted and subtle, but the vision of a society that appreciates selfless intellectual achievement is inspiring. At the same time it carries cautions about how noble endeavors can fail.

I can't recommend this one highly enough. At the same time I probably shouldn't read it again; developing a social conscience at my time of life is not seemly.

E.M. Van Court

The Glass Bead Game is set in an indeterminate future, a long time after the century of wars, also described as the age of the feuilleton, a time of shallow and fruitless individualism, our time. Scholarship has resumed its rightful place in society, a place at the same time of power and elevation and of humility before knowledge. And at its apex, or rather apart from it, are Castalia and a group of sister organisations which, around the world, practice the glass bead game. The game itself is not described, except that it is a play on a synthesis of science, music, and the arts, an attempt to touch at universal truths by sounding echoes between the disciplines. Its disciples, to match their dignity, vow celibacy and poverty much like the religious scholars of old, Western, Chinese, or Hindu.

The book is shaped as a bibliographical report from Castalia's own archives, complete with documentary attachments. This makes for a very slow pace, and for a whole that leaves much detail obscure. The Glass Bead Game is, voluntarily, tough-going up to well into its first half. It is as if Hesse scorns in advance his reader's expectations for an easy and entertaining piece, expectations that rightly belong to the age of the feuilleton. But the design becomes clearer, and a deep inner tension emerges as the novel progresses. Joseph Knecht, whom one follows through childhood, then a brilliant period of study, and various ambassadorial missions all the way into the glass bead game's high priesthood, is beset with doubts. And set against him is Plinio Designori, friend and admirer but the scion of a family of politicians who, unlike Knecht, has chosen to grapple with a fate in the real world. Knecht comes to worry about the durability of Castalia, and about the very value of cultural pursuits so cut off from their historical mainstream. The book closes with a set of poems by Knecht, and with three lives he purportedly wrote in his student years, all balancing the destinies of sages with the temptations of worldly pursuits in various settings: stone-age, early-medieval Christian, and Hindu.

The Glass Bead Games asks questions and sets problems rather than provide ready-made answers. It is a meditation on the roles of culture and study in society and on the value of philosophical knowledge. Hesse also asks whether culture can or should be considered to be historically independent from politics and its social conditions, an interesting question in the light of the recent rehabilitation of culture in political history-writing. And his novel delves into the nature of education and the relationship between master and apprentice. Knecht is increasingly portrayed as a prisoner in a cherished tower of glass. The question is whether he can escape without shattering it. Demanding but subtle and resolutely un-categorical, this novel is to be read by anyone who has a vocation or interest of any kind in academic, artistic, or scholarly pursuits.

Hermann Hesse was a great writer, and many of his works, such as "Siddhartha," "Steppenwolf," and "Narcissus and Goldmund" are masterpieces. But no book of Hesse's is as important to me personally, and to mankind in general, as "The Glass Bead Game." "The Glass Bead Game" is a criticism of both the intellectuals of Hesse's era and the institutions of the world in general. The book is especially important to us in 2004, as intellectuals face a life in which they are more and more separated from the daily realities of the world. I will not go into a lot of detail, as many other reviewers have voiced my opinions. Simply put, "The Glass Bead Game" is a challenging yet rewarding novel that all young college students and other intellectuals should read before departing on their life's path.

I have just finished reading this book after a false start in college 8 years ago and after a month now. Siddhartha was a life changing novel when I read it as a college freshman and thought that maybe this would be as "awakening" for me now. However, I fear I read it too late and should have finished it 8 years ago when I was struggling with the notion of spending my life in academia. I came to the same conclusion about ivory towers that Knecht comes to about Castalia and moreover I have not regretted it as Plinio, nor did it take me a lifetime to realize. Knecht as a main character is rather lifeless and underdeveloped. It is this fact more than any other that makes this a difficult read. Even though Siddhartha clearly takes place at a point in history, it reads as fresh as if it were written today. On the other hand, The Glass Bead Game is so obviously written by someone living during World War II, or shall we say in the middle of the age of Fuillerton, that I found it quite distracting. Something along the lines of watching Soylent Green and having to believe that the world is going to be like that soon. I can appreciate it for a cautionary tale of stagnation and separation rather than synthesis; however, I don't feel the story itself truly captures the theme of transcendence which is a shame. I think that perhaps Hesse was trying too hard to infuse historical people and events into an existential idea and it doesn't really come off successfully for me. Moreover, there is no clear voice writing this story--at one point it's a Castalian telling a non-biography, at another it's a secondhand account, and at yet another it's an original document. This is a detriment to the storytelling, although I grant that it may have been used to reinforce the hypocrisy of Castalians being unable to successfully synthesize a single voice. I think Hesse was more successful at writing in shorter forms. The poems at the end were more poignant than the novel itself. Unlike Eco who is slow to start but then propels the reader forward, Hesse was unable here to compel me to keep reading. There are interesting ideas brought up and compelling notions, but as a novel I don't think it's his best. Perhaps this is a better read with a deeper knowledge of twentieth century philosophers, but it is this fact that keeps The Glass Bead Game from being timeless.

