I finally got around to reading Herman Hesse's 1943 novel The Glass Bead Game recently, for which the author won the Nobel Prize. I read it in small bites, just 10 or 15 pages at a time. It's just not one of those books that sucked me in so I forgot to eat or turn off the light and go to sleep already. But I also took my time reading it because I wanted to savour the richness of Hesse's writing style.
The novel is set in the distant future, after the age of wars. It is presented in the form of a scholarly biography of Joseph Knecht, who is educated by the secular Castalian Order. Knecht himself becomes a scholar of music and of the Glass Bead Game, which somehow incorporates and synthesizes all cultural and scientific knowledge, yet whose exact nature remains elusive to the reader.
A life devoted to learning and meditation, sheltered from the distractions of the wider world, holds quite a lot of appeal for me. I love reading and writing, playing and listening to music. Of course, I'd miss a lot of those distractions, many of which are quite enjoyable. And of course, some of the things a monkish scholar like Knecht foregoes, like romantic love, are much more than mere distractions. There is also the question that Knecht grapples with at various points in the story, of whether withdrawing from the worlds of business and politics to pursue a purely intellectual, artistic, spiritual existence is a responsible thing to do.
I've read more exciting books, and books that were ultimately more thought-provoking and made me feel more deeply for the characters. But The Glass Bead Game held my attention well enough, and Hesse's clear, well-crafted sentences actually had a calming, meditative effect, giving me a small but welcome taste of the main character's contemplative life.
A life devoted to learning and meditation, sheltered from the distractions of the wider world, holds quite a lot of appeal for me. I love reading and writing, playing and listening to music. Of course, I'd miss a lot of those distractions, many of which are quite enjoyable. And of course, some of the things a monkish scholar like Knecht foregoes, like romantic love, are much more than mere distractions. There is also the question that Knecht grapples with at various points in the story, of whether withdrawing from the worlds of business and politics to pursue a purely intellectual, artistic, spiritual existence is a responsible thing to do.
I've read more exciting books, and books that were ultimately more thought-provoking and made me feel more deeply for the characters. But The Glass Bead Game held my attention well enough, and Hesse's clear, well-crafted sentences actually had a calming, meditative effect, giving me a small but welcome taste of the main character's contemplative life.