Customer Reviews

Magister Ludi

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3 star:		(1)
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This book, so it's been suggested, is in part Hesse's response to the misunderstanding of his previous book, Steppenwolf. It is a brilliant exploration of themes of institutions and loyalty to them, and of personal excellence and humility. It is also in many ways an indictment against anti-intellectual popular culture, and in this sense the book is absolutely visionary. The titular subject of the book, the Glass Bead Game, is, furthermore, a dazzling invention of an almost surreal character. Finally, the book is tied together by several compelling, intricate characters. Magister Ludi is at the very pinnacle of my favorite books list.

_What is the Glass Bead Game? It is no less than the highest reason that an entire future civilization exists. It is the grand and ongoing synthesis of all knowledge into a unified, integrated whole (a Unio Mystica.) It is an attempt to forge a holographic intellectual world where all is interconnected and reflected in every part. This is a mission to weave the golden thread of significance and meaning through every part of a culture- science and the arts and the spiritual are all unified into a system of concentric, interpenetrating rings. All this is primarily accomplished by using the language of music and mathematics as common universal symbolism (the "glass beads" are part of a symbolic physical aid that was once used for this purpose.)

_It is no wonder that the book places the first origins of the game with Pythagoras, Gnostics, and Socratic ethics. No wonder that the League of Journeyers to the East also figure prominently in its development. To some extent the Game has been the goal of all sensitive and introspective individuals and groups down through the ages.

_All of this stands in stark contrast to our own Feuilletonistic Age where all knowledge, all culture, is unsynthesized, chaotic, and largely meaningless babble.

_The crisis that develops from this is that even if you accomplish this grand synthesis in some isolated ivory tower refuge of intellectual contemplatives- it isn't enough. It is necessary to reach out to the entire society once it is achieved in the same way that a bodhisattva attempts to enlighten the rest of mankind instead of individually passing onto Nirvana. The entire society must be made whole and sacred and not just an isolated elite. This is the realization that comes even to the Magister Ludi, the Master of the Game.

_For the game to be ultimately meaningful we have to coach everyone to eventually become Masters.

This is the best book I have ever read. It is fantastically engaging and has a surprise ending. Hesse never really explains the Game to a point that the reader must construct his own version of what the Game is like. The Game uses beads that represent high information density symbols, somewhat like advanced mathmatics, to show connections between fields of study or disiplines that have interconnections that are not immediately obvious. The Game imbodies the ultimate "life of the Mind" and to study the Game is a truly life long adventure. Ludi becomes the Magister, or top player, of the Game and greatly admired.

One realizes very early in this book that you will never actually learn what the Glass Bead Game IS, or how to play it in any pragmatic sense. This is a book about a man's journey through the idyllic student's world. A world where learning for the sake of learning is cherished and taken to be quintessential to life...and yet is not enough. Magister Ludi Knecht plays his part of the serf to the ultimate end, and realized that transcendence can only come from within, never from the environment.

I just read this book and it was one of the best books I've ever read. The preface to my edition compared it to Thomas Mann's "Dr Faustus (my favorite Mann)- which i found to be very true. I love Hesse but this is the only one of his books that was on the level of Mann for me. "Goldmund and Narcissus" and especially "Stepanwolf" also are excellent. Magister Ludi has a lot in common with the character Goldmund. This book has the intellectual incisive prose that I like so much in Mann - the mind and motivation are clearly written out, not just suggested.
The book follows the life of a great scholar from grade school to death. What distinguishes him is he has a great heart/sense of morality along with his genius. You follow his evolution as a person throughout the story. The story is set somewhere around 2500 AD but theres no indication that technology has advanced since the 1940's - or that life socially is much different...the emphasis is on the political situation as it relates to Knecht's scholarly order. Since there the order is celebate like the 19C Oxford scholars there are no female characters of consequence - so you see a lot of male relationships in all different shades. Hesse lets you know as much about the game as he can and still do it justice...the game is supposed to be one of the supreme human achievements so he couldnt invent it fully fleshed out for the purposes of a novel. Magister Ludi is Joseph Knecht's title: he is Master of the Game. He's on the highest board which includes a Music Master and Master of Meditation. The climax of the book is a discussion Knecht has to have with the Master of Meditation/President of the Board of Educators to justify a momentous life changing decision he makes. I reread very few classics (I plan on rereading the major Mann and Doestoyevsky books) but this is one I would reread: it's beautiful. If you loved "Doctor Faustus" or "Goldmund and Narcissus" you most likely love this one.

unfortunately this item, which was used and described in "good" condition (and it looks fine) is SERIOUSLY mildewy.I'm asthmatic and allergic to mold. As soon as I opened it up I had trouble breathing. A mildewy book should not receive a "good" condition or should come with a proviso about the mildew. The price was so low it doesn't make sense to send it back or complain to the bookseller. In terms of value I got my money's worth because the price was so low. But sellers need to take into account mildew when describing the condition of a book. I'd rather have masses of highlights and torn cover and no mildew. That kind of book I can read. This one will be thrown away or donated - although I hate to give such an unhealthy book to anyone else. And I was really looking forward to reading this book. The worst thing is that I have to buy it again, pay another shipping fee.

I just read this book and it was one of the best books I've ever read. The preface to my edition compared it to Thomas Mann's "Dr Faustus"(my favorite Mann)- which i found to be very true. I love Hesse but this is the only one of his books that was on the level of Mann for me. "Goldmund and Narcissus" and especially "Stepanwolf" also are excellent. Magister Ludi has a lot in common with the character Goldmund. This book has the intellectual incisive prose that I like so much in Mann - the mind and motivation are clearly written out, not just suggested.
The book follows the life of a great scholar from grade school to death. What distinguishes him is he has a great heart/sense of morality along with his genius. You follow his evolution as a person throughout the story. The story is set somewhere around 2500 AD but there's no indication that technology has advanced since the 1940's - or that life socially is much different...the emphasis is on the political situation as it relates to Knecht's scholarly order. Since the order is celebate like the 19C Oxford scholars there are no female characters of consequence - so you see a lot of male relationships in all different shades. Hesse lets you know as much about the game as he can and still do it justice...the game is supposed to be one of the supreme human achievements so he couldn't invent it fully fleshed out for the purposes of a novel. Magister Ludi is Joseph Knecht's title: he is Master of the Game. He's on the highest board which includes a Music Master and Master of Meditation. The climax of the book is a discussion Knecht has to have with the Master of Meditation/President of the Board of Educators to justify a momentous life changing decision he makes. I reread very few classics (I plan on rereading the major Mann and Doestoyevsky books) but this is one I would reread: it's beautiful. If you loved "Doctor Faustus" or "Goldmund and Narcissus you most likely love this one.