In fact, The Man Without Qualities is one of the peaks of European modernist literature, along with Joyce’s Ulysses and Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, though with its own distinct character.įirst and foremost, it is a novel where the ‘plot’ largely provides the riverbank down which the river can flow-fortunate with a work that, despite its considerable length, is unfinished! This may explain why it is less known, less read and less championed than its more famous peers, but those who do take the trouble to dive in are astonished. Part satire, part visionary epic, part intellectual tour de force, it is a work of immeasurable importance. At the centre of this social labyrinth is Ulrich: a veteran, a seducer and a scientist, yet also a man 'without qualities' and therefore a brilliant and detached observer of his changing world.Ī classic of the 20th century, Robert Musil’s The Man Without Qualities ( Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften) is endlessly thought-provoking, insightful and stimulating. In 1913, the Viennese aristocracy is gathering to celebrate the 17th jubilee of the accession of Emperor Franz Josef, even as the Austro-Hungarian Empire is collapsing and the rest of Vienna is showing signs of rebellion.
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