Summary “The Bead Game” Hesse
A far future unfolds before us. The Master of the Games and the hero of Castalia, Joseph Knecht, achieved the maximum formal and substantial perfection in the game of the spirit. He has nowhere else to strive for, and only dissatisfaction lies ahead. Soon, disappointment is added to this, and he leaves Kastalia in an external cruel world to serve one particular and far from ideal person. He is a Master of the Order of Castile. This is the name of a society whose participants guard the truth. They renounce the family, property, politics, money, so that nothing can tempt them away from the mysterious “bead game” they are engaged in. It is “a game with all meanings and values of culture,” an expression of truth. All members of this Order live in Castalia. There is no time in this amazing country.
The name came from the mythical Castalian key, which is on Mount Parnassus. This mountain is surrounded by water, in which the god Apollo and nine muses lead
In the prehistory of Kastalia, the society of the 20th century and its culture are sharply criticized, which has already completely degenerated. This culture has the term “feuilletonistic”, and in German it means “newspaper article of entertaining nature.” These “feuilletons” are a very popular form of publication in modern times. They are stamped in millions and represent a second-rate reading. Such newspapers do not give rise to deep thoughts, do not try to understand some problems that are difficult, on the contrary – they consist entirely of “entertaining nonsense”,
The main material for such newspapers was the anecdotes about the life of celebrities. The headlines they had were roughly the following: “Friedrich Nietzsche and ladies’ fashion in the seventies of the nineteenth century”, “Favorite dishes of the composer Rossini,” “The role of pet dogs in the life of famous courtesans.” Sometimes, in order to create an article, celebrities interviewed about certain political events or about the advantages and disadvantages of the premarital period. But the feuilletonists themselves did not take their creativity seriously, the atmosphere was saturated with irony. However, most of the near-minded readers had no idea how exactly such newspapers were written and believed everything that was written in them. Others did not get enough sleep after a hard day’s work, guessing the crossword puzzles. However, the chronicler later acknowledges,
They were always afraid of economic and political instability, and they needed to relax and plunge into the world of cheap popular articles, children’s crosswords and puzzles. The church could not help them – it did not give them comfort. When people read satirical articles almost without stopping, they did not have the strength to find out the reasons for their fear and get rid of it. Therefore, they lived “convulsively and did not believe in the future.” The historian of Castalia (in essence – Hesse himself) is convinced that such a civilization is no longer capable and will soon collapse itself. A situation arose that all thinking people and intellectuals united to preserve the traditions of spirituality. They created a new state within the already existing – Kastalia. Only the elite lived in it, and they were given the opportunity to play beads. Kastalia is becoming partly a citadel of contemplation, spirituality. All this was allowed to exist a technocratic society, saturated with profit and consumerism. For the competition in the game of beads, the whole world watches.
The actions and results of this game were broadcast on the radio everywhere, except for Kastalia itself, where people still ride horses – time in this state froze. The main purpose of Kastali is edifying: here intellectuals were brought up, than the brain was not packed with conjuncture and bourgeois thinking. Kastlia is a kind of antipode to the state of Plato, in which the scientists ruled. In Kastalia, however, scientists, philosophers and thinkers are free from any oppressive law or authority, but this can only be obtained by breaking away from reality. Kastalia did not take root in life itself, and strongly depends on those who have real power in the real world. Generals, for example, can decide that Kastalia is an unnecessary luxury, or that she is preparing to declare war.
All the Kastals serve the spirit and do not practice life skills. Here reigns the medieval hierarchy – twelve Magisters, Supreme, Educational and other Colleges. In their ranks, the Castalians take boys who are distinguished by a special talent from anywhere in the country. Further, they themselves train them in schools, find out their inclinations, abilities and develop them in music, philosophy, mathematics. In parallel, the boys learn to meditate and enjoy the game of spirit. Then the boys, by that time already become young men, enter universities, and after their graduation they are engaged in science, arts, pedagogy or playing beads. The game of beads is a kind of combination of religion, philosophy and art. This has gone on since someone Perrault, teaching music in the city of Calva, came up with a glass bead device for his studies. After its improvement, a new language, unlike any other, appeared. It was created using various combinations of beads. With the help of these beads it was possible to compare different meanings and categories. These classes are meaningless, and are not aimed at creating something new, but at achieving a harmonious improvement through the alteration of previously created combinations and motives.
In 2200, a new Master appears, Josef Knecht, who also passed the whole way of becoming a Castaelian. The name “Josef” translates as “servant”, and he is really ready to serve Castalia in the name of truth and harmony. It is increasingly difficult for a hero to find harmonies in the game of glass beads, as he more and more clearly perceives and understands all the contradictions that permeate the state. He intuitively runs away from this limitation. He does not look like scientists like Tegularius, this brilliant hermit who was so carried away by sophistication and formal virtuosity that he completely abandoned the world.
Having found himself outside Kastalia in the Benedictine monastery of Mariaphers and met Jacob’s father there, Knecht is inspired: he begins to think about history as a whole and its attitude towards the state, reflects on the history of the culture and finally realizes what Kastalia is for the real world. While the inhabitants are playing their beaded game there, they are increasingly moving away from the real world and are already on the threshold of the moment when the world recognizes them as an unnecessary luxury. The task for Knecht is that the younger generation should be brought up not in libraries, protected by walls, but in a world where strict laws rule.
So he finally leaves Kastalia and becomes the tutor of the son of his friend Desiñori. One day, swimming with a boy in a mountain lake, Knecht takes the joints from the cold and he sinks. In any case, so says the legend and it is in this assures the reader of the chronicler. It is never possible to know whether Knecht has become successful in life. Morality is the only one – one can not hide from the world in ideas and books. This same morality is supported by three biographies, which are printed at the end of the book and contain the key to understanding the whole work. The hero of the first part, the Servant, is a vessel of spirituality in the primitive tribe. He does not reconcile himself to obscurantism and sacrifices himself for the spark of truth.
The second was the early Christian reclusive Yossiv Famulus. He was tired of his role as a consolation and support of sinners, but having met a confessor who is still older than him, he remains with him and they serve together. The third hero, Dasa, does not want to be a victim, does not want to serve, and runs into his own Kastalia, namely – runs to the old yoga in the forest. It is from such a proposed path that the hero Hesse refuses, although it was difficult and eventually he lost his life.
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