This is clearly a masterpiece. The book takes place in the future but never says how far and is centralized around a community of elite men, a physical ivory tower. Hesse starts with a history and analysis of the glass bead game, moves into an academic biography of Joseph Knecht, a master of the game, and ends with stories Joseph Knecht wrote as a student about past lives he had imagined for himself. The story is epic and beautifully wrought, telling the life story of a unique individual and how he transforms and transcends.

So why only four stars? While I can recognize that this is genius and masterful, I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. The novel started out in a tedious way, and although it improved, the writing remained oppressive (albeit in a beautiful way).

The Glass Bead Game...The title itself should provide the reader with some insight into the enigmatic, obscure world to which Hermann Hesse aludes in this, his Nobel prize winning magnum opus. The elusive, magical, mysterious yet fascinatingly intriguing Glass Bead Game remains a forever sought-after concept even now! There are numerous websites and organizations that have attempted to "concretize" the Glass Bead Game ([...]) - including me; because it remains such an attractive yet intangible concept. The internet has been described as an analogy of the Glass Bead Game, but this comparison does not come close to what Hermann Hesse imagined.
Since reading this in my late teens (many many years ago..), the Glass Bead Game has become the most influential work of literature for me. As such, you owe it to yourself to take the plunge into.................................................the glass bead game!!!!!!

A respected friend of mine recommended I read this book and I tried so hard to like it, but in the end (and the beginning and middle) I just didn't. I agree with several other reviews who admit the first 50-100 pages are difficult to get past. My problem with the rest is NOTHING HAPPENS! At least nothing important or relevant. After turning each page I kept asking myself, "What's the point? What's the plot?" For me-and probably a lot of others out there-there isn't enough dialogue or action to keep me interested. And in the beginning it was much too confusing and complicated (vague?) to consume my interest.

Awarded the Nobel prize for literature in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the Geramn-born Swiss writer Hermann Hesse came to embody the cultural and spiritual values nearly destroyed by National Socialism. Nowhere is Hesse's commitment to those values more clearly evident than in the late, valedictory novel The Glass Bead Game. A futuristic work set in the fictional Pedagogic Province of Castalia, the novel exhibits many of the virtues and some of the flaws of his earlier works. The themes of his earlier fiction are all there: The concern with individual liberty versus collective responsibility, the romantic conceit of the gifted individual adrift in a hostile environment, and the self-absorbing search for spiritual liberation. What distinguishes the Glass Bead Game is Hesse's mature vision of a society estranged from the creative sources of tension and change without which no true culture can hope to thrive. Castalia is a museum of the mind, the Glass Bead Game a travesty of creative activity. With gentle irony, the author portrays the ways of the monastic order which inhabits Castalia, dedicated to preserving the non-renewable resources of a fomerly rich and now baren cultural province. Hesse's lifelong fascination with Baroque music and non-Western ways of thought are clearly in evidence: The Masters play the music of Bach and Froberger, study the classics of Chinese philosophy, delve into the mysteries of the Medieval alchemists and practice meditation. Buth whereas these arcane pursuits provide the citizens of Castalia with no more than the elements of the game, they gradually lead Joseph Knecht, the Magister Ludi, to a realization of the ultimate sterility of the community which has nourished and sustained him almost from birth. His contacts with the strife-torn outside world (echoes of wartime Europe) no less than his own reflections prompt his resignation from the position of Master of the Game and his return to the outside world as a private tutor. In his letter of resignation he recalls the original meaning of the Latin word "magister": teacher. The need to impart knowledge in a practical, wordly sense heralds the beginning of Joseph Knecht's liberation, the liberation from the kind of alienated intellectual elite which stands idle as tyrants emerge to sway the masses to unspeakable acts of cruelty and devastation. That liberation is to end in Knecht's untimely death soon after his departure from the Pedagogic Province. Like his beloved music teacher, who in old age is unable to communicate save through an enigmatic smile, Knecht realizes that the end of all true creative activity is silence. Ultimately, the many pleasures afforded by a sympathetic reading of Hesse's novel are best summed up in the German word "Heiterkeit", used to describe the best qualities of Castalia and the Magister Ludi himself, a word meaning both cheerfulness and serenity.

