"The Glass Bead Game" is probably the masterpiece of Hermann Hesse, but it is certainly not appropriate in this book to discover this author so atypical. The book is indeed long, a little heavy, sometimes with didactic aspects, all that can repel the neophyte. However, for who already knows Hermann Hesse by wealthier works (eg "Siddhartha) or has already interested in esoteric literature, this" Glass Bead Game "is a masterful contribution, a very great wealth. Starting with a "game", supposed to build relationships between the major sciences (mathematics and language, in particular) and major arts (music in the first place), the author describes the human organization which is built around this game, its players and all the resulting implications, particularly in terms of education; all this construction - the game and the Order corresponding to it - within a world and an imaginary time. The book is then a reflection that, to me it seems, is structured around two main axes: - The spiritual dimension versus the temporal dimension of an initiatory order; - The internal dimension of the Order versus the outside world (qu'Hesse generally called "the century"). The hero of the novel, Joseph Jack, who will become the pages, the Master of the Game, sees his personal progress influenced by tensions resulting from these respective poles, ultimately to the point of making the choice ... (obviously I unveil not the ending of the book). Beyond any reader interested in esoteric matters in general, "The Glass Bead Game" is a source of great wealth for anyone who knows from the inside, an initiatory organization. I think, in particular, to the Freemasons for whom the dual voltage specified at time is of major importance (and is found well explained in several degrees of certain rites ...). It would be wrong to believe that there would be just one subordinate and artificial issue. That's life course he question of a life carried by the spiritual intent but written in his time.
