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Le api di vetro
Una vita futura in cui autorità e tecnologia siano alleate nell'affermare un dominio assoluto sull'uomo: è stato questo uno dei grandi temi letterari nel secolo che volge alla fine; e l'attualità di libri come 1984 e Il mondo nuovo è forse nella possibilità, nella probabilità, nel segreto timore che l'avverarsi della predizione sia solo rinviato. Tra i capolavori di questa...more
Paperback, Prosa contemporanea, 248 pages
Published
1993
by Guanda
(first published 1957)
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Dec 25, 2011
AC
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fascism,
novels-german-writers
What a book! Nothing like what the blurbs would have led me to think…!!
When I began this book the other day, I had expected it to be a quick read (though short, it is not really quick at all… in the best sense of that fact); mildly interesting (not gripping, as I found it to be); a narrative account of some future dystopia, a sort of second-rate Brave New World (though that book is itself decidedly already third-rate, fair to speak)…. none of which was true.
This fascinating book is a prolonged m...more
When I began this book the other day, I had expected it to be a quick read (though short, it is not really quick at all… in the best sense of that fact); mildly interesting (not gripping, as I found it to be); a narrative account of some future dystopia, a sort of second-rate Brave New World (though that book is itself decidedly already third-rate, fair to speak)…. none of which was true.
This fascinating book is a prolonged m...more
A dystopian novel about the advent of micro-sized robots by an Italian inventor who must keep his unruly staff placated and happy if he is to continue to be a Steve Jobs-like commercial success. The prose is lean, uncluttered. Very short sentences. Captain Richard is looking for work and finds it--somehow--at the very high-tech factory of the robot manufacturer, Zapparoni. This man, an entrepreneur, has revolutionized modern life with his robots. Nothing is done as it once was for his robots hav...more
Feb 26, 2008
Mike
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
fans of Philosophy, Vonnegut and German Lit.
Shelves:
50-books-2008
If one ascribes to the notion that the self is created in the act of autobiography, then many of the sections of Junger's books will make perfect sense. Storm of Steel, his memoir regarding his service in WWI, has cast a long shadow in his later works, most of which are seen through the lens of a soldier. Along with this, however, is his concept of the "anarch" as an autonymous entity within a situation. Captain Richard, the narrator of The Glass Bees, is just this: a combination of soldier and...more
A simple, futuristic story with little in the way of plot. Nearly the entire story takes place in the mind of one man while he is being interviewed for a job. In the future, pretty much everything can be automated, including bees, all though the story clearly illustrates that all though automatons may be more efficient, they aren't necessarily better. A common enough theme, but a short novel that exemplifies that notion.
The plot is simple and straightforward: Captain Richard, an ex-cavalryman and tank inspector, is unemployed and destitute. He desperately needs a job to support his wife, Teresa. A former comrade-in-arms, Twinnings, offers him a morally ambiguous, though lucrative position working for an incredibly wealthy and powerful man named Giacomo Zapparoni who has revolutionized the technological industry through his invention of small automatons. Richard agrees to meet with him for an interview.
Like othe...more
Like othe...more
i'd been meaning to read this for ten years, ever since the nyrb re-released it. everyone talking about it as a lost dystopian masterpiece along the lines of 1984 and brave new world and all that. of course a couple pages in i suddenly remembered that i don't like 1984 or brave new world, so what am i doing? and how come i'm not just re-reading We again instead? i don't know.
anyway, this is a story about a guy who goes to a job interview and stands in his employer's garden and sees some things....more
anyway, this is a story about a guy who goes to a job interview and stands in his employer's garden and sees some things....more
An amazing work of speculative fiction. Not much of a narrative, but the theme of technology gone awry hits pretty home in today's world. The idea of mechanical animals being used to spy or kill is pretty current with what I've heard about some of the latest drone-like designs, there was an article in NY Review a year or so ago about just that, supposedly inventors and engineers are studying animals to come up with the best structures to move and survive in difficult/enemy terrain. The concept o...more
Ernst Jünger was born in 1895, died in 1998, fought for Germany in both wars, and in the years between saw, experienced, and wrote a LOT.
The Glass Bees is one of his fiction works centering on a job interview between former cavalryman Richard and technological overlord and visionary Zapparoni; in true Jünger form, Richard goes through plenty of reminiscence and philosophizing, which at times slows the pace of the book to a point where I wasn't sure Jünger was going to salvage his story. The bigg...more
The Glass Bees is one of his fiction works centering on a job interview between former cavalryman Richard and technological overlord and visionary Zapparoni; in true Jünger form, Richard goes through plenty of reminiscence and philosophizing, which at times slows the pace of the book to a point where I wasn't sure Jünger was going to salvage his story. The bigg...more
A strange mix of science fiction and existentialist philosophy. This book makes clear that striving for human perfection is incompatible with technological perfection because we need more than that which we can make sense of. In to this mix we have a main character trying to make sense of his place in the world and reminiscing about 'a more human' past.
The science fiction is pretty cool for a book written in 1957 - nanotechnology, wireless applications and an evil technocrat whose motives we ca...more
A short novel of great weight concerning technology's effect on man and nature. Essentially, it is very critical of how industrialism overthrew the traditional world with its heroic calvary charges and less hurried life.