This book is to Hesse as "The Brothers Karamazov" is to Dostoevsky. Throughout it are the same ideas that have been put forth in earlier works, often with similar characters, but with a fuller and more articulate expression than before. Like Dostoevsky, he finally figured out how to say *everything* he had to say in one volume. So it comes as no surprise that those only concerned with certain aspects (particularly the more spiritual ones) of Hesse's writing would find it disjointed and tedious. If you want to read more of Hesse's stories about tormented and/or confused souls looking for meaning in the world, this isn't your book - go reread Damien and Steppenwolf. This book has that esoteric search, but its main character, Joseph Knecht, pursues this search as a curiousity and not out of some desperate need. I'm sure that's why several people seem to find him lacking compared to other Hesse protagonists - they're expecting a conflict in him that isn't there.
As I read these other reviews I find it fascinating that everyone seems to come away from the book with such different things that they were struck with. In my case, this was the socio-political commentary. Through this book, Hesse comments on our own time and on a fictional opposite to it, thoroughly exposing the flaws in both. I remember most distinctly Knecht's letter of resignation from Magister Ludi, where he tells his colleagues that although they understand the importance of their society's existence, they made the fatal mistake of not educating the people who support them. That they cannot take the existence of what they have for granted, for the day would eventually come when all they built would be dismantled. Perhaps this was because I read this book when I was in an institution that resembled much of what Hesse wrote about, and exactly when Congress cut the NEA.
Reading this book changed my view of the world most in that it changed my expectations of it. More to the point, I abandoned my expectations. I am much more apt to let other people be themselves. To explain how or why would take far too long, suffice it to say that there is more to this book than a pursuit for spiritual meaning or a balance of intellectual and physical need, but also balance on many other levels, and Hesse explores all of them in his classic manner - first by their disparity, then by their eventual unity. A stunning conclusion to the career of one the greatest writers of all time.

I recently finished reading The Glass Bead Game for the second time, the first being when I began college in 1996. The first reading evoked an "awakening" experience, precisely as described -- this is not a coincidence -- in The Glass Bead Game and Hesse's autobiographical writings: my perception of the world, myself, and existence in general was forever altered. It was a mystical experience -- and not of the conventional variety. I expected my second reading, as with most books, to be less compelling, less significant. I also expected to discover aspects of the book that I disliked -- both in style and content. This, however, was not the case. The second read was equally as powerful; even after four years I can still feel the resonance of my first awakening experience. This novel has become, in a sense, my existential guide -- the only truly reliable source of wisdom that I have. Who else besides Hesse could bring together -- qua "rapprochement" -- the poles of modernism and, as I interpret it, the beginnings of postmodern thought? Like Hesse, Nietzsche is my shadow and Modernism my ideal -- together they form something wonderful.

I came away with one main idea when finished with this 600 page tome of brilliance: Do not allow your soul to bend to your body, and do not allow your body to bend to your soul. This book is an expirience to read, and if you are familiar with Hesse's life, you will laugh with regularity at the sprinklings of subtle hilarity that litter the pages. The novel takes place in Castalia, a world dominated by the mind. The main character, Joseph, explores whether the world is a specious facade or a veritable heaven on earth. The esoteric "glass bead game" must be studied assiduously for years before one can begin to partake in the games. Joseph is dilegent but has massive growing pains that eventually lead to a overhaul of his beliefs.

A classic book about what? Part musical composition, part philosophical vehicle, Part pedagogical critique, part iconoclastic portrayal of society, Hesse's book traces the path of a poor but brilliant student from his experience as scholarship recipient to the top magister in the education system of 20th century Germany, although parts of the book seem to be intentionally indeterminate in the time period.

Siddhartha by Hesse is a much shorter and accessible book for those who would like be a traveling man and journey to the east of spiritual enlightenment. This longer and more more poetic book, however, greatly appealed to me. It contains evaluations of the relationships of public and private institutions of education, the economy, society, and religion. It is not light reading, and really stretched my mind.

Another gentleman mentioned the dubious relationship of Baroque music and Chinese arcitecture, which were probably more a part of Hesse's life than most people's. Music is viewed as a sacred and divine transcendance for the enlightened, as are buildings for the proper use of human activity in establishment. Both draw light from the darkness and form from the void; it is civilization hewn from the untamed wild, beauty for the higher existence of man.

Some parts are truly phenomenal, but other parts thoroughly complicated and loggy. The glass bead game is never really explained in totality, and must be viewed as a system rather than anything concrete. I personally made it what I wanted to: music, art, writing, politics, an analysis of competitive sports and recreation, business, or whatever interests you in your life.

