Magister Ludi

Herman Hesse

Bantam Books, 1970 - Fiction - 520 pages

In an unspecified future symbolic world, Joseph Knecht achieves and rejects his long-sought ideal of uniting thought and action in isolated Castalia, where scholar-players of the Glass Bead Game perpetuate all spiritual values

What people are saying

Review: Magister Ludi

User Review  - Guy - Goodreads

I had an antipathy towards Castalia and hence the book from the beginning. I have always thought that there was something suspect about heaven, and so does Joseph Knecht. The Glass Bead Game (GBG) is ...

Review: Magister Ludi

User Review  - Joe - Goodreads

While Hesse's masterpiece has the same theme as Siddhartha, it's not the same short, simple work as that classic. Magister Ludi's inventive setting and method takes the basically unchanged storyline ...

About the author

When this German novelist, poet, and essayist publicly denounced the savagery and hatred of World War I, he was considered a traitor. He moved to Switzerland where he eventually became a naturalized citizen. He warned of the advent of World War II, predicting that cultureless efficiency would destroy the modern world. His theme is the conflict between the elements of a person's dual nature and the problem of spiritual loneliness. His first novel, Peter Camenzind, was published in 1904. His masterpiece, Death and the Lover (1930), contrasts a scholarly abbot and his beloved pupil, who leaves the monastery for the adventurous world. Steppenwolf (1927), a European bestseller, was published when defeated Germany had begun to plan for another war. It is the story of Haller, who recognizes in himself the blend of the human and wolfish traits of the completely sterile scholarly project. Hesse won the Nobel Prize in 1946. During the 1960s Hesse became a favorite writer of the counter culture, especially in the United States, though his critical reputation has never equaled his popularity. Hermann Hesse died in 1962.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Magister Ludi; Bantam book ; X2645
• Author: Herman Hesse
• Edition: reprint, reissue
• Publisher: Bantam Books, 1970
• ISBN: 0553262378, 9780553262377
• Length: 520 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / General; Fiction / Literary