Before you is a book without which the ENTIRE culture of European postmodernism—in literature, film, and theater—is unthinkable. Is this a brilliant avant-garde novel stylized as surrealist philosophy, or a brilliant philosophical essay stylized as a surrealist novel? Perhaps it doesn't matter NOW. One thing matters: years and decades pass, and the exquisite, painful, and esoteric 'Glass Bead Game' continues without end. For such is the game played by the best of people...