Personally, I though Magister Ludi (ie. The Glass Bead Game) was virtually unreadable. And this is coming from a fairly devoted Herman Hesse appreciator. Demian WAS a higly righteous tome to be reckoned with as was, I think, Steppenwolf and several other of his works. But Magister Luidi was simply far too oblique. I almost got the feeling that it was some type of inside joke in which he would gladly admit (if someone actually asked him) that it was a self-righteous and highly pretentious piece of crap intended to dupe so called "intellectuals" into heavy bouts of moody pondering over the 'meanings' inherent in the heavier-than-lead words contained within. Anyone out there know about or read Richard Meltzer's "Aesthetics of Rock" book? Same kind of thing; (...an admitted intellectual hoax...though followed up by the awesome and thoroughly humble book "Gulcher". Reprinted not too long ago and worth reading. The guy was a contemporary of Lester Bangs and although very different and definitely not as scathing, just as interesting and funny as hell...) DISCLAIMER: I didn't actually think The Glass Bead Game was THAT bad, and if someone really thinks they "got it" then that's great. It just seemed a little caught up in itself. Maybe I'll give it another chance some day when my attention span is at herculean capacity. I admittedly only made it through the first 80 or 90 pages, so who am I to judge.

I re-read Demian every few years. Every time I read it, I'm in a different phase of the book, or I have a different perspective or something. It's hard to put into words. Anyway, I highly reccommend the practice.

I am demian

No, I am.

i'm gonna dress up like a clown and beat you both over the head with a stick.

NO YOU ARE.

My favorites are Journey To the East, Demian and Siddartha, in that order. The Glass Bead Game I found pretty boring. He's one of my favorite writers of all time.