This article or section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help improve this article or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since June 2006. (help, talk)

Robert Musil (November 6, 1880, Klagenfurt, Austria – April 15, 1942, Geneva, Switzerland) was an Austrian writer. His unfinished long novel The Man Without Qualities (in German, Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften) is one of the most important modernist novels. Image File history File links Information_icon. ... November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 55 days remaining. ... 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Lindwurm Brunnen in the center of Klagenfurt Klagenfurt (Slovenian Celovec) is the capital of the federal state of Carinthia (German Kärnten; Slovenian Koróška), in Austria, on the Glan river. ... April 15 is the 105th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (106th in leap years). ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Geneva (pronunciation //; French: Genève //, German:   //, Italian: Ginevra) is the second most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich), and is the most populous city of Romandy (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). ... The term writer can apply to anyone who creates a written work, but the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... The Man without Qualities (German original title: Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften) is a novel in three books by the Austrian novelist and essayist Robert Musil. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative in prose. ...

The novel deals with the moral and intellectual decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire through the eyes of the book's protagonist Ulrich, an ex-mathematician who has failed to engage with the world around him in a manner that would allow him to possess 'qualities'. It is set in Vienna on the eve of World War I. Musil served as an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army at the front between 1914 - 1918. Official languages Latin, German, Hungarian Established church Roman Catholic Capital & Largest City Vienna pop. ... Inhabitants according to official census figures: 1800 to 2005 Vienna in 1858 Vienna (German: Wien ) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire France Italy Russia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul... The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ...

Biography

Musil was the son of Alfred Musil (1846-1924) and his wife Hermine (1853-1924), who lived together with an unrelated "uncle" Heinrich Reiter (b. 1856). The elder Musil was an engineer, appointed in 1891 to the chair of Mechanical Engineering at the German Technical University in Brno, and awarded a hereditary peerage in the Austro-Hungarian empire shortly before it collapsed. The younger Musil was a bit short, but strong and skilled at wrestling, and by his early teens already more than his parents could handle. Accordingly they sent him to military boarding school at Eisenstadt (1892-1894) and then Mährisch-Weisskirchen (1894-1897). These school experiences are reflected in his first novel, Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless (The Confusions of Young Törless). Brno ( ) (IPA: ) (Czech: Brno) (German: Brünn) is the second largest city in the Czech Republic. ... Eisenstadt (Hungarian Kismarton, Croatian Željezno) is a city in Austria, the state capital of Burgenland. ... Hranice na MoravÄ› (German: Weißkirchen, Mährisch Weißkirchen) is a city in Moravia, Czech Republic. ... The Confusions of Young Törless (German original title: Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless), the title of the novel is sometimes translated as Young Törless or Young Torless, is the literary debut of the Austrian novelist and essayist Robert Musil, first published in 1906. ...

After graduating as a cadet, Musil briefly studied at a military college in Vienna during the fall of 1897, but then switched to engineering, joining his father's department at Brno. During his college career he studied engineering by day, but at night read literature and philosophy, and went to the theater and art exhibits. Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Ernst Mach were particular interests of his college years. Musil finished his studies in three years, then in 1902-1903 served as an unpaid assistant to Professor Julius Carl von Bach, in Stuttgart. During this time he began work on Young Törless. Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 - August 25, 1900) was a highly influential German philosopher. ... Fyodor Dostoevsky. ... Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American author, poet, and philosopher. ... Ernst Mach Ernst Mach (February 18, 1838 – February 19, 1916) was an Austrian-Czech physicist and philosopher and is the namesake for the Mach number and the optical illusion known as Mach bands. ... Stuttgart [], located in southern Germany, is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg with a population of approximately 590,000 (as of September 2005) in the city and around 3 million in the metropolitan area. ...

