test work, which won for him the Nobel Prize for LIterature. Described as "sublime" by Thomas Mann, admired by Andre Gide and T. S. Eliot, it is considered one of the important novels of the twentieth century. It captures Herman Hesse at the height of his creative and prophetic powers, and this book is the key to a full understanding of his thought. The Glass Bead Game, is the author's last and crowning achievement, the most imaginative and prophetic of all his novels. Setting the story in the distant post-apocalyptic future, Hesse tells of an elite cult of intellectuals who play an elaborate game that uses all the cultural and scientific knowledge of the Ages. The Glass Bead Game is a fascinating tale of the complexity of modern life as well as a classic of modern literature.