app03 Fri, 26 Jun 2026 08:06:47 +0000 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Weird Studies - Episodes Tagged with “Game Studies” https://www.weirdstudies.com/tags/game%20studies Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:30:00 -0400 Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." en-us episodic Art and philosophy at the limits of the thinkable Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." yes weird, art, philosophy Phil Ford and J. F. Martel admin@weirdstudies.com Episode 109: Infinite Play: On 'The Glass Bead Game,' by Hermann Hesse https://www.weirdstudies.com/109 7dc701ce-5d3a-4db3-b3e6-b71411af9266 Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:30:00 -0400 Phil Ford and J. F. Martel 109 Infinite Play: On 'The Glass Bead Game,' by Hermann Hesse full Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Phil and JF discuss Hesse's final novel, a quiet masterwork of science fiction about a game that encompasses all of reality. 1:20:14 yes <p>JF and Phil have been talking about doing a show on <em>The Glass Bead Game</em> since Weird Studies' earliest beginnings. It is a science-fiction novel that alights on some of the key ideas that run through the podcast: the dichotomy of work and play, the limits and affordances of institutional life, the obscure boundary where certainty gives way to mystery... Throughout his literary career, Hesse wrote about people trying to square their inner and outer selves, their life in the spirit and their life in the world. <em>The Glass Bead Game</em> brings this central concern to a properly ambiguous and heartbreaking conclusion. But the novel is more than a brilliant work of philosophical or psychological literature. It is also an act of prophecy -- one that seems intended for us now. </p> <p>Header image by <strong>Liz West</strong>, via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green_marbles_2.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener">Wikimedia Commons</a>.</p> <p><strong>REFERENCES</strong></p> <p>Herman Hesse, <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780312278496" rel="nofollow noopener">The Glass Bead Game</a></em></p> <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hindemith" rel="nofollow noopener">Paul Hindemith</a>, German composer <br> Morris Berman, <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780393321692" rel="nofollow noopener">The Twilight of American Culture</a></em> <br> Alfred Korzybski, concept of Time Binding <br> Christopher Nolan, <em><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/" rel="nofollow noopener">Memento</a></em> <br> William Irwin Thompson, <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780312160623" rel="nofollow noopener">The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light</a></em><br> Thomas Mann, <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780679772873" rel="nofollow noopener">The Magic Mountain</a></em> <br> David Tracy, <em><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/790661.Analogical_Imagination" rel="nofollow noopener">The Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism</a></em> <br> Jeremy Johnson, <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/books/seeing-through-the-world-jean-gebser-and-integral-consciousness/9781947544154" rel="nofollow noopener">Seeing Through the World: Jean Gebser and Integral Consciousness</a></em> <br> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin" rel="nofollow noopener">Teilhard de Chardin</a>, French theologian <br> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathesis_universalis" rel="nofollow noopener">Mathesis</a> <br> Joshua Ramey, <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-hermetic-deleuze-philosophy-and-spiritual-ordeal/9780822352297" rel="nofollow noopener">The Hermetic Deleuze</a></em> <br> Weird Studies, <a href="https://www.weirdstudies.com/22" rel="nofollow noopener">Episode 22 with Joshua Ramey</a> <br> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Needham" rel="nofollow noopener">Joseph Needham</a>, British historian of Chinese culture <br> James Carse, <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/books/finite-and-infinite-games/9781476731711" rel="nofollow noopener">Finite and Infinite Games</a></em> </p> hermann Hesse, glass bead game, analysis, meaning, ludic studies, infinite game, weird studies, discussion JF and Phil have been talking about doing a show on The Glass Bead Game since Weird Studies' earliest beginnings. It is a science-fiction novel that alights on some of the key ideas that run through the podcast: the dichotomy of work and play, the limits and affordances of institutional life, the obscure boundary where certainty gives way to mystery... Throughout his literary career, Hesse wrote about people trying to square their inner and outer selves, their life in the spirit and their life in the world. The Glass Bead Game brings this central concern to a properly ambiguous and heartbreaking conclusion. But the novel is more than a brilliant work of philosophical or psychological literature. It is also an act of prophecy -- one that seems intended for us now.

Header image by Liz West, via Wikimedia Commons.

REFERENCES

Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game

Paul Hindemith, German composer
Morris Berman, The Twilight of American Culture
Alfred Korzybski, concept of Time Binding
Christopher Nolan, Memento
William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light
Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain
David Tracy, The Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism
Jeremy Johnson, Seeing Through the World: Jean Gebser and Integral Consciousness
Teilhard de Chardin, French theologian
Mathesis
Joshua Ramey, The Hermetic Deleuze
Weird Studies, Episode 22 with Joshua Ramey
Joseph Needham, British historian of Chinese culture
James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games

]]> JF and Phil have been talking about doing a show on The Glass Bead Game since Weird Studies' earliest beginnings. It is a science-fiction novel that alights on some of the key ideas that run through the podcast: the dichotomy of work and play, the limits and affordances of institutional life, the obscure boundary where certainty gives way to mystery... Throughout his literary career, Hesse wrote about people trying to square their inner and outer selves, their life in the spirit and their life in the world. The Glass Bead Game brings this central concern to a properly ambiguous and heartbreaking conclusion. But the novel is more than a brilliant work of philosophical or psychological literature. It is also an act of prophecy -- one that seems intended for us now.

Header image by Liz West, via Wikimedia Commons.

REFERENCES

Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game

Paul Hindemith, German composer
Morris Berman, The Twilight of American Culture
Alfred Korzybski, concept of Time Binding
Christopher Nolan, Memento
William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light
Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain
David Tracy, The Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism
Jeremy Johnson, Seeing Through the World: Jean Gebser and Integral Consciousness
Teilhard de Chardin, French theologian
Mathesis
Joshua Ramey, The Hermetic Deleuze
Weird Studies, Episode 22 with Joshua Ramey
Joseph Needham, British historian of Chinese culture
James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games

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