The Man Without Qualities Vol. 1: A Sort of Introduction and Pseudo Reality Prevails

In the 1920s and 30s the intellectual world was in ferment. It seems everyone was writing on what was wrong with Western civilization and how to save it. A too little known work in this corpus is Robert Musil’s The Man Without Qualities. It actually could be said to burst out of the genre as it’s as innovative as Joyce and Proust in terms of the novel’s form. Add to that that it’s a postmortem on the Habsburg empire and you have a book that is deservedly considered one the greatest works of the twentieth century. I’ve only read volume I (volume II arrives tomorrow) but I can give an indication as to why it’s so worth reading. Musil was an accomplished essayist in the line of Kraus et alia. What he does in the Man Without Qualities is not only intersperse narrative with philosophical essays, he makes the parts with dialogue and plot into an essay like form. The characters, in the midst of flirting, arguing and planning a festival will include a discussion of ideas that could be right out of Nietzsche. In the first volume, Musil traces the decay of the Enlightenment into the emotionalism of the Romantics allowing for the growth of socialist/nationalist/irrationalist parties who, as we know, eventually overran German speaking lands. His solution, only hinted at in volume I, seems to have been a combination of rationalism with mysticism or unorganized religion. It’s said volume II, left unfinished, lacks the humor, wit and satire of the first. All I can say is that I’m still eager to read it. Musil always thought that he didn’t get the recognition he deserved in his lifetime. I think he would be equally disappointed in his standing now. But despite its titanic length, there’s really no substitute for Musil’s unique style, insights and innovative form. If you can find the time, it’s worth devoting some weeks to giving The Man Without Qualities the appreciation its author so pined after.

Robert Musil's two-volume unfinished novel published in 1952 and 1978 is remarkably relevant to the current Zeitgeist in the United States. The central character Ulrich is a man without qualities, a person indifferent to his middle class position and abilities. But he is described by a friend as consisting of qualities without a man, a cynical poser hiding behind general intellectual and social skills. Ulrich is afforded prescience from beyond "the break" as Musil's contemporary Thomas Mann described the Great War. He realizes the traditional world of art and culture in kingly and bureaucratic Kakania, a fictional city-state in Austria, is on the brink of destruction due to advances of the middle class in commerce and science. All that is needed for the old world to be tipped into the abyss is the identification of a scapegoat by intellectually deficient but charismatic leaders and the mobilization of diverse and self-interested ethnic and national subgroups. This resembles our current `ghost of the time' in America. Ulrich's indifference is made possible by the lifelong efforts of the diplomatic work of his middle class bureaucrat father. The family's financial advantages allow him to begin a career in science, specifically mathematics, with theoretical rather than applied goals. Ulrich has some success as a mathematician, but sees no future in what he perceives as nothing more than a social group of like-minded theorists. As a result of his father's political connections and his own personal charisma, Ulrich is recognized for general intellect and charm by the monarchy and upper middle class in Kakania. He is appointed to a leadership position on a national committee charged with the task of developing a theme, a slogan that will unite Austria in pride during the seventieth jubilee of the Emperor Franz Joseph I. Because of his prescience and cynicism, Ulrich realizes that the group has an impossible task. The future of Austria does not involve celebration of the old, but rather radical social change targeting the Jews as scapegoats and the empowerment of special interest groups within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. We can see the parallels between Kakania, and the United States as we face an economic meltdown and a change of leadership in the White House. We can anticipate the inevitable cycle of change, but who will benefit? What special interest groups will mobilize seeking power? What leaders will gain support in the new era of our undercivilized (Henry James' term) culture: the proponents of humanity and tradition or proponents of Realpolitic based on practicality and power? Musil's novel puts the reader in the unique position of identifying with Ulrich, a self made person without intrinsically valuable qualities, living in a disintegrating nation. If we, like Ulrich, possess superficial and limiting personal qualities and are indifferent to them, we may become more reliant on the intervention and restriction of government in our daily lives. The result may be that we have no enduring and free culture to help us understand and maintain the values of the human person.

This extraordinary book captures the mood of the intelligentsia in pre WWI Vienna: its preoccupations with upholding the class system, its false piety, hypocritical liberal outlook and much more. The main character, Ulrich, cannot attach himself to any particular group, including his own family, but observes it all with the cold eye of disdain. It is the author's eye and his intelligence that brings to life, in prose of rhythmic and sensual vitality, a world too self-preoccupied to notice what was happening nor to sense the ways in which they were contributing to the collapse of the old order.

This is the second volume of the incomplete work by the famed Viennese writer Robert Musil. It is a fidgety novel that expresses inexplicable loneliness and fear. Fear of what? Maybe Hitler and the Holocaust and World War II. Whew!

Ulrich is the son of a wealthy judge/law professor in 1913 Vienna, capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He is 32, good looking, smart, and physically fit. He quit the cavalry after he made a mistake with a higher-up's wife, had a short time as an engineer until he found the things he was working on unfulfilling, and is now a mathematician, though he has lost the desire to prove theorems and is no longer hoping for an academic appointment. He has had numerous affairs with women but none have meant much to him for a long time. He sees through much of the b.s. of his society but goes along, sort of a half-hearted Nietzsche. People are struck by the progress science and technology have made, without a corresponding advance in morality. In fact, many fear that science has emptied life and the universe of meaning. Without anyone realizing, art has crept in to fill the vacuum. The hereditary nobility still have prestige and deference but it seems less organic, more artificial. Ulrich has many, many conversations about these and other weighty topics. The author frequently raises questions and does philosophy, in the broad old-fashioned sense. Lurking in the background are German Idealist philosophy, psychoanalysis, the novels of Dostoevsky, and so much more--some things that are still vital, some now on the dustbin of history. It often seemed that there was more philosophy than narrative. Which makes for a somewhat difficult book, especially as the sentences are often long and involved. Some times I found the cerebration fascinating; other times I couldn't care, or it just didn't seem to make sense (my fault or the book's?). Mixed in is a good deal of humor and satire and sarcasm. And irony, don't forget irony. Some times wickedly entertaining. Some times like an English assignment you wish would go away. If you persevere, you reach page 725--the last page--and nothing is resolved! I feel sure that for Musil that is both realistic and symbolic, but it can also feel unsatisfying.

Musil's masterpiece in its latest English translation. Very hard to describe the marvels of this stupendous work, and in comparing the earlier translation with this one, hard to decide which better represents Musil (not being a native German speaker). They are each of them worth getting and this unique work worth reading and rereading.

Alien visitors from another galaxy? Want them to know what it's like living here? Get this book and its extrapolations.

It took me almost 5 months to read, but I haven't stopped thinking about it since I finished it more than a year ago.

Libro clásico moderno qué hay que leer.

This writing style is enjoyable to read. A loose, free flowing plot ties everything together with clever philosophical and moral insights for everyday life. Must read.