The Glass Bead Game

664 Words3 Pages
The Glass Bead Game Herman Hesse (Also wrote under the pseudonyms Hermann Lauscher and Emil Sinclair) German-born Swiss novelist, poet, short story writer, editor, and critic. The following entry presents criticism on Hesse's novel Das Glasperlenspiel (1943; The Glass Bead Game). INTRODUCTION Hesse's last major novel, Das Glasperlenspiel (Magister Ludi; later translated as The Glass Bead Game), is often considered his most complex and ambitious work. Published in 1943, the novel took Hesse eleven years to write and incorporates several of his long-standing thematic concerns: the relationship between the mind and the body, the tension between the contemplative life and social interaction, and the role of the artist and intellectual in society. The Glass Bead Game remains one of Hesse's more obscure works, despite the resurgence of his literary reputation in the 1960s. Plot and Major Characters Written in four parts as a historical biography of Josef Knecht in the year 2400 by an anonymous narrator, The Glass Bead Game chronicles Knecht's rise to Magister Ludi, or Master of the Glass Bead Game, in Castalia, a utopian province where artists and intellectuals strive to attain perfection. The Glass Bead Game is described as a very complex sign system involving glass beads strung on wires, with each bead symbolizing a theme or idea. The game functions to synthesize relationships between disparate thought systems and organize all human knowledge around a central idea. Hesse visualized the game as a panacea for the evils of modern civilization. Knecht, however, finally becomes disenchanted with the timeless, abstract, purely contemplative existence of Castalia and defects. Ironically, he finds a sense of identity and permanence within the ephemeral realm outside Castalia while tutoring a student named Tito. One day, Tito challenges Knecht to jump in the icy cold lake,
Open Document