As soon as I finish this post, I'm going to start this book, Hermann Hesse's magnum opus. I've read and absorbed and adored Siddhartha and Steppenwolf, definitely two of my all time favorite works of art, so I have high hopes for The Glass Bead Game. Anyone got an opinion on it? (please, no spoilers just yet ). I will definitely post my opinions on the book once I have one.
Oh yes! Good you want to read this book. Big adventure! May be boring from time to time, but it's the kind of boredom, which is inseparable from GREAT ART. Most of my favourite books are considered boring and hard to read - for example "Remembrance of Things Past" by Marcel Proust and "Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann. I've started to read Herman Hesse's novels because I was admiring Thomas Mann, and those two writers were close friends and affect each other's work. Thomas Mann was even a prototype of one of the characters in the "Glass Bead Game". It's such a wise book! Big moral effect and support - as Thomas Mann would say. It may teach you that the most important thing is to live, to take life as an adventure. Chose affirmation instead of negation. It doesn't tell you HOW to live and what is the best path to chose, but it'll tell you that you must find the answer in yourself, and to find - first must look for it - and that's the meaning of life. You don't have to find the center of the world, but the center of your own being, and not the objective meaning, but the meaning things have to you. Well, it may sounds trivial here, as I'm characterizing it - but Hesse writes about it in such a beautiful way. His style is so great. And I love the contrast between first part of the book - so calm, intellectual, slow - and the ending - STRONG and moving. This book gave me a lot - like "Magic Mountain" - I know I can't stay for the rest of my life on my private magic mountain or in safe Kastalia. I have to go out and live. Yes, "Steppenwolf" is one of my favourite books too.
I just finished the book! Took me a little longer than expected because I kept getting distracted by smaller reads I wanted to finish up. I thoroughly enjoyed it! You're right, the ending was so powerful, and I was not expecting it AT ALL. Although I think it lead to the book being a little harder to get into, I think the style of employing the detached, historical narrative style was crucial. There were so many gaps between the narrator's understanding and Knecht's mind, gaps which the reader can take great pleasure in filling. I'll tell you what I loved: the "three lives" stories. Those were three little gems. Hesse's style is so straightforward, it's very refreshing after reading so many books full of overly ornate writing. I think my favorite part of the entire book was a poem Knecht read: Our days are precious but we gladly see them going, If in their place we find a more precious thing growing, A rare, exotic plant, our gardener's heart delighting, A child whom we are teaching, a booklet we are writing. How right on the mark that poem is. That's the thing about Hesse, as is the case with so many great artists and writers... his actual art, ie his skill with words, is only a small part of his genius. It's who he is as a person and his understanding of the world that is so brilliant - his morals, his philosophy, etc. That is what makes Siddhartha and Steppenwolf so special too, not the writing itself but that they are just right on the money in describing the human experience. I guess I should read Demian now. Any thoughts on that?
I haven't read "Demian" yet. Only "Peter Camenzind" and Hesse's autobiographic essays - "Childhood of the wizard" ("Kindheit des Zauberers")- I recommend it to you. You should like it if you admire Hesse not only for how he was putting words together, but also for who he was as a person. I admire him for that too. His art is simple, pure and honest. You are 100% right when you say his style is straightforward and refreshing. That's just what I think about his work. Boredom...yes, "Space Odyssey"... In the world of the movies the most lovely boring are movies by Russian director Andriej Tarkowski. I just love to sit for 3 - 4 hours in the cinema and feel so wonderful bored. Only boredom is really inspiring. Metaphysical boredom.
It's so funny you mention Tarkovsky, because 2001 and this film of his that I watched over the summer, Stalker, were the first two things that popped into my mind! It's the only film I've seen of his, and I have to admit it pushed the limits of how much boredom I can enjoy But it was definitely a memorable film. What other films of his do you recommend? Hopefully you've seen a lot of the Kubricks... several of them (Barry Lyndon, Eyes Wide Shut) in addition to 2001 are pretty slow at times, but I love them. The pacing is key!
Yeah, that's funny! Tarkovsky came on my mind while I was writing about boredom probably because of this pic from Space Odyssey - cause Tarkovsky made one space movie based on the novel by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem "Solaris". And then I thought about "Stalker" as something similar. But Stalker in my opinion is not the best movie by Tarkovsky. Much better (and shorter) is "Andriej Rublow" (my favourite) and "The Mirror". Yes, the pacing. Very long takes, well-thought-out, artisticly composed frames and music as a background - Bach in "The Mirror", Penderecki and other modern composers in Kubrick's "Shining", famous music in "Space Odyssey". These are the films you can contemplate, they hypnotise you. That's what I like. Where did you watch "Stalker"? In the cinema?
I'll have to look into those other films. I love Kubrick's use of music. I think great music is one of the most important parts of any good film. I did in fact see Stalker in the cinema. I was in New York City last summer, and one of my friends whom I met at film school took me to see it. I was going to act in one of his student films and he was inspired by the acting in Stalker, so he took me to see it. New York is amazing for film stuff because there are so many art house and revival theaters which are always playing classic films and foreign films and all of that good stuff. I actually got a chance to see 2001: A Space Odyssey on the big screen as well! That was awesome. The humor of the film really came out when seeing it in the theater because a lot of people were giggling at HAL, etc. the whole time. Is that a portrait of you in your signature?
It's hard to imagine watching those films at home, not in the cinema. It would be waste of time. I've seen them in the cinema too. The picture in my signature - yes, some more cookies and changing hair color and that will be me
