Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse, Richard Winston, Clara Winston ISBN: 0-8050-1246-X Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: June, 1990 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (58 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Hesse's Best
Comment: 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.
Rating: 5
Summary: The novel that changed my life
Comment: 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, to be sure, 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.
Rating: 5
Summary: Anti-Utopia!
Comment: The world of this book is boring for a reason, folks, and so are most of the characters (especially the flimsy hero J Knecht). The Glass Bead Game is a satire; while it's much gentler and more subtle than 1984 or Brave New World, the thrust is the same. The reader is left *not* wanting to embody the values Hesse identifies with Castalia.
These values have a goofy relationship to bodies anyway. There are literally no women in there at all. European scholars play at being Chinese. And everybody follows the rules at all costs. Spiritual and intellectual life are all tools to keep the order... and a boring order it is. The Game they play doesn't seem to involve much play; the players participate in a way, but the Master is responsible for establishing the structure of everything with a golden stylus. Ho-hum. Not even pretending to be Chinese or Indian or prehistoric is interesting to these people, but the orientalism of their gestures is interesting to us (see Edward Said's book Orientalism if you're unsure of what I mean).
As an aside: Nietzsche would hate Castalia. Notice how Knecht dies once he enters the mountains and takes a plunge? He's no Zarathustra.
If you're approaching this book in an attempt to Gain Wisdom, take it as a cautionary tale rather than a model to emulate. Some of the play you may be seeking could be snatched from the experience of reading, say, Tarthang Tulku's Time, Space, Knowledge series of books, or the writings of E.J. Gold.
 |
Title: Steppenwolf: A Novel by Hermann Hesse, Basil Creighton ISBN: 0312278675 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: Demian by Hermann Hesse ISBN: 0060931914 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
 |
Title: Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse ISBN: 0553275860 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 February, 1984 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
 |
Title: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse ISBN: 0553208845 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 December, 1981 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
 |
Title: The Journey to the East by Hermann Hesse, Hilda Rosner ISBN: 0312421680 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
