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From: pd@eisx.UUCP (P. Devanbu)
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: Magister Ludi - I didn't like it.
Message-ID: <620@eisx.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 13-Oct-83 12:37:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: eisx.620
Posted: Thu Oct 13 12:37:41 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Oct-83 06:39:44 EDT
Lines: 28

I read (only halfway) through Magister Ludi, and was once again
disappointed with Hesse. My previous disappointment had been
Siddhartha. 

"Magister Ludi" is well written, no doubt. Hesse is a skilled hand at
the vignette. Methinks however, he  does have a tendency (evinced in
Siddhartha,  as well) to protest too much. His protagonists are a trifle
overstated. They are not quite human, but rather mannikins trotting out
Hesse's fantasy of what people ought to be like.  In this respect, Hesse
does deserve an unflattering comparison to Ayn Rand. In addition the novel
makes some incredibly Sexist statements. At somepoints, i had to pause
to recover my verbophily (sorry). Some passages are simply revolting,
even to one whose interests in feminism are mostly vicarious. This
greatly reduced my respect for the Nobel comittee.

The ideas stated in the book as regard to intellectual freedom, the
"oneness" of music, art, history (Take a bow, Douglas Hofstadter),
a hero with selfless dedication to the pursuit of beauty and truth,
have a noble beauty to them; but they strike me as being a bit
aseptic. The same seemed to apply to "Siddhartha". I would classify this
as "calliterature". Pretty, not terribly inspiring, not quite
human, not particularly substantive.

Prem Devanbu

(The opinions expressed in this article are my own. This does preclude
the existence of other points of view, and does not indicate a lack
of respect on my part for those who hold them).