Magister Ludi

hermann hesse

This is Hesse's last and greatest work, which won him the Nobel Prize for Literature. Described as "sublime" by Thomas Mann, admired by André Gide and T.S. Eliot, it is considered one of the important novels of this century. Originally published in German as Das Glasperlenspiel and recently published in a new translation as The Glass Bead Game, it is better known in English as MAGISTER LUDI. This new translation is as majestic and contemporary as its content. The award-winning translators, Richard and Clara Winston, have captured Hermann Hesse, the author of Steppenwolf and Demian, at the height of his creative and prophetic powers, and this book is the key to a full understanding of his thought.

Genres fictionclassicsphilosophyliteraturegerman literaturenovelsscience fictiongermanyfantasy20th century

544 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1,1943

Literary awards

Премія імені Максима Рильського, retro hugo award,

This edition

Format: 544 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published: October 1, 1970 by Bantam Books
ISBN: 9780553055559
ASIN: 0553055550
Language: English

Characters More characters

Joseph Knecht

original : Joseph Knecht...

About the author

hermann hesse

Many works, including Siddhartha (1922) and Steppenwolf (1927), of German-born Swiss writer Hermann Hesse concern the struggle of the individual to find wholeness and meaning in life; he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1946.

Other best-known works of this poet, novelist, and painter include The Glass Bead Game, which, also known as Magister Ludi, explore a search of an individual for spirituality outside society.

In his time, Hesse was a popular and influential author in the German-speaking world; worldwide fame only came later. Young Germans desiring a different and more "natural" way of life at the time of great economic and technological progress in the country, received enthusiastically Peter Camenzind, first great novel of Hesse.

Throughout Germany, people named many schools. In 1964, people founded the Calwer Hermann-Hesse-Preis, awarded biennially, alternately to a German-language literary journal or to the translator of work of Hesse to a foreign language. The city of Karlsruhe, Germany, also associates a Hermann Hesse prize.