Hermann Hesse

When I was in high school, friends told me repeatedly that, if ever there was a book that I should read, it was Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game (Magister Ludi). I would love it, I was told.

Always a bit skeptical of such endorsements, I waited until my sophomore year in college to read Hesse--but not TGBG. Instead, I read Narcissus and Goldmund. The latter book became such a favorite of mine that I did not read any more Hesse for fear of being disappointed (I will admit: a lousy reason to avoid an author).

Close to four decades later, I have picked up TGBG and, once again, find myself under the master's spell.

Slowly, slowly we muddle our way through this valley of shadows, with eyes fixed to the ground while the sun shines above us and bluebirds tweet and skitter all around...