The Glass Bead Game is precise. Hesse never speaks directly about anything, instead writing in circles of things. We never understand what the Glass Bead Game really is, though we read of it being played, the way it feels, what it means to learn the game. It feels meticulous, and measured. At times, it feels like you’re a child desperately waiting for a grandparent to just hurry up and get on with it, at other times it feels like a wisdom you’re yet to access.
Hesse builds on his previous novels, the Glass Bead Game explores Jungian psychology in a less disturbing manner than the mother-love in Demian, the mentor-mentee relationship in Narcissus and Goldmund, the vicissitudes of old age in Steppenwolf, and the Eastern philosophy from Siddhartha. This work feels like bringing together the chords of each of those in harmony, more than the sum of its parts.