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unrealpunk 's review for:
The Glass Bead Game: (Magister Ludi)
by Hermann Hesse
In the future world of The Glass Bead Game academia has become spiritualized through a game developed to showcase the players' interdisciplinary and artistic acumen. Overall it started out very promising, was too long and fusty in the middle section, and then the final section made it worthwhile. Good but not as good as Steppenwolf or Siddhartha in my opinion.
I would have liked more on the wider world outside the academy — the political situation with Rome and how the advancement of the Game was reflected in other societal developments, let alone anything outside Eurasia, but it doesn't really go there. The androcentrism and localism feel less like satire than a basic weakness of the book. (I should say this translation; the setting and tone strongly suggest a certain ambiance that may require the actual poetics to fully realize.) Not only is it limited in the diversity and originality of its characters, it's also limited to considering these characters in the context of monastic orders and devotional vocations, especially the dynamics of dedication and rejection within them, and the relationships between masters and disciples. But if you find those subjects appealing this book could be just the thing.
I would have liked more on the wider world outside the academy — the political situation with Rome and how the advancement of the Game was reflected in other societal developments, let alone anything outside Eurasia, but it doesn't really go there. The androcentrism and localism feel less like satire than a basic weakness of the book. (I should say this translation; the setting and tone strongly suggest a certain ambiance that may require the actual poetics to fully realize.) Not only is it limited in the diversity and originality of its characters, it's also limited to considering these characters in the context of monastic orders and devotional vocations, especially the dynamics of dedication and rejection within them, and the relationships between masters and disciples. But if you find those subjects appealing this book could be just the thing.