The book is a quite literary example of bildungsroman and kunstlerroman, German for the story of the spiritual, moral, artistic and mental development of a character, and details what seems a lifetime of philosophical perspective. Its length and translation I think are true to Hesse's intent, as alot of material is examined quite beautifully. It can really drag on from time to time, though, which takes a strong work and makes it a pretty good work. I'd probably give it between 3 and 4 stars due to that fact.

Although Hesse is not in fashion among academics these days, this book (unlike some of his earlier more romantic stuff) deserves to be noticed as a great work of the 20th century. It's very complex, and can be frustrating (especially if you have little or no knowledge of German history, literature and music); it's nevertheless an important, and often very moving reflection on the nature of modern society (and isn't yet outdated), and equally on some of the dangers of trying to escape that society.

Hermann Hesse is my second-favourite writer, but this is the only of his eleven novels which I found boring, bloated, and a chore instead of a delight and joy to read. It's not because it's long (I love long books, the longer the better in fact, and this book is far from the longest book I've ever read), but because there's a lack of focus on a real plot. Hesse was a master at writing short memorable novels; by the time this one ends, in media res, you get the feeling that he realised he'd created a monster and needed to slay it before things got any further out of control and there were another 400 or so pages dedicated to the life of Joseph Knecht! All of his other books, even the earlier less-memorable ones like 'Peter Camenzind' and 'Knulp,' can be summed up by giving distinct synopses of what happens in each chapter, or a memorable scene from each chapter. You don't get that here. It's so given over to the story of the life of the mind that it loses track of the lively things which make his other books so enjoyable. I never even made out any sort of plot beyond describing things that happened to Joseph Knecht. Hesse's other books usually have friendship as one of the important plots, like the friendships shared by Narcissus and Goldmund, Peter Camenzind and the poor cripple Boppi, and Max Demian and Emil Sinclair. The other characters in this book don't seem to do much in the way of friendship with Knecht besides philosophising. Father Jacobus would have made a great dramatic foil, but unfortunately he only appears in one chapter and then this potentially great character never shows up again. Even the most important foil, Plinio, gets bogged down in boring philosophy discussions. The closest we get here to a story of real human friendship is that between Knecht and the old Music Master, who is his mentor and father figure besides just a friend. This relationship is truly touching and one of the better parts of the novel.
Other problems with this book, besides being overly long and being bogged down in bloated conversations and philosophical meanderings, is that we're never really told how this Glass Bead Game is played. We get a general sense in the Introduction on its origins, but other than that there's no sense of how it's played, or how Knecht and his friends go about making their own sketches for future Games. And if it weren't stated in the introduction, I'd have no idea this story takes place in the 23rd century. A story set in the future doesn't have to be a sci-fi story, but it at least should be obvious that this story isn't set in the present. Where are all of the future technologies, for example, and where are all of the women? The only woman in this book is Plinio's wife, who doesn't even have a name. This book reads like it was written during WWII, which it was, not like a true book about a futurist utopia. We don't even know who's telling the story; is it an original document, a biography by an Castalian admirer, or a biography from a non-Castalian?
I also had a problem with Plinio Designori, the first person to come along and challenge Knecht to reevaluate the monastic and overly intellectual and stagnant lifestyle he's living in Castalia. After Plinio leaves the school, which he was attending as a privileged outsider, he doesn't return till their college years. He's offended and hurt that his friendship with Joseph isn't the same as it was before, and then years later, after Knecht has already become the new Magister Ludi, he confesses the depth of his feelings over this matter. I sympathise with Plinio, since this has happened to most people, but after you get over the wounded ego and hurt feelings, you usually come to realise that it's normal for friends to grow apart and develop other interests, particularly if they've been apart for awhile like he and Joseph were. People move on. This was bothering him for twenty whole years?
The poetry section and the "Three Lives" stories are so much better and much faster reading. I felt the story finally majorly picked up when there were only about 20 more pages left to go, and then bam, it ends so abruptly, in media res, with a lot of unanswered questions. I think I would have liked this book a whole lot more had it been condensed into maybe 300 pages and given more room to exploring Joseph's relationships with characters like Father Jacobus, Fritz Tegularius, and Carlo Ferromonte. I can admire Knecht for following his convictions, even though they went against the grain, and coming to these beliefs only after decades of careful thought, but I'd be able to sympathise with him a whole lot more if we got a clear idea of just how he got those beliefs, instead of being bogged down in layers of bloated and superfluous verbiage.