It concerns an unemployed former calvary officer on the brink of poverty living in what resembles a high-tech Weimar Republic. He laments the passing of the age of the horse and wishes for simpler times. His cadet school friend gives him an opportunity to interview with Giacomo...more
It concerns an unemployed former calvary officer on the brink of poverty living in what resembles a high-tech Weimar Republic. He laments the passing of the age of the horse and wishes for simpler times. His cadet school friend gives him an opportunity to interview with Giacomo...more
This review contains plot spoilers.
Ernst Junger is best-known for his “In Stahlgewittern” (“Storm of Steel”), a literary account of the time he spent serving in World War I. Almost four decades later in 1957, he published this novel, one of the dozens he wrote during his life, and one of the better pieces of dystopian fiction I’ve read. The translation by Louise Bogan deserves special praise for its effortlessness and attention to detail. So often translating pieces like this can produce somethi...more
Ernst Junger is best-known for his “In Stahlgewittern” (“Storm of Steel”), a literary account of the time he spent serving in World War I. Almost four decades later in 1957, he published this novel, one of the dozens he wrote during his life, and one of the better pieces of dystopian fiction I’ve read. The translation by Louise Bogan deserves special praise for its effortlessness and attention to detail. So often translating pieces like this can produce somethi...more
This short strange tale follows an ex-cavalry officer trying to get a job at an automaton factory. While other reviews suggest this novel is science fiction (though closer in fact to the fantastic of Hoffman or Felisberto) marred by seemingly pointless autobiographical-style and often Proustian digressions from the narrator, I actually found this conflict of genres to be integral to the tale. Given that its main theme is the conflict between a classical humanistic worldview and an alienated tech...more
I found this book to be exceedingly boring. There's barely any plot, and most of the filler is not very interesting. However, there are a few sprinklings of brilliance like the description of the bees and the fingers. Those are jaw dropping and way ahead of their time! But other than those brilliant images and omens, the book isn't very interesting and never really progresses anywhere.
Ernst Jünger´s remarkably prophetic book from 1950 contains uncanny visions of the internet, virtual reality, nanotechnology, computer animation and viruses, Bill Gates/Steve Jobs type figures.
It also illustrates the intrinsic incompatibility of perfecting technology and perfecting humanity. As the author explains, we must choose one or the other - then we do cleaner work either way.
It also illustrates the intrinsic incompatibility of perfecting technology and perfecting humanity. As the author explains, we must choose one or the other - then we do cleaner work either way.
Actually a sci-fi-novel, written in a creepy and somewhat unaccessible manner, yet fascinating. Also noteworthy because 1) Jünger has done acid and 2) was still handsome at age 100.
I found this book a bit of a shame - the character of Captain Richard and his inability to keep up with the ever more dystopian future that was unfolding around his was deep and intriguing and as many other reviewers have pointed out, the science fiction in this book is fascinatingly spot-on in its' vision of the future. That said, I felt the protagonist's introspection and self-loathing just a little too much to stomach and was hoping for a Willy-Wonka style character in Zapparoni but was left...more
Wow. Jünger's prescience, vis-à-vis technology, entertainment, and power is striking-- all with calm weirdness thrown in just to keep you on your toes.
Aug 18, 2008
Adam
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
horror-disguised-as-literature
Glass Bees is made of old man grumbling(wasn’t war awesome when we fought on horseback instead of tanks), memoirs of a veteran, creepy horror story, a pessimistic meditation on an increasingly mechanized surveillance society, and in the end a celebration of human relationships that may or may not make it all worthwhile. The good outruns the bad in this book and the ideas on technology outstrips most sci/fi by non-genre authors(nanotech in 1960) and the idea of a company that provides entertainme...more
excellent book! i was fascinated b the glass bees description and asked my son to listen to it and draw them for me.
An excellent short novel, as well wrought as the glass bees in the title.
Not bad but not as good as Storm of Steel in my opinion.
Extraordinarily slow, but remarkably prescient.
Crazy, prescient stuff!
1957. from Fritz Wesner.
3.5
Jan 31, 2012
Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction
I really enjoyed the first half or so of this. But the end was a slight letdown. I was expecting a big dystopic reveal, and an unhappy ending, but this never really happened. Recommended for people who enjoy dystopias and want to see a little bit of the history of the form. This made me a little bit wistful and nostalgic for the time when books didn't have to be massive doorstoppers, when they could be light literally and metaphorically.
pretty awesome paranoiac sci-fi from a dude who fought on both sides of the first world war. Perhaps the most prescient novel I have ever read.
An odd book involving a man mesmerized by glass bees.
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German writer. In addition to his many novels, he is well known for Storm of Steel, an account of his experience during the First World War.
Many regard him as one of Germany's greatest modern writers and a hero of the conservative revolutionary movement following World War I. Others dismiss him as a militarist or reactionary.
More about Ernst Jünger...
Many regard him as one of Germany's greatest modern writers and a hero of the conservative revolutionary movement following World War I. Others dismiss him as a militarist or reactionary.
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“Today only the person who no longer believes in a happy ending, only he who has consciously renounced it, is able to live. A happy century does not exist; but there are moments of happiness, and there is freedom in the moment.”
—
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“I came to realize that one single human being, comprehended in his depth, who gives generously from the treasures of his heart, bestows on us more riches than Caesar or Alexander could ever conquer. Here is our kingdom, the best of monarchies, the best republic. Here is our garden, our happiness.”
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Dec 26, 2011 12:16pm