The action takes place in the distant future. The infallible Master of the Game and the hero of Castalia, Joseph Knecht, having reached the limits of formal and substantial perfection in the game of the spirit, feels dissatisfaction, and then disappointment, and leaves Castalia in the harsh world beyond, to serve a concrete and imperfect person. The Kastali Order, whose master is a hero, is a society of guardians of truth. Members of the Order refuse family, property, participation in politics so that no selfish interests can influence the process of the mysterious “bead game” to which they surrender - “playing with all the meanings and values of culture” as an expression of truth. Members of the Order live in Kastalia, an amazing country over which time has no power. The name of the country comes from the mythical Castal Key on Mount Parnassus, at the waters of which the god Apollo leads round dances with nine muses representing the forms of art.
The novel was written on behalf of the Kastali historian from the distant future and consists of three parts unequal in volume: an introductory treatise on the history of Kastalia and the game of beads, a biography of the main character and works of Knecht himself - verses and three biographies. The background of Kastalia is set out as a sharp criticism of society of the XX century. and its degenerate culture. This culture is characterized as “feuilletonistic” (from the German meaning of the word “feuilleton”, which means “newspaper article of an entertaining nature”). Its essence is newspaper reading - “feuilleton” as a particularly popular type of publications produced by millions. They do not have deep thoughts, attempts to understand complex problems, on the contrary, their content is “entertaining nonsense”, which is in incredible demand. The creators of such tinsel were not only newspaper clickers, among them were poets and often professors of higher educational institutions with a famous name - the more famous the name and the dumber the topic, the greater the demand. The favorite material of such articles was jokes from the lives of famous people under headings like: “Friedrich Nietzsche and ladies' fashion in the seventies of the nineteenth century”, “Favorite dishes of the composer Rossini” or “The role of doggies in the life of famous courtesans”. Sometimes a famous chemist or pianist was asked about certain political events, and a popular actor or ballerina was asked about the advantages or disadvantages of a single lifestyle or the cause of financial crises. At the same time, the smartest of feuilletonists themselves made fun of their work, imbued with the spirit of irony.
Most uninitiated readers took everything at face value. Others, after hard work, spent their leisure time guessing crosswords, bending over squares and crosses from empty cells. However, the chronicler admits that those who played these children's puzzle games or read the feuilleton cannot be called naive people, carried away by senseless childishness. They lived in eternal fear amid political and economic upheavals, and they had a strong need to close their eyes and escape from reality into a harmless world of cheap sensationalism and children's puzzles, because "the church did not give them comfort and spirit - advice." People who read feuilleton endlessly, listened to reports and guessed crosswords, did not have the time and energy to overcome fear, to understand problems, to understand what was going on, and to get rid of “feuilleton” hypnosis, they lived “convulsively and did not believe in the future” ". The historian of Castalia, who is also supported by the author, comes to the conclusion that such a civilization has exhausted itself and is on the verge of collapse.
In this situation, when many thinking people were at a loss, the best representatives of the intellectual elite came together to preserve the traditions of spirituality and created a state in the state - Kastalia, where the elect indulge in the game of beads. Castalia becomes a certain abode of contemplative spirituality, existing with the consent of a technocratic society, permeated by the spirit of profit and consumerism. The bead competition is broadcast on the radio throughout the country, in Kastalia itself, the landscapes of which resemble South Germany, time has stopped - there they ride horses. Its main purpose is pedagogical: the education of intellectuals free of the spirit of conjuncture and bourgeois practicalism. In a certain sense, Castalia is a contrast to the state of Plato, where power belongs to scientists, the ruling world. In Castalia, on the contrary, scientists and philosophers are free and independent of any authority, but this is achieved at the cost of separation from reality. Kastalia has no solid roots in life, and therefore her fate depends too much on those who have real power in society - on generals who can consider that the abode of wisdom is an excessive luxury for a country preparing, for example, for war.
The Kastalians belong to the Order of the ministers of the spirit and are completely divorced from life practice. The order is built on a medieval principle - twelve Masters, the Supreme, Educational and other Colleges. To replenish their ranks, Castalians throughout the country select talented boys and train them in their schools, develop their ability in music, philosophy, mathematics, learn to think and enjoy the games of the spirit. Then the young men enter universities, and then devote themselves to studies in the sciences and arts, pedagogical activities or the game of beads. The game of beads, or the game of glass beads, is a kind of synthesis of religion, philosophy and art. Once upon a time, a certain Perrault from the city of Calva used a glass bead device he had invented in his music classes. Then it was improved - a unique language was created, based on various combinations of beads, with which you can endlessly compare different meanings and categories. These classes are fruitless, their result is not the creation of something new, only the variation and reinterpretation of known combinations and motives in order to achieve harmony, balance and perfection.
Around 2200, Joseph Knecht becomes the Master, having gone all the way that the Castalians pass. His name means "servant" and he is ready to serve truth and harmony in Castalia. However, the hero only for a while finds harmony in the game of glass beads, because he more and more sharply feels the contradictions of Castalian reality, intuitively tries to avoid Castalian limitation. He is far from scientists like Tegularius - a lone genius, fenced off from the world in his fascination with sophistication and formal virtuosity. A stay outside Castalia at the Benedictine monastery of Mariafels and a meeting with Father Jacob have a great influence on Knecht. He thinks about the ways of history, the relationship between the history of the state and the history of culture and understands what Castalia’s true place in the real world is: while the Castalians play their games, a society from which they move farther away may consider Castalia a useless luxury. The task is, Knecht believes, to educate young people not outside the walls of libraries, but in the "world" with its harsh laws. He leaves Castalia and becomes a mentor to the son of his friend Designori. Bathing with him in a mountain lake, the hero dies in icy water - as the legend says, as the chronicler tells the story. It is not known whether Knecht would have succeeded in his path, one thing is clear - you cannot hide from life into the world of ideas and books.
The same idea is confirmed by three biographies that conclude the book and provide the key to understanding the work. The hero of the first, the Servant, the bearer of the spirituality of a primitive tribe among obscurantism, does not humble himself and sacrifices himself so that the spark of truth does not die out. The second, the early Christian hermit Joseph Famulus (Latin for “servant”), is disappointed in his role as a comforter for sinners, but, having met an older confessor, he continues to serve with him. The third hero, Dasa (the “servant”), does not sacrifice himself and does not continue the ministry, but runs into the forest to the old yogi, that is, leaves for his Castalia. It was from such a path that the hero of Hesse Joseph Knecht found the strength to refuse, although it cost him his life.
