About this title: A work of science fiction by the acclaimed German author and Nobel Laureate. Purportedly a historical chronicle written in the year 2400, it describes the rise to political prominence of an elite organization of scholars, called the Castalia. As the only educated class left within society, the Castalia are responsible for preserving and handing on as much of the culture of the past as has been preserved.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Picador
Date published: 1987
ISBN-13:9780330302418ISBN:0330302418
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Date published: 1973
ISBN-13:9780140034387ISBN:0140034382
Description: Good. Our aim is to create an overall satisfying buying experience for our customers through the provision of affordable books and a personalized approach to customer service. read more
Binding: paperback
Publisher: Picador, London
Date published: 1987
ISBN-13:9780330302418ISBN:0330302418
Description: Good-Very Good. 8vo. 558pp. Hesse's masterpiece, eleven years in the writing and representing the epitome of his creative credo; this copy has one bookshop label to verso of front cover, text block tanned, edges of pages toned, covers lightly rubbed/creased, o.w. G-VG. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780099283621ISBN:009928362X
Description: Acceptable. UNREAD BOOK WITH NO BACK COVER-AN ACCEPTABLE READING COPY ONLY-TRUSTED DEVON (UK) BASED SELLER-IN STOCK-SENT WITHIN 1 WORKING DAY-AVAILABLE BY EMAIL FOR QUERIES-NO QUIBBLE REFUND IF NOT COMPLETELY SATISFIED- read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date published: 1974
ISBN-13:9780140034387ISBN:0140034382
Description: Good. in Not Issued jacket. Newer Reprint, 1974: In sound condition, but with some general cover wear, mainly at edges, with corner creasing, but no spine crease at all; interior good-pages tanned, but appear to be clean and unmarked by pen/pencil; 519-pg. mass market paperback; translated from the German by Richard and Clara Winston; published by Penguin Books (Penguin Modern Classics) See my cover scan to the left read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin
Date published: 1983
ISBN-13:9780140034387ISBN:0140034382
Description: Good. Size: 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall; English language. The Glass Bead Game is an ultra-aesthetic game which is played by the scholars, creamed off in childhood and nurtured in elite schools, in the kingdom of Castilia. But can man live isolated from hunger, family, children, women, in a perfect world where passions are tamed by meditation and academic discipline and order are paramount? . General wear and tear, pages yellowed, 519 pages Post Typically 1-2 days UK, 2-7 days Worldwide. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780099283621ISBN:009928362X
Description: Good. 1984 Penguin edition (different cover). Has a little light reading wear to cover, and some light tanning to page edges, but overall this is a clean, tight copy, in excellent condition throughout. Dispatch within 24hrs from the UK. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin
Date published: 1973
ISBN-13:9780140034387ISBN:0140034382
Description: Good. Size: 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall; English language. The Glass Bead Game is an ultra-aesthetic game which is played by the scholars, creamed off in childhood and nurtured in elite schools, in the kingdom of Castilia. But can man live isolated from hunger, family, children, women, in a perfect world where passions are tamed by meditation and academic discipline and order are paramount? General signs of previous use, marks to covers etc, 519 pages. Post Typically 1-2 days UK, 2-7 days Worldwide. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Date published: 1972
ISBN-13:9780140034387ISBN:0140034382
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York
Date published: 1969
ISBN-13:9780030818516ISBN:0030818516
Description: Very Good- in Poor jacket. Gift Inscription Wrinkle/crease along spine of first 15 pages from wide bookmark. Dust jacket price clipped, taped together with several open tears. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,, NY:
Date published: 1969
ISBN-13:9780030818516ISBN:0030818516
Description: Very Good in Very Good dust jacket. 0030818516. Translated from the German by Richard and Clara Winston. First edition thus. Gift inscription on front free endpaper, else very good in a very good (minor shelf wear, one small chip) dust jacket. read more
Edition: First Paperback Edition
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Date published: 1969
ISBN-13:9780030818516ISBN:0030818516
Description: Good. Tanning. Owner stamp inside cover. Translated from the German Das Glasperlenspiel by Richard and Clara Winston with a Foreword by Theodore Ziolkowski. read more
Description: Very Good. 1969, 1st US, ink owner name and date to fep, o/w clean and sound, dj light soil, 2 1/2 tear to dj spine on lower half. First American Edition. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. read more
Edition: First edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Date published: 1969
ISBN-13:9780030818516ISBN:0030818516
Description: Very Good in Good DJ. 1st edition thus, very good plus copy with some small light spotting to bottom page edges, light bumping to corners & light diagonal wrinkle to top corner of front free endpaper. Wrapper is very good with tiny chip at base of spine. Overall a very aesthetically pleasing copy of this work from the Nobel Prize winning author. 558 pages. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Peter Smith Publisher Inc
Date published: 1992-06
ISBN-13:9780844665245ISBN:084466524X
Description: Good. #1078 Stated first edition, RARE in this condition. In very good condition in a very good dustjacket, very small library stamps on pages edge, no pocket, just small stamps. Very clean otherwise, appears to be unread. read more
Description: Good in Good jacket. 1st Printing. 1969 Holt Rinehart hard cover stated 1st edition-some staining to dust jacket and cover-slight wear to edge of dust jacket (no in mylar cover)-minor staining to page edge-otehrwise binding strong contents clean-a fine collectible-one of the important works of the 20th Century. read more
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. Very good; Collectible 1949 Holt hard cover titled as Magister Ludi-no dust jacket-some staining to cover and page edge-otherwise binding strong contents clean-a nice collectible-enjoy. read more
Edition: First Edition thus
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Jonathan Cape, London
Date published: 1970
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. First UK edition of this new (and definitive) translation by Richard and Clara Winston. Tall 8vo; 558pp. Publisher's French blue cloth boards over a quarter-bound black cloth spine stamped in gilt; in a bright pictorial dust jacket by Alan Turnbridge. Fine (and probably unread), in a Fine unclipped jacket. Surprisingly scarce in any condition. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date published: 20/11/1987
ISBN-13:9780330302418ISBN:0330302418
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date published: 20/11/1987
ISBN-13:9780330302418ISBN:0330302418
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
"The Glass Bead Game is the least of all of the works by Hesse that I have have read. Set next to many of his other works, particularly Narcissus and Goldmund, it is atrocious. Hermann Hesse is certainly monomaniacal in his contemplations of human nature but the GBG is entirely recycled material presented with all the finesse of an expository sledgehammer. Rarely does something transpire that it's not mentioned three or four times in consecutive paragraphs. (Don't believe it? How many times is the fact that Joseph postpones his game instruction mentioned in the second chapter?)
