Truths often go undiscovered due to ones inability to grasp the big picture, especially when that picture is scaled as large as the earth itself. To help us recommend your next book, tell us what you enjoy reading. Jan 05, 2016 the glass bees is a novel about captain richard, a retired cavalrymanturnedtankinspector. The glass bees is part blade runner and part charlie and the chocolate factory. The glass bees is an interesting, even fascinating book. Buy the glass bees by professor ernst junger, louise bogan translator, elizabeth mayer translator online at alibris.
The german author ernst junger born 1895 was one of the most original and influential german writers and intellectuals of the 20th century. The lists included the usual references to moby dick, huckleberry finn, and the bible, but one list included the glass bees by ernst junger. I have already shared many stories pertaining to my time in that city, but there is one that i have been keeping in reserve. The glass bees is a short, dense philosophical novel about an old cavalryman, richard, in need of moneybecause his life has been marred by an evil star. Jungers first book, storm of steel, provided a graphic account of his experiences. The glass bees is one of his works that gained popularity in those years. Free shipping and pickup in store on eligible orders. What must contemporaries have thought of this highly provocative book when it was published. Nov 26, 2009 the glass bees ernst junger 1957 does it seem possible for someone to make out the greater picture, the universe of a book, after reading only a few fragments from it.
Sep 30, 2000 the glass bees is an interesting, even fascinating book. Junger kept his distance from the nazis, and his 1939 novel on the marble cliffs. At the age of 16 he ran away from school and enlisted in the foreign legion. But zapparoni is worried that the scientists he depends on might sell his secrets. Recent reissues of the glass bees nyrb, 2000 and of jungers most famous work storm of steel penguin modern classics, 2004 indicate that he is not just read on the continent. I enjoyed reading about ernst junger s vision of a dystopian future in the glass bees. In the light of his perspective, which stereoscopically comprises the surfaces and depths of things, the world i knew took on a new, translucent splendor.
The glass bees by ernst juenger, louise bogan, elizabeth mayer and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. All the systems which explain so precisely why the world is as it is and why it can never be otherwise, have always called forth in me the same kind of uneasiness one has when face to face with the regulations displayed under the glaring lights of a prison cell. The novel follows two days in the life of captain richard, an unemployed excavalryman who feels lost in a world that has become more technologically advanced and impersonal. May 29, 2009 nationalism aside, the book is clearly about junger, not about germany, and jungers depiction of the war simultaneously displays an extraordinary level detachment for someone who lived in the face of death for four years and a highly personalized account of the war where battle is first and foremost about the assertion of ones own will. Glaserne bienen, of a future in which an automated machinedriven world threatens individualism, could be seen as science fiction. I was pleased to see the blog highlight ernst jungers storm of steel in davids book club. The glass bees by ernst junger penguin books australia. It is a great book and id like to suggest another book of junger s his 1957 novel called the glass bees. Glaserne bienen is a 1957 science fiction novel written by german author ernst junger. I welcome questions, comments, or concerns about the material contained in this video. Radiance is the perfect term to express the influence that ernst jungers literary work and personality have had on me. The book focuses on the job interview between richard, the former cavalryman, and zapparoni, who is a technological visionary and overload.
The glass bees is a short, dense philosophical novel about an old cavalryman, richard, in need of moneybecause his life has been marred by. The story follows a narrator who gets a job offer at zapparoni works, run by a wealthy man responsible for the growing use of luxury and other types. Today only the person who no longer believes in a happy ending, only he who has consciously renounced it, is able to live. Whatever the answer, i chose to use the glass bees as a testing ground. Like a lot of german authors, he writes in the romantischpathetisch style that translates into english rather clumsily, and makes frequent, somewhat rambling digressions. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Quintilian on ernst jungers the glass bees counter. It isnt necessarily an easy one to read, but then again, ernst junger isnt known for his light touch with a pen. Ernst junger 18951998 was born in heidelberg and early on developed a fascination with war. A sensitive poet with training in botany and zoology, as well as a soldier, his works in general are infused with tremendous details of the natural world.
Richard accepts a job interview at zapparoni works, a company that designs and manufactures robots including. Ernst junger was born on march 29, 1895, in heidelberg, the son of a druggist. Conversations with ernst junger eridanos library new york, n. In the glass bees the celebrated german writer ernst junger presents a disconcerting vision of the future. Ernst junger 18951998, the son of a chemist and phar macist, was. Mar 25, 2020 ernst junger, german novelist and essayist, an ardent militarist who was one of the most complex and contradictory figures in 20thcentury german literature. Junger seems to have been ahead of his time when thinking about the impact of technology on the human race.
Buy the paperback book the glass bees by ernst junger at indigo. Indeed, my idea of them was derived mainly from the glitter of their movements as seen in the sunlight. Hes been offered an interview for a job working for zapparoni, a technology magnate who embodies the zeitgeist of modernity perfectly, and is depicted almost as a synthesis of walt disney and steve jobs, only infinitely cooler. The name ernst junger 18951998 is not one that springs readily to the mind of the average genre science fiction reader. He participated in world wars fighting for germany. The glass bees by professor ernst junger, louise bogan. Zapparoni, a brilliant businessman, has turned his advanced understanding of technology and his strategic command of the information and entertainment industries into a. As a teenager, he ran away to join the french foreign legion, then enlisted in the german army of the first day of world war i. Unfortunately, its less a novel than a tract masquerading as a theres some remarkable prescience in this 1957 science fiction title by ernst junger, most well known for storm of steel, his memoir of wwi trench warfare. Junger joined the french foreign legion in 19, but his father had him brought back to germany.
Zapparoni, a brilliant businessman, has turned his a. For reasons unknown to me, i am attracted to any book with the word bees or honey in the title, but the fact that the protagonist captain richard was a german veteran also caught my interest. And for reasons as ambivalent as jungers own life, this is, of course, a period of history that never fails to fascinate. I was pleased to see the blog highlight ernst junger s storm of steel in davids book club. The introduction offered the idea that contemporaries didnt really get it. When the creature i now watched hovered before the blossom of a convolvulus whose calyx it tapped with a tong shaped like a glass probe, it was almost invisible. It is a great book and id like to suggest another book of jungers his 1957 novel called the glass bees. Zapparoni, a brilliant businessman, has turned his advanced understanding of technology and his strategic command of the information and entertainment industries into a discrete form of global domination. Sep 23, 2012 the topics discussed in this new book from black front press include junger and national bolshevism, ernst junger and the endtimes, ernst junger.
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