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The Glass Bead Game: (Magister Ludi) A Novel by [Hermann Hesse, Theodore Ziolkowski, Richard Winston, Clara Winston]

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Hermann Hesse

Richard Winston

The Glass Bead Game: (Magister Ludi) A Novel Kindle Edition

by Hermann Hesse (Author), Theodore Ziolkowski (Foreword), Richard Winston (Translator), Format: Kindle Edition

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The Glass Bead Game, for which Hesse won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946, is the author's last and crowning achievement, the most imaginative and prophetic of all his novels. Setting the story in the distant postapocalyptic future, Hesse tells of an elite cult of intellectuals who play an elaborate game that uses all the cultural and scientific knowledge of the Ages. The Glass Bead Game is a fascinating tale of the complexity of modern life as well as a classic of modern literature.

This edition features a Foreword by Theodore Ziolkowski that places the book in the full context of Hesse's thought.

Print length

580 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Holt Paperbacks
Publication date

6 December 2002
File size

1775 KB
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Review

An intricate bildungsroman about humanity's eternal quest for enlightenment and for synthesis of the intellectual and the participatory life.

-- "Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature"

While the length may seem daunting, Colacci's voice remains fresh through the 17th CD of this captivating novel.

-- "School Library Journal" --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

...a genre blend of science fiction, fantasy, and fictional biography, leavened with musicology, poetry, and Hesse's unique swirl of Eastern and Western philosophy. - The American Scholar --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00ANI9G0O
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Holt Paperbacks; First edition (6 December 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1775 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 580 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 97,127 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 26 in German Literature
- 98 in U.S. Literary Classics
- 282 in Literary Criticism & Theory (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
591 ratings

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Hermann Hesse
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Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) was born in Germany and later became a citizen of Switzerland. As a Western man profoundly affected by the mysticism of Eastern thought, he wrote many novels, stories, and essays that bear a vital spiritual force that has captured the imagination and loyalty of many generations of readers. In 1946, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Glass Bead Game.
Photo by unknown [Dutch National Archives, The Hague, Fotocollectie Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANEFO), 1945-1989 / Public Domain] [CC BY-SA 3.0 nl (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/nl/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons.
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Richard Winston
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Customer reviews

5 star		72%
4 star		14%
3 star		7%
2 star		4%
1 star		3%

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Tom Benkendorff

A must have book for those that enjoy reading.

Reviewed in Australia on 15 October 2021

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This literary classic is both well written and captivating to to end.

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Bertie 57

Wife read it again. We both read it in ...

Reviewed in Australia on 25 December 2014

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Wife read it again. We both read it in our youth. An intellectual read but didactic at times. Interesting ideas but is it relevant to this century? I guess ideas remain ageless.

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wrinkled weasel

Oh dear

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 August 2021

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People will not like this review but I have to be honest. Hess was popular with the hipsters and counterculture types in the Sixties and Seventies when, as a teenager I read works like Narziss und Goldmund. Coming back to Hess and The Glass Bead Game I just about got through a little over half the book and decided that life was too short for this. If one was cynical one might say this book was a colossal leg-pull, written to impress and confuse the impressionable (not to say gullible) and to convince its audience that the over-educated ramblings of an individual with 'issues' was a work of importance. But I will just say it is not a lot of fun and leave it at that.

Some would say that 'fun' is not always the point of a book and I agree, but on some level it must resonate with the reader, or the reader's interpretive community. As I look back at Hess with a gap of 50 years the goal posts have changed; we no longer look at Sgt Pepper as a psychedelic experience, destined to send us into a higher plane of existence, but just a very good album that in many ways changed the direction of popular music. We no longer think of Andy Warhol as a guru, but a kind of Sixties Banksy who saw the way the wind was blowing and weaponised it. Looking through Timothy Leary's eyes was ok until you gave up the drugs and then the scales dropped from your eyes and the love-in of Woodstock faded from memory at the stark reality of Altamont. So, what I am saying is that Hess, and more precisely The Glass Bead Game was the focus of a certain counter culture which has not stood the test of time, a fad that rode on the back of a lot of nihilistic weirdness. Granted, there are certain themes, for example the description of the age of Feuilleton that would appear prophetic and prescient except that the concept has been part of the human condition since writing was invented. So not really prophetic, then.

I give it two stars, not one, because it is an interesting curiosity, but not one to be overly concerned with.

10 people found this helpful

Brighton Bound

Terrible translation and presentation of a classic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 May 2018

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This is a shabby treatment of one of Hesse's classics. The translation is lackluster and essay-like; quotations Hesse used at chapter headings - say from originals in Latin - are often simply deleted. Moreover, this edition completely omits over a hundred pages - "The Posthumous Writings of Joseph Knecht" - which appear in Ungar edition. This edition should not be offered for sale . . .

25 people found this helpful

Bellarion

A sublime read...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 July 2018

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I read and enjoyed Hermann Hesse many years ago but it was coming across a poem called MAGISTER LUDI by the English poet and philosopher Brian Taylor that led to the discover of the THE GLASS BEAD GAME. I ordered the kindle and was amazed and thrilled with the quality of writing and the way the beauty of the story of Knecht encapsulated the quest for Truth, universal wisdom and Centre understanding.
Hesse's book is a precursor for understanding CENTRE The Truth about Everything a rare book of wisdom about locating the Centre, understanding it, using it and how to enter it.
After reading the kindle I ordered the paperback (Vintage Classic) but returned the book as the last three chapters THE THREE LIVES (previous lives of Knecht) are not in this edition! These stories are a vital part of Knecht's quest and preparation for his awakening to universal wisdom. (I found a second hand paperback edition of THE GLASS BEAD GAME that was complete: Picador ISBN 0-312-27849-7).
A sublime read reminding us of our human destiny to Awaken.

14 people found this helpful

Mr. Simon J. Austin

An exercise. In erudition

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 October 2021

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This is the longest book that Herman Hesse wrote and possibly his most creative. The book is one of the finest examples of creativity and the writing art. Whilst lengthy one is left with the feeling that not one word is wasted, every word in the book almost had to fight for its right to be there. No pointless packing paragraphs here. The Glass Bead Game is a truly an excellent book from a brilliant writer.

One person found this helpful

Jus' deh

Wisdom

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 September 2020

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Read everything u can get written by him,one of the greatest authors of any time. I've read everything he's written more than once n keep learning. These books are classics,they'll be read n studied forever. Deep n entertain at the same time. Wisdom

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