The novel takes place in some distant future that is in every way early nineteenth century bucolic Germany. In this utopia, a sexless (and nearly womanless) and deathly dull world of abstract intellectual development, mastering intellectual abstractions is the highest calling for humanity. That Knecht comes to realize that Castalia is too isolated from the rest of unworthy, simple-minded humanity hardly gives the impression that Hesse hadn't settled on this as his ideal world... a cop out from his earlier work. (What Dionysian impulses?)
Missing are the vivid portrayals and homoerotic tensions that propelled his novels beyond Platonic dialogues and into personal journeys. This is "Beneath the Wheel, the Really and Truly Uncut Edition" as though the intervening decades of stylistic development never took place."
"I've read this book before, but wanted to read it again because I remember it being pretty dense. It's pretty awesome. In the future, there's a group of intellectuals who devote themselves to scholarship and The Glass Bead Game. The game's aim to is show the interconnectedness of all disciplines, but that's about all we know about the game. The main takeaway for me is how beautiful the pursuit of knowledge can be, but also to think about how it applies to the real world. Not just knowledge for its own sake.
It's kind of hard to review this book - it's pretty philosophical and abstract, I guess. I just finished it - it was good. Maybe start with Herman Hesse's other books like Narcissus and Goldman or Steppenwolf. Those are more approachable."
"Considered Hermann Hesse's masterpiece, Magister Ludi blew me away when I first read it...but perhaps being a 22-year old card-carrying hippie at the time explained my fascination.
Set in a vague future, Joseph Knecht lived in Castalia, a utopian nation focused on lifelong intellectual and spiritual development. Each year, the most brilliant competed in the Glass Bead Game, in which contestants developed presentations integrating all areas of human thought and spirit. The Game is designed and conducted by the master, the person of highest achievement in past games and the person most exalted in Castalia.
The story chonicles the rise of Joseph to the position of Glass Bead Game Master. But having achieved the highest possible level of intellectual and spiritual development, he decides to resign - in order to become a tudor of one boy, an annoying problem child of his best friend.
For me the entire story was beautiful: the Castalian pursuit of developing and integrating mind and spirit, and Joseph subsequently seeing a one on one mentoring relationship with a young boy as perhaps the deepest expression of humanity.
It worked for me as a 22 year old hippie and still does 37 years later."
"A book that requires initial effort, but the rewards are great. Back in 1996 (or was it 1997?) I picked this hefty volume up dubiously, having read several of Hesse's other novels, including Sidhartha, Demian, and Steppenwolf, coming away disappointed after each (although for almost the entire length of the book I thought Steppenwolf was excellent, and was only discouraged by its conclusion). At the time I was involved in a book club: "Crash" by JG Ballard was the first book to read, and this was the second. Unfortunately, this book precipitated the break-up of a friend of mine with his then girlfriend (they were also members of the club), and the rest of my friends, with one exception, found the book boring and decided to end the club right there. I was one of 2 to keep reading, and we both came to admire this novel in the end.
The Glass Bead Game begins with a somewhat pedantic introduction that bears little resemblance to the rest of the novel, which thereafter focuses on the life of Joseph Knecht, a student in a society of the future initially presented as utterly different from our own. This difference lies in the separation of intellectual and technological or economic pursuits, and so we follow Knecht as he grows up and joins the sect of leading thinkers in their own province, where they devote their energies to a life of the mind (symbolized by the Game of the title, a kind of amalgam of chess and music from what i can make out, though the game is not clearly explained). However, as the novel wears on it becomes clear that no such separation can happen for long, and as the more mundane encroaches on Knecht, who by the end of the book has become the leader of the intellectual movement, a personal crisis ensues.
This bare-bones plot summary doesn't convey the wonder of the book, which should fascinate anyone who's ever been interested in learning or has speculated on what a purely intellectual life might be like. Hesse presents all this with a lightness of touch that makes it all work, and the moving end of the book will resonate long after you finish. The disorder and calamity of the outside world are well represented by Knecht's friends who leave the retreat and then return, as adults, opening the door to chaos.
The book ends with 3 short stories attributed to Knecht, each taking place at different moments in time and each describing a moral or spiritual dilemma. An interesting way to end the novel.
Recommended for those who enjoy Hesse or who like novels of ideas."
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