The Glass Bees (New York Review Books Classics) [Paperback]

The plot is very simple. Captain Richard, an aging war veteran, is given a job interview by the "great Zapparoni" (who is sort of mixture between Walt Disney and Rupert Murdoch). Richard, despite having no short amount of noblisse oblige (nurtured in an earlier, more noble era) nevertheless has cultivated an identity based on failure, largely resulting from being out of step with the current age. He is a man caught between two worlds - he cannot bear to destroy himself even in lieu of the pointlessness of modern existence, yet is unwilling to sacrifice himself to the new technological gods, who demand little more than technical efficiency and blind obedience at the expense of human perfection.

When I was reading this novel, I was reminded of Spengler's introduction to _The Decline of the West_, in which he differentiated between "men of action" and "men of contemplation". Men of action, Spengler said, are the logical result of the particular era they live in (sadly, the figures of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush probably exemplify our own era.) Richard, on the other hand, is a man of contemplation, if perhaps not a great one. He paradoxically realizes that he is trapped in circumstances beyond his control while the "men of action" - who can do little but mirror the values of the modern age - do not stop even for a second to consider anything at all.

Richard knows that Zapparoni, who has built an empire based upon animatronic robots, is little more than the logical product of his age. Richard must come to terms with Zapparoni - who is less a figure than a representation of the modern industrial age. It is a world where "efficiency" and predictable order take precedence over any mere human interest, and "progress" is little more than the continual play of technological novelty.

Richard realizes that no reads Herodotus any more; he pontificates on the nature of the man who is infinitely adaptible. In a telling scene, a former horseman and comrade-in-arms is now a petty bureaucrat in the public transportation system of his city, and elicits little more than disdain for their old days in the army.

I won't give the conclusion away, but the end result isn't a happy one - and it will doubtlessly not sit well with those of us who simply "do what we have to do to get by" in lieu of overwhelming feelings of powerlessness and anomie that characterize the modern age (even as Americans possess the highest standard of living of any people in the history of planet.) This novel poses many questions: to what degree do we limit the possibility of human perfection by striving for technical perfection? Is it possible for the person inherently out of touch with the values of the modern age to find meaning in existence? And most importantly: do human values have any place in the modern era at all?

In the end, I believe Junger has created perhaps the most succinct testimony to modern spiritual death yet written.

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. I had read many books, articles, etc. by and about U.S. soldiers and veterans, but had not read anything by or about German veterans and I wanted to know more. Also, at the time I discovered THE GLASS BEES the newspapers were filled with articles about unemployed Vietnam veterans, so the fact that Captian Richard was also unemployed further intrigued me.

Now I don't like science fiction, but, by the time I realized THE GLASS BEES was science fiction (at least it was when the book was written), I found myself hooked on a book I would never have gone out of my way to read, about things I did not want to know. I am a gardener, and I love nature, but this book presents a terrifying look into a world anyone who loves nature will abhor.

THE GLASS BEES is about the war technological forces are waging against nature. Have you read THE MACHINE IN THE GARDEN by Leo Marx? This is the next step. Forget the locomotive engine crashing through the underbrush, the technology in this book makes the locomotive engine look positively benign. Siegfried Mandel wrote in a New York Times review that THE GLASS BEES presents "scenes as harrowing and thought-disturbing as any created by Karel Capek, George Orwell or Aldous Huxley."

When Junger wrote THE GLASS BEES he was aware of the tecnological improvisations of the Nazis including the crematoriums and rockets. The Nuremburg trials had uncovered one scientific horror after another. Junger could foresee the future when capitalistic forces would rule and everything would be artificial. Unfortunately, he was a prophet. Today our food, houses, clothing, medicines, you name it are all artificial. And, we are ruled by a dozen international corporations.

THE GLASS BEES is one of the top ten books I have ever read and it ought to be mandatory reading for high school students. I think of Junger's book everyday. And, just in case I might forget, over my patio, next to the wind chimes, I've hung a glass bee.