The Man Without Qualities

Posted on 25 June 2017 by Robert Musil

Set in Vienna on the eve of World War I, this great novel of ideas tells the story of Ulrich, ex soldier and scientist, seducer and skeptic, who finds himself drafted into the grandiose plans for the 70th jubilee of the Emperor Franz Josef This new translation published in two elegant volumes is the first to present Musil s complete text, including material that remained unpublished during his lifetime. Free Read [ The Man Without Qualities ] By [ Robert Musil ] – kino-fada.fr This book is huge in every respect It is a culmination and at the same time marks a decisive point in my reading life For the books from the same league as this one, the bar is now set quite high.Musil s AshesIn this special case I think I have to say something about the author and the way the book was published The novel remained fragmentary Robert Musil died of a stroke while working on the last part in April 1942 At this time he lived with his wife in exile in Switzerland near Geneva, al This book is huge...This book is widely regarded as a classic The author spent twenty years writing it There are three volumes of which this review is of volume one, the only one that is widely read There are a variety of characters but little plot The main character is 32 year old mathematician who is actually unemployed Like the author, Ulrich was previously a military officer and an engineer and then an unpaid professor Wiki says his indifference to life has brought him to the state of being a man witho This book is widely regarded as a classic The author spent twenty years writing it There are three volumes of which this review is of volume one, the only one that is widely read There are a variety of characters but little plot The main character is 32 year old mathematician who is actually unemployed Like the author, Ulrich was previously a military officer and an engineer and then an unpaid professor Wiki says his indifference to life has brought him to the state of being a man without qualities Ulrich s father thinks he should find some usefulness to his life, so the father uses his political influence to get his son a position on a national committee that is looking to celebrate shortly in 1918 seventy years of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph s reign What is true patriotism, true progress, the true Austria There s much talk of blending Austrian culture with Prussian intellectual discipline It s also an opportunity for th... The Man Without Qualities is an unusual novel More a work of philosophy than fiction, the Socratic interactions of its two dozen or so characters provide the framework for Musil s philosophical investigations These conversations, deep and varied in scope, are the fat formed about the scant bones of the ineffectual Parallel Campaign The philosophical musings are usually quite abstract and esoteric, though sometimes a little understandably absorbed in the specific concerns of the time Noneth The Man Without Qualities is an unusual novel Mo...A comic novel A modern novel A novel of ideas andThis is without a doubt my favorite novel and one that both encapsulates and foreshadows the the development of the modern condition Musil s scientific mind is able to present a humanistic view of the world of Ulrich and the rest of the characters that inhabit this novel Continuously inventive and invigorating for the reader, the writing is so precise and the argument Musil makes about Ulrich and his situation so intricate that it is in A comic novel A modern novel A novel of ideas andThis is without a doubt my favorite novel and one that both encapsulates and foreshadows the the development of the modern condition Musil s scientific mind is able to present a humanistic view of the world of Ulrich and the rest of the characters that inhabit this novel Continuously inventive and invigorating for the reader, the writing is so precise and the argument Musil makes about Ulrich and his situation so intricate that it is intellectually and aesthetically involving even before it becomes emotionally...This is the greatest demonstration of human thought I have ever encountered It demonstrates that the novel can be the best method for deciphering and analysing the human condition and the nature of existence that we have, over and above philosophy, history, politics, psychology, sociology or any other ology you care to mention His range is breathtaking, encompassing the intellect, the erotic and the spiritual, he is funny and at times sublime, and his prose is perfection If you are the kind o This is the greatest demonstration of human thought I have ever encountered It demonstrates that the novel can be the best method for deciphering and analysing the human condition and the nature of existence that we have, over and above philosophy, history, politics, psychology, sociology or any other ology you care to mention His ran...I m not one for superlatives, but this has to be the greatest novel I have ever read, hands down even including the Brother s Karamazov it is almost as if this book carried the former s concerns into the 20th century, evolving them in the process The characters, situations and philosophical discussions have a level of complexity and observational depth that I have never before encountered, and at times I almost found it hard to grasp that such a work could have been written by a single huma...It s all decadence A bottomless pit of intelligenceFirst and foremost, I d like to make it clear that my rating isa reflection of my personal enjoyment of this novel than of its literary merit Musil had a brilliant mind and a startlingly innovative writing style I worship his Confusions of Young T rless Also, the philosophical, psychological, and political analyses contained in this book were nothing if not rigorous, intricate and formidably incisive That said, although I knew goIt s all decadence A bottomless pit of intelligenceFirst and foremost, I d like to make it clear that my rating isa reflection of my personal enjoyment of this novel than of its literary merit Musil had a brilliant mind and a startlingly innovative writing style I worship his Confusions of Young T rless Also, the philosophical, psychological, and political analyses contained in this book were nothing if not rigorous, intricate and formidably incisive That said, although I knew going in that this would be a tremendously long novel of ideas, I seem to have overestimated my attention span for, and ability to appreciate, such a work 1,774 pages of a book that tapered off excruciatingly slowly into a loose bundle of dry, esoteric philosophical discourses just wasn t for me In fact, to be brutally honest, slogging through the latter portion of this book was one of the most interminably tedious reading experiences I ve had in ...This review is for the Picador edition translated by Shophie Wilkins and Burton Pike.I don t know how people found books to read before the internet and Goodreads Goodreads has been recommending me this book for a very long time Finally I ve managed to read it Anyway about the book This is posibilly the most accessible, inspiring, and influential philosophy book that I ve read It s also a novel So it has a plot and characters The book covers many concepts, themes, and ideas Some of the t This review is for the Picador edition translated by Shophie Wilkins and Burton Pike.I don t know how people found books to read before the internet and Goodreads Goodreads has been recommending me this book for a very long time Finally I ve managed to read it Anyway about the book This is posibilly the most accessible, inspiring, and influential philosophy book that I ve read It s also a novel So it has a plot and characters The book covers many concepts, themes, and ideas Some of the themes include morality, experience, truth and opinion There are many allusions to Nietzsche and Dostoevsky Which I got because I ve read many of their books But unfortunately I haven t read enough Goethe to get the allusions to him I ve only actually read Faust Part 1.The book is supposedly incomplete But without giving anything away I found the endingthan adequate Unlike the disappointing ending to other incomplete novels Like The Cas...This is a world masterpiece Musil seems to me everything that Mann isn t Totally engaged with humanity while at the same time a superb, highly nuanced commentator on his society, time and the human condition I ve also picked up the newer translation but hav...Revolutionary views I m afraid I must admit that I m by no means an out and out opponent of revolutionary views Short of an actual revolution, of course Even the outright reactionaries pretend to dig the new until the new starts breaking the old order of things And The Man Without Qualities is groundbreaking in everything and in all directions It practically revolutionises an outlook at the entire existing order of things The hospital aide clothed in lily white, who, with the help of acid Revolutionary views I m afraid I must admit that I m by no means an out and out opponent of revolutionary views Short of an actual revolution, of course Even the outright reactionaries pretend to dig the new until the new starts breaking the old order of things And The Man Without Qualities is groundbreaking in everything and in all directions It practically revolutionises an outlook at the entire existing order of things The hospital aide clothed in lily white, who, with the help of acids, thins ou...

English
25 June 2017

Robert Musil