The Significance of Joculator Basiliensis to the Theme and Structure of the Glasperlenspiel

Abstract

Critics accept Hesse's many indications that the source for Pater Jakobus in the Glasperlenspiel was Jacob Burckhardt and generally conclude that the Pater is a symbol or portrait of the Basel historian, but they do not look for manifestations of Burckhardt's thought prior to the appearance of the Pater or after Knecht's writing of the circular letter. The result of the insufficient focus is a misinterpretation of the historical insight gained by Hesse from Burckhardt, an insight incorporated structurally in the novel and beginning in the introduction with the shadowy Joculator Basiliensis, forerunner of the Glass Bead Game, who also owes his fictional existence to Hesse's reading of Burckhardt. One of the few critics to note the inadequacy of the general approach to the figure of Pater Jakobus is Hans Mayer, who in an afterword to the Glasperlenspiel, enthusiastically received by Hesse, wrote, Seine Bemerkungen zur Geschichte decken sich im Roman in den meisten Fallen gar nicht einmal mit den bekannten Thesen Jacob Burckhardts. The extent of Burckhardt's influence upon the Glasperlenspiel, ergo Hesse as a mature writer, is much greater than has been hitherto acknowledged; it is important to determine which of Burckhardt's writings influenced Hesse and to examine in detail how Burckhardt's thought pervades the novel, in order to demonstrate Hesse's understanding of history as present time entailing active commitment to the service of humanity. In 1936 Hesse reviewed several books in an article entitled Anmerkungen zu Btlchern and published in Die Neue Rundschau. In this article Hesse reviews the letters of Jacob Burckhardt edited by Fritz Kaphahn and published by the Alfred KrOner Verlag in 1935. He states that, although his reading of Burckhardt's Kultur der Renaissance and Konstantin at the turn of the century, as well as his Basel associations with followers of Burckhardt, had led him to revere the late historian, Nietzsche had claimed for him a position of higher importance, es waren ja damals auch mehrere der Werke Burckhardts, namentlich die 'Griechische Kultur' und die 'Weltgeschichtlichen Betrachtungen,' noch gar nicht erschienen. Erst um Jahre spater, und namentlich seit ich die 'Betrachtungen' kennengelernt hatte, rotckte Burckhardt for mich ganz nach oben, in die Reihe der paar groBen Lehrer und Wissenden.2