The title refers to an ultra-aesthetic game which is played by scholars in the kingdom of Castalia around the year 2400. This game involves all branches of knowledge, and spiritual values - especially those of the east.
Hesse's longing to find a dynamic fusion of mind with nature is set forth more penetratingly in this book than in any other he wrote. Critics have seen in it a late, definitive stage in his thinking influenced by the tragedy of Europe in the Second World War.
