The Glass Bead Game is the last novel by Hermann Hesse, published in two volumes in 1943 under the German title The Glass Bead Game, sometimes translated as The Master of the Game. The book is a complex bildungsroman about humanity’s eternal quest for enlightenment and the unification of knowledge and active living.
The novel is set in the 23rd century and tells the biography of Joseph Knecht. Knecht grew up in Castalia, a place where the intellectual elite grew and developed. From an early age, Knecht was obsessed with the idea of mastering the Glass Bead Game, which required a synthesis of aesthetics and scientific arts such as mathematics, music, logic, and philosophy. As an adult, he achieved this goal and became a Magister Ludi (Master of the Game).
Post time: Feb-25-2025