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.
Description: Good. Purchasing this DVD supports the North Central Regional Library. Thriftbooks and NCRL have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Library ID found on DVD and case. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Date Published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780805012460ISBN:080501246X
Description: Very Good. Text pages clean & tight with no markings or highlighting. Cover has scattered scratches & light edge wear. The story of an elite cult of intellectuals occupying themselves with an elaborate game. Very readable copy. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Date Published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780805012460ISBN:080501246X
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. 3 smoothed dog ears at beginning of book, all else pristine, bright cover, sharp corners, clean crisp, unmarked pages. read more
Binding: Trade Paper
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780805012460ISBN:080501246X
Description: Very Good with no dust jacket. 080501246X. Nobel-prizewinning novel set in distant future. In great shape, with minor moisture rippling first few pages and sm. amt. frt. cover curling.; 60409; 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador, New York
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780312278496ISBN:0312278497
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. Remainder. 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches. 576pp. Upper front corner lightly bumped. A Clean and Bright copy. Remainder Mark. Internally Clean. Lang: English. Vols: 1, Wt: 2lbs. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador, New York
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780312278496ISBN:0312278497
Description: Near Fine. No Jacket. Remainder. 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches. 576pp. A Clean and Bright copy. Internally Clean. Lang: English. Vols: 1, Wt: 2lbs. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador, New York
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780312278496ISBN:0312278497
Description: Near Fine. No Jacket. Remainder. 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches. 576pp. A Clean and Bright copy. Remainder Mark. Internally Clean. Lang: English. Vols: 1, Wt: 2lbs. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Picador USA
Date Published: 2002-12-01
ISBN-13:9780312278496ISBN:0312278497
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780312278496. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780312278496ISBN:0312278497
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Description: Very good; Collectible. 1969 Holt Rinehart hard cover-stated First Edition-some wear to dust jacket (now in mylar cover)-otehrwise cover fine binding strong page edge and contents clean-a nice collectible-enjoy. read more
Description: Good. Only lightly used. Book has minimal wear to cover and binding. A few pages may have small creases and minimal underlining. Book selection as BIG as Texas. read more
Description: Good. Only lightly used. Book has minimal wear to cover and binding. A few pages may have small creases and minimal underlining. Book selection as BIG as Texas. 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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