The Glass Bead Game

by Hermann Hesse Narrated by David Colacci

Overview

The final novel of Hermann Hesse, for which he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946, The Glass Bead Game is a fascinating tale of the complexity of modern life as well as a classic of modern literature

Set in the twenty-third century, The Glass Bead Game is the story of Joseph Knecht, who has been raised in Castalia, the remote place his society has provided for the intellectual elite to grow and flourish. Since childhood, Knecht has been consumed with mastering the Glass Bead Game, which requires a synthesis of aesthetics and scientific arts, such as mathematics, music, logic, and philosophy, which he achieves in adulthood, becoming a Magister Ludi (Master of the Game).

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"...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

APRIL 2009 - AudioFile

Hesse's long philosophical novel takes the form of a biography that recounts the coming-of-age and spiritual crisis of the leader of a community devoted to a game combining music, mathematics, philosophy, meditation, and other disciplines. In a way, the pseudo-biographical form fits David Colacci's narration because he sounds like a nonfiction reader. He's an effective one, with a good voice, and fine pacing and expressiveness. But he's no actor, and when the novel is actually novelistic and he must provide voices and dialogue, they’re unconvincing—he still sounds like a reader of nonfiction. One misses a certain music that a good actor might have brought to enliven this already-dry book. Still, Colacci is skilled and able, if not inspiring. W.M. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169782912
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	12/01/2008
Edition description:	Unabridged

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