The multiplicity of levels of reading greatly enrich a work of art or literature. It is the ability to master this multiplicity what distinguishes artists from artisans and good narrative writers from mere story-tellers. "Das Glasperlenspiel" is a great book, so great that one would be tempted to look for support on the strong endorsements that the book has received since its publication. Undoubtedly, the 1946 Noble Prize in Literature carries a lot of weight. One is left to wonder about the significance of the dates. Why was the greatest prize awarded to a man that despised wars at the end of the worst of them for a book published in the middle of it (1943)?
The truth is that "The Glass Bead Game" would not have been conceived without the World Wars. But now that they have happened, one must be glad that something this good came out of them. This is not a book about war. As a matter of fact, it takes place at a time when war lies distant in the past. It is really hard to say more, it is up to the reader to define the meaning of the story: his own or his lack of one. It has as many potential readings as readers there are in the world.
Of course, this is by no means a conventional novel and unconventionalism is not always fully appreciated. In addition, if you really enjoy this book, you will ralize how hard it must have been to translate it. I have heard of bad translations into English and Spanish, and of people who have ended up hating the novel because of them. I had the good luck of getting this recent edition with a translation by Richard and Clara Winston that reads excellently.
I recommend "Das Glasperlenspiel" as THE best book that I have ever read.
Transzendieren!

Hesse is an anomoly among authors in that what he writes is both very beautiful and very true. The philosophical heritage of this book dates back to St. Thomas Aquinas and his discussion of the opposing Aristotelian poles that exert their magnetism on our lives--the pull of the active life (Vita Activa) and the life of contemplation (Vita Contemplativa). This discussion, the centerpiece of this book, is as original and atavistic a trope as can be found. It is a noteworthy characteristic of the topic, however, that it is always fresh and worth of a new evaluation. As Ralph Waldo Emerson instructs us in his 1838 oration to Harvard's Phi Beta Kappa society, "every age must write its own books." Hesse's _Glasperlenspiel_ an evaluation of a great philosophical theme, analysed with great beauty for our age. In the spirit of Christmas, the protagonist's name, Josef Knecht, echoes the spirit of giving. Hesse used the name Knecht ("Servant") in open defiance of Goethe's _Wilhelm Meister_ ("William the Master"). In a season devoted to a spirit of giving, _The Glass Bead Game_ is a work rich in both artistry and ideology. As an addendum I must note that the full force of Hesse's prose is muddled a bit in translation. In translating passages to send to friends, I often found there was no way to express in English the sentiments of Hesse's flowing, heavily punctuated German, beset by a disinclination to use a full stop. The book, however, is mystic (in the Greek sense of being "closed mouthed"); Hesse's meaning is thankfully quite independent of the translation. In a scene that for me defines the book, Knecht crushes a bough between his fingers and struggles to define the smell: "es laesst sich mitteilen, gewiss, aber nicht uebertragen." (It may be said, of course, but not communicated) Hesse's descriptions, at their best, are, to permit the paradox, descriptions of the ineffable.

Hermann Hesse, mystical madman genius, blessed 20th century culture with an irresistable body of work. Magister Ludi, like so many of Hesse's novels, takes the reader inside the mind of its central character. Joseph Knecht, a human MENSA meeting, is given every opportunity to develop his intellect to its fullest potential. The majority of the book follows Joseph's charmed life from childhood music lessons to his apex as master of the glass bead game, a metaphor for the most balanced expression of music, philosophy, mathematics, and all that is and will be. Set in a futuristic, utopian nosuchplace long after the last of the great wars, the story begins and ends in an intellectual arena which seems to exist outside of time. Many readers may grow tired of the scores of pages dedicated to the ramblings, conflicts, and introspections of a scholar. However, the truly devoted reader will find unparalleled examples of Hesse's penchant for both harsh reality and eastern mysticism in the last hundred pages. The posthumous writings of Joseph Knecht, a collection of "homework assignments" written by the Magister Ludi in his youth, yields some beautiful poems and parables.

I picked this up after meeting Charles Cameron, who invented the Hipbone Games, a variation of the Glass Bead Game as described in this novel. Charles was so wildly enthusiastic about it--and I was so intrigued and delighted with his game--that I immediately visited the university library the day after chatting with him and began reading the life story of Joseph Knect, the Master of the Glass Bead Game. As I fell deeper and deeper down Hesse's rabbit hole, I found myself asking people if they knew that this novel, which basically won Hesse the Nobel Prize in Literature, was science fiction? How come this isn't mentioned in genre studies, if not with the pulp masters, at least among those literary books that strayed into far shores like George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World?
Set in the far future, where today's emphasis on entertainment is termed the Age of the Feuilleton, The Glass Bead Game describes a world that has once again settled down from the conflicts between humans in a new Golden Age, but one wherein a new caste has been created. Not a religious order, although their devotion to their ideals resembles religion, this new group is based on education, one of their duties being to train all the teachers in this country. To be accepted into the group one must be educated in their elite schools, for only the brightest and the best and--this is important-- the orphans are accepted into Castalia. Why orphans? Because family ties are the bonds that weaken the link to the Castalian society. The crowning achievement of all Castalia is not the elite schools and their pupils, but the game--a systematic method of linking math and music and history and art and, well, anything, into a perfect "whole." Everyone admires the game, and the master of it, the Magister Ludi, is the pivot point for the players, and thus, Castalian society. The book, once it gives you this background, then describes the path of Joseph Knecht from elite student all the way to the seat of the Magister, and then, surprisingly, back to student.
Okay, I'm sure that had I stumbled upon this book when younger that I would not have finished it. Unlike pulp SF, the purpose of The Glass Bead Game is philosophical, not adventure. While you can read it for plot (and the "Three Lives" appendices provide plenty of that, in three different "fantasy" settings), the idea of perfection and what does it meant to be human are the real characters here, and the physical creatures described are just pawns in this literary gameplay. A few times I found myself rushing through the interminable equivocation, but for the most part my imagination was captivated. Seems to me that this might be the antidote for some of Ayn Rand's sins.