Even then, however, Musil was growing tired with engineering and the limited worldview of engineers, and rather than settle into an engineering career, he launched a new round of doctoral studies (1903-1908) in psychology and philosophy at the University of Berlin under the renowned Professor Carl Stumpf. In the midst of these studies, Young Törless, his first novel was published in 1906. Even before this, in 1905, Musil had met Martha Marcovaldi (January 21, 1874 - November 6, 1880) who was in subsequent years to become his wife. She had already been widowed and remarried, with two children, and was seven years older than Musil. There is no institution called the University of Berlin, but there are four universities in Berlin, Germany: Humboldt University of Berlin (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) Technical University of Berlin (Technische Universität Berlin) Free University of Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin) Berlin University of the Arts (Universität der... Carl Stumpf (21 April 1848 - 25 December 1936) was a philosopher and psychologist. ...

In 1909, Musil completed his doctorate and was offered a position by Professor Alexius Meinong, at the University of Graz, which he turned down to concentrate on literature. Over the next two years, he wrote and published two stories ("The Temptation of Quiet Veronica" and "The Perfecting of a Love") in a book entitled Vereinigungen (Unions) in 1911. During this same year, Martha's divorce was complete, and she and Musil married. Until this time, Musil had been supported by his family, but he now found employment first as a librarian in the Technical University of Vienna, and then in an editorial role with the Berlin Literary Journal, during which time he worked on a play entitled Die Schwärmer (The Enthusiasts), eventually published in 1921. Alexius Meinong (July 17, 1853 - November 27, 1920) was an Austrian philosopher. ... University of Graz The University of Graz (German, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz), a university located in Graz, Austria, is the second-largest university in Austria. ... Vienna University of Technology is one of the major universities in Vienna, the capital of Austria. ...

When World War I began, Musil joined the Army, first stationed in the South Tyrol, and then away from danger at Austria's Supreme Army Command in Bolzano. In 1916 Musil came to Prague and met Franz Kafka whose work he highly esteemed, as he did the work of Bohemian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. After the war's end, and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Musil returned to a fulltime literary life in Vienna. He published a collection of short stories, Drei Frauen (Three Women), in 1924, and then in 1930 and 1932 the first two volumes of his masterpiece, Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (The Man Without Qualities). Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire France Italy Russia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul... Bolzano (Italian: Bolzano, German: Bozen, Ladin: Bulsan, ; Note that many of the Italian dialects and Rhaeto-Romance languages in the area use Bulsan) is a city in the Trentino-South Tyrol region of Italy. ... Prague (Czech: Praha (IPA: ), see also other names) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. ... Kafka at the age of five Franz Kafka (IPA: ) (July 3, 1883 – June 3, 1924) was one of the major German-language novelists and short story writers of the 20th century, whose unique body of writing — much of it incomplete, and published posthumously despite his wish that it be destroyed... Rainer Maria Rilke in a portrait by Paula Modersohn-Becker Rainer Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926) is generally considered the German languages greatest 20th century poet. ... Official languages Latin, German, Hungarian Established church Roman Catholic Capital & Largest City Vienna pop. ... The Man without Qualities (German original title: Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften) is a novel in three books by the Austrian novelist and essayist Robert Musil. ...

In the early 20s Musil lived mostly in Berlin. In Vienna Musil was a frequent visitor of Eugenie Schwarzwald's salon (the model of Diotima in The Man Without Qualities). In 1932 The Robert Musil Society was founded in Berlin on the initiative of Thomas Mann. The same year Thomas Mann was asked to name an eminent contemporary novel and he cited exclusively The Man Without Qualities. In 1936 Musil had his first stroke. Inhabitants according to official census figures: 1800 to 2005 Vienna in 1858 Vienna (German: Wien ) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... Eugenie Schwarzwald, nee Nußbaum (June 4, 1872 in Polupanovka in former Austria-Hungary, present Ukraine – August 7, 1940 in Zurich) was Austrian philanthropist, writer and pedagogue developing and supporting Austrian girl education. ... Berlin is the capital city and one of the sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... Paul Thomas Mann (June 6, 1875 – August 12, 1955) was a German novelist, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate, lauded principally for a series of highly symbolic and often ironic epic novels and mid-length stories, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and intellectual. ... Paul Thomas Mann (June 6, 1875 – August 12, 1955) was a German novelist, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate, lauded principally for a series of highly symbolic and often ironic epic novels and mid-length stories, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and intellectual. ...

