MAGISTER LUDI

Rating:
Summary: Hesse's "Dr Faustus"
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Hesse's
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Transcend
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Best book ever read
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Best book ever read
Review: 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.