"The game in the beads" - the main book of the German writer Hermann Hesse

"The game of beads" - the last and the main book of the German writer Hermann Hesse. It was published in 1943 in the Zurich publishing house. And in 1946, Hesse received the Nobel Prize for Literature, possibly thanks to the book "The Bead Game." The summary of the work is as follows: the action takes place in the future, the narrative is conducted on behalf of a fictional scientist-historian, who is working on a biography of the main character of the novel - The Master of the Game Josef Knecht.

The master of the game is a title given to the protagonist, teaching specially selected, talented, elite descendants of European society in a specially designated educational institution located in the province of the fictional country of Kastalia. The name of the country clearly echoes the word "caste", which is the teachers and pupils of the school. The main subject of this educational institution is a game of beads, which includes a mixture of science and art.

By and large, the invented Hesse Kastalia echoes many other works, whose authors were fond of thinking about utopia. But Hesse brings to his myth the idea of the spiritual and intellectual end of European thought, in a sense of the "twilight of the gods." And we accept the creation of Kastalia as a necessity.

Hesse describes the spiritual catastrophe that befell industrial Europe, in which all spiritual and creative life ceased. And people, incompetent in these matters , began to judge vital issues, such as economics, politics, philosophy and religion .

A lot of different people remember "The game of beads." Readers' comments tell us that Hesse's novel is not a very subtle hint to the modern elite that it engages in any nonsense that will lead society to collapse.

So, "The game of beads." The summary of the novel is as follows: the protagonist Joseph Knecht, having begun his studies at the Kastali school, acquires a friend named Plinio Desiogni, with whom they conduct long polemical discussions. In these disputes, Designiori tries to convince Knecht that he believes that attempts to preserve science, culture and art, as well as the elite education system in private educational institutions in Kastalia, are not viable.

The names of the protagonists speak for themselves "Knecht" - the servant, "Designiori" - the seigneur. They are probably chosen by Hesse not by chance, since he considers the position defended by Designorie to be correct. Designiori leaves Castalia to live a "real life" in the "real world".

Knecht, who successfully completed his studies, was called to lead the school of Kastalia. One day he decides to begin teaching his son's friend, comes to him and, after a brief stay, dies, leaving us a collection of poems and stories of his composition.

The question that Hesse asks throughout the narrative can be formulated as follows: "Is not all science and art, all spiritual daring of mankind a simple game of glass?"

In the novel, Hesse asks a question about what will happen to art in a bourgeois society deeply hostile to any creativity? The death of the protagonist shows us that such people as Knecht do not have a place among ordinary individuals.