The Atlantic
"A fantastic, tightly compressed novel. . .a wonderfully provocative fusion of fiction and philosophy."


Book Description
In The Glass Bees the celebrated German writer Ernst Juenger presents a disconcerting vision of the future. Zapparoni, a brilliant businessman, has turned his advanced understanding of technology, and strategic command of the information and entertainment industries, into a discrete, and seemingly benign, form of global domination. But Zapparoni is worried that the scientists he depends on might take his secrets to a rival. He needs a chief of security, and Richard, a veteran and war hero who has fallen on hard times, is ready. But when Richard arrives at the beautiful country compound that is Zapparoni's headquarters, he finds himself subjected to an unexpected ordeal--one for which nothing he has ever known has prepared him. Soon he is led to question his past, his character, and even his senses. When The Glass Bees was first published in 1960, Juenger's German critics dismissed the book's vision of the future as without contemporary relevance. Today, however, that future seems something very much like the present we now know.


Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

SYNOPSIS

In The Glass Bees the celebrated German writer Ernst J￯﾿ﾽnger presents a disconcerting vision of the future. Zapparoni, a brilliant businessman, has turned his advanced understanding of technology, and strategic command of the information and entertainment industries, into a discrete, and seemingly benign, form of global domination. But Zapparoni is worried that the scientists he depends on might take his secrets to a rival. He needs a chief of security, and Richard, a veteran and war hero who has fallen on hard times, is ready. But when Richard arrives at the beautiful country compound that is Zapparoni￯﾿ﾽs headquarters, he finds himself subjected to an unexpected ordeal--one for which nothing he has ever known has prepared him. Soon he is led to question his past, his character, and even his senses. When The Glass Bees was first published in 1960, J￯﾿ﾽnger￯﾿ﾽs German critics dismissed the book￯﾿ﾽs vision of the future as without contemporary relevance. Today, however, that future seems something very much like the present we now know.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ernst J￯﾿ﾽnger (1895-1998) was born in Heidelberg. He served in the German military as a cavalry officer during World War I, receiving his country￯﾿ﾽs highest military honor, and then wrote a graphic account of the war in his first book, In the Storm of Steel. His 1939 novel, On the Marble Cliffs, was an allegory about the destructive nature of Hitler￯﾿ﾽs rule. One of the most remarkable as well as controversial of modern German novelists, J￯﾿ﾽnger was the recipient of many literary prizes and continued a prolific career as a writer and public figure until his death at the age of 103.

FROM THE CRITICS

San Francisco Chronicle

Jünger's language shimmers with icily brilliant cynicism. He masters a style as hard and transparent as the insects of the story￯﾿ﾽs title.

The Atlantic