When in my 30s, after having read several of Hesse's novels, I attempted to read The Glass Bead Game. I couldn't get past the first 50 pages. I was unprepared to accept Hesse as a humourist and satirist. Now, approaching 60 and having learned not to take life or Hesse so seriously, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and consider it Hesse's greatest. A mature Hesse, who understood life's ironies, wrote The Glass Bead Game for a mature audience, who could laugh at life's ambiguities.
The Glass Bead Game is comprised of a novel, 13 poems, and 3 short stories. I think the reader would enjoy the novel more by reading the book in reverse order, starting with the three short stories: The Rainmaker, The Father Confessor, and The Indian Life. The underlying theme of the stories is that the forfeiture of self, or self-interest, leads to redemption or an awakening.
The poems superbly unite the novel's cultural, spiritual, and mental perspectives. Hesse's best known poem "Stages" is included. Here's a four line excerpt:
"If we accept a home of our making,
Familiar habit makes for indolence.
We must prepare for parting and leave-taking
Or else remain the slaves of permanence."
The novel is set in the future and located in the sequestered province of Castalia. This is a world of academia that consists of theory, analysis, interpretation, and debate - all elements of "the game". Absent from Castalia are action, creativity, originality, and experiment.
The protaganist, Joesph Knecht is raised in this culture. He also lived at a couple of subcultures outside Castalia. At Bamboo Grove, under Elder Brother's tutelage he learned to meditate, play I-Ching, read Chuang Tzu, and learn Chinese studies. (All this self absorption without gazing at his navel; instead, he stared at the carp.) Later at a Benedictine monastery he was the guest of Father Jacobus, with whom he discussed politics, religion, philosophy, music, and history. Knecht learned everything to play "the game" and was elevated to the role of Magister Ludi. But his knowledge went unapplied beyond Castalia.
Even those within Castalia were not immune to mid-life crisis. Knecht, while in his 50s is impacted by the words in "Stages":
"Serenely let us move to distant places
And let no sentiments of home detain us.
The Cosmic Spirit seeks not to restrain us
But lifts us stage by stage to wider spaces."
Anyone who has made a break from the routine will enjoy The Glass Bead Game.

The Glass Bead Game, Hesse's culminating work for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1946, expresses the author's view of life as a quest for intellectual and spiritual unity in an imperfect world. The tragic though rejuvenating story is told through a novel (biography of Joseph Knecht), followed by a collection of poems and three short stories, presented as the posthumous publication of Knecht's fictional writings during the student and scholar phases of his rapid ascent to the venerated post of supreme game master, Magister Ludi.

In Hesse's own life--which included upbringing in a Christian missionary household, an early religious crisis, suicide attempt, broken marriage, time in a sanatorium and reclusive final years--an attraction to Eastern religion and philosophy (yin-yang, Buddhism, reincarnation, etc.) influenced him greatly, resulting in the dichotomies pervasive in his work: nature vs. mind, intellect vs. meditation, service vs. awakening, real vs. "other" world, etc. The "Game" of the Glass Bead Game is an intellectual-meditative game played by elite members of Castalia, a rarified society co-existing alongside but separate from the real world. Like the overall novel itself, the specifics of the game--intriguingly described as embodying the cumulative and highest accomplishments of the human mind during the future-in-time, however neither politically nor technologically futuristic, circa 25th century world in which the story is set--remain nebulous, implicitly suggesting the incompleteness of our collective human understanding of how to achieve intellectual and spiritual oneness.

