The Man Without Qualities
cover of the first edition of vol. 2
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| Author | Robert Musil |
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| Original title | Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften |
| Country | Austria |
| Language | German (original) |
| Genre | Philosophical novel |
| Publisher | Rowohlt Verlag |
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Publication date
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1930–1943 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 1130 (the core text); 1774 (complete English translation) |
| LC Class | PT2625.U8 M3 |
The Man Without Qualities (1930–43; German: Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften) is an unfinished modernist novel in three volumes and various drafts, by the late Austrian writer Robert Musil. It is typically considered to be one of the most significant European novels of the twentieth century.
The novel is a "story of ideas", which takes place in the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy's last days, and the plot often veers into allegorical dissections on a wide range of existential themes concerning humanity and feelings. It has a particular concern with the values of truth and opinion and how society organizes ideas about life and society, though the book is well over a thousand pages long in its entirety, and so no one single theme dominates.
The first book, entitled A Sort of Introduction, is an introduction to the protagonist, a 32-year-old mathematician named Ulrich who is in search of a sense of life and reality but fails to find it. His ambivalence towards morals and indifference to life has brought him to the state of being "a man without qualities", depending on the outer world to form his character. A kind of keenly analytical passivity is his most typical attitude.
Musil said that it was not particularly difficult to describe Ulrich in his main features. Ulrich himself only knows he is strangely indifferent to all his qualities. Lack of any profound essence and ambiguity as a general attitude to life are his principal characteristics.
Meanwhile, we meet a murderer and rapist, Moosbrugger, who is condemned for his murder of a prostitute. Other protagonists are Ulrich's nymphomaniac mistress, Bonadea, and his friend Walter's neurotic wife, Clarisse, whose refusal to go along with commonplace existence leads to Walter's insanity.
In the second book, Pseudoreality Prevails, Ulrich joins the so-called "Collateral Campaign" or "Parallel Campaign", frantic preparations for a celebration in honor of 70 years of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph's reign. That same year, 1918, the German Emperor Wilhelm II would be ruler of his country for 30 years. This coincidence stirs the Austrian patriots into a fury of action to demonstrate Austria's political, cultural, and philosophical supremacy via a feast which will capture the minds of the Austrian Emperor's subjects and people of the world forever. On that account, many bright ideas and visions are discussed (e.g., The Austrian Year 1918, The World Year 1918, The Austrian Peace Year 1918 or The Austrian World Peace Year 1918).
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