Glass bead game....

[wutherwuther]

Sorry if this is in the wrong section, but I was wondering if any of you have read the glass bead game, it was a very confusing book for me and I need some help with some topic and thesis ideas. thanks.

[stlukesguild]

I loved it. Read i at least twice... although its been a while.

[wutherwuther]

kool man, do you think you could help me develop a thesis idea...just give some ideas of something I could use.

[wutherwuther]

I am doing an essay on the book the glass bead game and need some help coming up with an idea. I was considering comparing the world of Castalia to our world or the Glass bead game to our modern life..but can anyone who has read it please give me a hand. Thankyou.

[stlukesguild]

Castalia might be interpretted in a number of ways. I don't think it can be simply defined in a single manner... no great work of art can be so limited. Essentially it is the "ideal" world. The world of the "ivory tower". One might interpret Castaglia as Art... and scholarly or intellectual study... that is above and beyond everyday life. In a way, Hesse' "artists" of the glass bead game echo Mann's composer from Doctor Faustus. They seem to equally confront the issue of the morality... the justification of l'art pour l'art... of the artist who lives in the ivory tower in a dark period of history. You might want to look at the concept of Castaglia in contrast to the dark times in which it was written (World WarII). You might wish to look at his concept of the feuilleton society... a society obsessed with fashions, and gossip, and other trifles to whom art and knowledge and intellectual study have become useless... unless they serve... pander... even bend the truth to serve the needs of this society. The novel, to my mind, offers no clear solutions to the dichotomy of the world in the age of "feuilleton". We are presented with the "real" world... in which knowledge is only of use if it is in service of the practical needs of society or the political motivations of power brokers... or it serves the obsessions of the masses with "meaningless". To this society absolutes such as beauty, knowledge, wisdom, right and wrong seem increasingly irrelevant and as such... the Castalians appear to be increasingly a burden of little value. On the other hand... we have the Castalians who live in a world of ideals... and ideas... who look at all history and at the surrounding world with an aloof objectivity as if complete outsiders. And what is the result? The Castalians have become impotent, in a way. They can only play with variations of the creations of the past... there is no fresh life to infuse their ideals and lead to new creations. And what has society become without the Castalians... without the artists and intellectuals. The barbarians essentially have been given free reign. There are lots of ways to approach this theme. Look at the shifting position of the ("fine") artists and intellectuals as the numbers of mass society define what is or is not important. Look at Plato's concept of the "philosopher king" and the notion that the intellectuals have a responsibility to society and should not be allowed to go off on their own. Just some ideas. One might certainly connect Hesse's concepts with contemporary society. Good luck.