In the main story, Knecht gracefully advances from disciple to master but, almost as naturally as the transitions from one stage to the next earlier in his life, he experiences a mid-career "awakening," triggering his sudden resignation from his esteemed position as Master in Castalia and leading him to choose the humbler role of teacher-tutor to young students in the outside world. Similar spiritual awakenings affect the lives of characters in the short stories: the Rainmaker (Knecht), after losing his perceived ability to foretell the weather, health and well-being of his tribe, must sacrifice his own life to appease the angry gods; old Father Dion, plagued by self-doubt following years of service listening to the confessions of countless sinners of the world, is strengthened enough spiritually to dig his own grave after realizing that the other priest (Joseph) has also undergone the same crisis of self-confidence; and Indian royal prince Dasa, in going full circle from child crown prince to ostracized cow herder and back to royal prince, becomes ruler of the people and, through an inevitable war with antagonistic neighboring territories, loses his son, wife and palace and is imprisoned in the enemy's dungeon, but mystically awakens in "a dense miniature forest within the great forest," transcending the real world as disciple of an enlightened yogi.

Despite the tragic inability of each of Hesse's heroic characters to "solve" an insurmountable problem within the boundaries of the world through which they define their own intellectual achievement, social position or political success--a limitation that ultimately leads each to appeal to individual, other-worldly, arguably "escapist" solutions--the ending of each story does offer a ray of hope: Knecht drowns but his friend's son, Tito, is awed and changed by his newly appointed Master's death to "demand much greater things . . . than he had ever before demanded of himself"; the Rainmaker's son, Turu, consecrates his father's body on the pyre and becomes the new Rainmaker; Father Dion and Joseph find spiritual strength by working together to overcome their mutual weakness; and Dasa discovers inner peace in the yogi's timeless meditative world, albeit separate from the real world he came from.

Both Hesse's own life and his fictional creations exhibit the irony of spiritual disquietude harbored within outward success. While the other-worldly awakenings Hesse offers may be spiritually sublime, I personally would prefer to see fuller "this-worldly" solutions to the profound problems so well articulated by the author. For example: what if Knecht could elevate the game to a still higher level (and tell us curious readers specifically how music, mathematics, logic and philosophy encompass the depths of all intellectual insight, reaching beyond the book's sweeping generalities) and integrate Castalia with the real world, instead of suddenly drowning in an icy lake?; what if the Rainmaker were to expound to the village head a new wisdom acquired through careful study of climatic fluctuations, instead of succumbing to outmoded traditions and sacrificing his life?; what if the holy men, Dion and Joseph, were to leave their hermitage and join the real world, showing the commoners how to live a dignified life above sin?; and what if Dasa could succeed in teaching the neighboring princes the mutual advantage of peace over war, instead of losing the battle and slipping into the yogi's dreamlike world? For me, true heroism means facing real world issues head on and improving our current standing from within, rather than opting for the other-worldly Hesse-ian path, however magical and enticing that mystical alternative may seem.

This book took Hesse ten years to write, and largely because it turned out so differently from what he planned. His heroes having pursued the ideal spiritual-imaginative kingdom throughout his novels, one, Joseph Knecht, finally finds it in the futuristic Castalia--which he is forced to relinquish for reasons of higher calling. Absolutely awesome. Don't miss Knecht's soliloquy on "cheerful serenity."

Alright, I just finished reading this mammoth novel a few moments ago, except for the short stories at the end. The AP english class at my school had to read it last year and this year there were extra copies so I grabbed one thinking alright this might be fun. Well, I'll admit, I struggled with it. And I'm a pretty avid reader but I had to put it down and read other things in between. In the end though, it's remarkable. When Mann said this was a "treasure of purest thought" he hit the mark. The next to last chapter "The Circular Letter" changed my whole way of looking at this book. Yes, it's dry. And Yes, parts of it may seem boring and too drawn out. But for the reader that toils through it, it's an amazing novel and very deeply thought out. There are times I wanted to burn this book, but now I'm honestly very glad I read it. It's beautiful and more relevant to today's day and age than one might think. In that sense I suppose it's timeless.

I first discovered Hesse via Siddartha from a fun used book store. I devoured that short work within hours and became obsessive about collecting and reading his back library.

When I got my hands on Magister Ludi, I did not feel any section was difficult to get through and truly enjoyed this thought provoking work at a level I had not experienced before. Much more eloquent reviewers have already waxed on about this work, just wanted to throw in that any Hesse fan would, in my opinion, find great satisfaction in reading and absorbing this masterpiece.

i'm almost speechless. this book was so warm and fresh and peaceful and subtle that, after reading it every night, i'd just sit there half spell bound for about a half hour. hesse had a wonderful vision of 'natural theology' and the absolute beauty of learning and knowing, and this book is a prime example of that vision. i recommend this book with my whole heart, enjoy.