The last years of Musil's life were dominated by Nazism and World War II. He saw early Nazism first-hand during 1931-1933 in a stay in Berlin, and later, when Austria became a part of the Third Reich in 1938, Musil left for exile in Switzerland, where he died of a stroke on April 15, 1942, Musil collapsed in the middle of his gymnastic exercises and is rumoured to have died with an expression of ironic amusement on his face. He was 61. National Socialism redirects here. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... April 15 is the 105th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (106th in leap years). ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ...

There were only eight people present at his funeral. His widow cast his ashes into the Rhône. Martha Musil died in 1949 in Rome. 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... Nickname: The Eternal City Motto: SPQR: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1,500 km²  (580 sq mi...

After his death Musil's work was almost forgotten in German speaking countries. His writings started to reappear at the beginning of the 1950s. The first translation of The Man Without Qualities in English was also published around then. An improved translation, containing extensive selections from unpublished drafts, appeared in 1995.

Trivia

Thomas Mann (1875), Hermann Hesse (1877), Robert Walser (1878), Robert Musil (1880), Franz Kafka (1883), Hermann Broch (1886) were of the same literary generation. James Joyce was born in the same period, in 1882, and died a year before Musil, both far from their native countries in Switzerland. Paul Thomas Mann (June 6, 1875 – August 12, 1955) was a German novelist, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate, lauded principally for a series of highly symbolic and often ironic epic novels and mid-length stories, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and intellectual. ... 1875 (MDCCCLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Hermann Hesse in 1927 Hermann Hesse (pronounced ) (2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-born poet, novelist, and painter who became a Swiss citizen. ... 1877 (MDCCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Robert Walser (April 15, 1878 near Biel/Bienne, Switzerland – December 25, 1956 near Herisau, Switzerland), was a German-speaking Swiss writer. ... 1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Kafka at the age of five Franz Kafka (IPA: ) (July 3, 1883 – June 3, 1924) was one of the major German-language novelists and short story writers of the 20th century, whose unique body of writing — much of it incomplete, and published posthumously despite his wish that it be destroyed... 1883 (MDCCCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Hermann Broch (November 1, 1886 - May 30, 1951) was a 20th century Austrian writer, considered one of the major Modernists. ... 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Friday (click on link to calendar) // Events January 18 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England. ... James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (Irish Seamus Seoighe; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish writer and poet, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. ... 1882 (MDCCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar. ...

The Man Without Qualities only brought Musil mediocre commercial success. Though he was nominated for the Nobel Prize, he felt he did not receive the recognition he deserved. He sometimes expressed annoyance at the success of more famous colleagues like Thomas Mann, or Hermann Broch, who admired his work deeply and, moved by his material poverty, tried to shield him against quotidian worries and encouraged him to further his literary work, even though Musil was initially critical of Mann. The Man without Qualities (German original title: Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften) is a novel in three books by the Austrian novelist and essayist Robert Musil. ... Nobel Prize medal. ...

Bibliography

• Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß (The Confusions of Young Torless, 1906), later made into a movie Der junge Törless
• Vereinigungen (1911)
• Die Schwärmer (1921)
• Vinzenz und die Freundin bedeutender Männer (1924)
• Drei Frauen (1924) (Five Women - a collection of five short stories)
• Nachlaß zu Lebzeiten (1936) (Posthumous Papers of a Living Author - a collection of short prose pieces)
• Über die Dummheit (1937)
• Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (The Man Without Qualities, 1930, 1933, 1943, published in two volumes)

The Confusions of Young Törless (German original title: Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless), the title of the novel is sometimes translated as Young Törless or Young Torless, is the literary debut of the Austrian novelist and essayist Robert Musil, first published in 1906. ... Der junge Törless - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The Man without Qualities (German original title: Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften) is a novel in three books by the Austrian novelist and essayist Robert Musil. ...

External links

• Comprehensive site in Dutch and English
• The website of the Robert Musil Literature Museum