Hermann Hesse: The Glass Bead Game

LA CLUSTER THOUGHTS:

• Does a gender, Marxist, or Post-colonial reading, still allow for Hesse's book to retain value?

• Division of genders in the book. Given the time the book was written, have to move beyond clear bias and ask whether the life in Castilia is primarily meant to be asexual. That is, is the important part that the sexes are separated or particularly that women are absent from the establishment?

• What are the values of Castilia actually? Although Knecht spends much of his school time defending the institution, only the pro-worldly arguments are clearly stated. How much of this is a factor of the type of audience the book is fictionally addressing and how much is it Hesse's assumption that the actual audience does not need the explanation? Is a Castilia possible and can it be morally defended?

• The presentation of Duty in the novel. How is duty determined? Why are the characters completely accepting of the hierarchy of Castilia? Is Knecht's character a foil to the other observers of their Castilian duties, or is he the emblematic example? Can we make moral judgments about his behavior justified by 'duty'?

• The characterization of Knecht by both the narrator and implicitly by Hesse. What makes Knecht different from the other representatives of Castilia? What aspects of his personality does the narrator miss through his implicit awe? How do the 'three lives' and poetry written by Knecht and attached to the end of the novel reveal more about who he is than the reports of the narrator?

• What Hesse seems to be saying about biography and presentation of a subject in a purportedly objective narrative? Issues with the writing style of the novel, its apparent dryness, etc.