There are many things that were missed by many of my friends who have read the book, even though they could've done it many times. Everyone finds something in the book, according to one's character, knowledge, or even needs, and there is nothing wrong with missing some of the most sound points (which are sound in my opinion, of course) and getting from it something else, be it entertainment, plenty of which I had while reading it, or whatever else.
What I want to stress here is one of the concepts of the Game and it's relation that it has, again in my opinion, with some other writings and thoughts by other people. For those who already know what I might mean by that, there will be nothing new, as there was pretty much nothing unexpected that I found in the Game also.
There were writers who showed relations between different sciences and compared those sciences with other non-scientific disciplines. One of whom I know is, first of all, Mircea Eliade. His way of mixing linguistics, philosophy, history, etc. to express many of his positions as a historian and a coparativist of religions might not seem related to the Game at first, but his ideas in his earlier books (which were more philosophical than scientific) are certainly tied to some of the Game's principles. It was not only Eliade, of course, who started to merge different disciplines to come up with new and fascinating results.
Another example is the modern science. Neurology and psychology now are often expressed using the language of quantum physics, and, at the end, all that mix is often used to explain some aspects of shamanism, for example. T. Leary, R. A. Wilson, and others in some of their books show similar relationships. To explore the trend deeper, also check Stan Grof (e.g. "Beyond Death").
I think Hesse showed a future step that this trend may take or already took in a very beautiful and metaphoric way. Of course, the Game is much wider than the idea I just mentioned, that Hesse might have meant. The Game is multi-dimensional.
I did not mention Kneht. I perceive his biography somewhat separate from the story about the Game, but it is not less interesting than the Game at all. It is as great.
I would strongly suggest reading the book in its original language. There are also some translations in other languages, which seemed to me much better and closer to the original than those of the English ones I saw. They are satisfactory though. (I think it is not the fault of the interpreters. It is the author's great style, which, I think, is difficult to translate.)

An amazing novel encapsulating much of eastern philosophy and thought as it tries to reconcile it with western hubris, expectation, and dissatisfaction. I highly recommend "The Glass Bead Game" because it delves into the theory behind educating, vanquishing ignorance, and the inherent suffering involved with being alive, and how we might overcome that suffering through love.

This is possibly the best novel of the 20th century, in my opinion. It is very subtle and very impressive in its overall scope and depth. There seem to be a number of reviewers here who started the book, were somewhat distraught by the implied attitude of the narrator (not to mention the perceived "slowness" of the first few hundred pages), and so gave up reading it. My advice to these people is to finish the book, and by the end you should hopefully understand what Hesse was going for here. It is far more intricate than most of his other works, but it is worth finishing. Hesse explores almost every aspect of our existence and ends up summarizing an ontology that is an appropriate finale for his literary career.

Despite the importance and timelessness of Hesse's theme, I found the work tedious, mostly on the basis of his protagonist: essentially a bloodless eunich (or lacking virility, as a kinder mind put it). His answer to Nietzsche: a kindler, gentler Ubermensch is unfortunately just not very interesting. Nevertheless, I finished the work, perhaps because I was awaiting the legendary repudiation of Hesse's essential philosophy, which occurs, albeit rather weakly. The most moving concept in the novel, namely the Glass Bead Game itself, is disappointingly underdeveloped. Sure, accuse me of philistinism, but I have a sneaking suspicion that many other readers are similarly affected by Hesse's tedious style and milquetoast protagonist.

The Glass Bead Game is another excellent novel by Hesse. I have read and very much enjoyed both Siddhartha and Demian years ago, and found The Glass Bead Game to be a equally enjoyable, though clearly more sophisticated book. Told from the perspective of an anonymous biography, the story revolves around a rather likable character named Joseph Knecht and his ascent throughout the rather esoteric hierarchy of the Order.
The tale is presented in a rather fragmented style, highlighting various part's of Joseph's life and the relationships he develops with various figures throughout. Although the book begins slowly, I found it does gradually pick up, and becomes completely engrossing in the later chapters.
Like Hesse's other works, The Glass Bead Game offers plenty of insight into society, culture and the human spirit. If you enjoyed Demian or Siddhartha, with a bit of effort, you should enjoy the Glass Bead Game.

The Glass Bead Game should be required reading for anyone interested in the price of pursuing a "life of the mind." Bringing together all of the aspects of the aesthetic life in the growth of the main character (Knecht), the book asks the central question: shall one give up living in the world as a result? The demands of chasing wisdom while addressing the needs of day to day living pre-occupied Hesse throughout his literary life. This predominant theme of his work reaches its culmination in The Glass Bead Game. It is a novel of exrtaordinary beauty and life...few pieces have ever reached deeper into the wellsprings of what it means to be "alive in two worlds."