I. Introduction
On these pages you will find excerpts from and essays on the works of Robert Musil.
In the excerpts section, in time, you will find excerpts from all his major literary works. They are included here for enjoyment and serve as an example to the many psychological, philosophical and aesthetical themes Musil includes in his works.
The articles I have gathered here come from several sources and are also meant to be an introduction to Musil and his work. Each of the here presented writings essays to place Musil in a broader literary, historical, philosophical or psychological context. The source of these writings is diverse: some come from the internet, whilst others come from older, out-of-print books. Most will be in English, some in German.
Also included is a by no means complete bibliography. A lot of what is written on Musil is no longer available or only in libraries, or literary magazines. A good starting point for finding literature on the writings of Musil are University Libraries. The titles I have listed here are personal choices: I think that these books give good introductions to the many facets of Musil 's work.
A note to English readers: some of the essays gathered on this site are in German. They are very worthwhile, but also rather difficult. You really need to be a German major. You may contact me if you need any help with them, although I will not translate them.
After every title the amount of Kilobytes of every excerpt/essays is mentioned. This does not say much of the quality of the essay. But as a general rule, the longer the article, the more philosophical the contents. The 'Movere' essay by Hermann Sileitsch is in itself 144k, but with footnotes and 'literaturverzeichnis' it adds up to around 200k.
Enjoy what you will find here. Additions and comments are always appreciated.
Copyright information can be found here.
^ topII. Excerpts
This sections contains some excerpts of the works of Musil. Only a few texts will be complete, because of copyright issues. German and English texts are mixed.
Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Torleß
Eine Episode dieser Zeit war für das charakteristisch, ..... (16k)
Young Törless
Introduction of Törless (4k)
Complete text (361k)
Vereinigungen
Die Vollendung der Liebe (12k)
Posthumous papers of a living author
Die Amsel (44k)
The Blacbird (17k)
Black Magic (9k)
Der Mann Ohhe Eigenschaften
General Stumm dringt in die Staatsbibliothek ein (20k)
Es läßt sich verstehen, daß ein Ingenieur in seiner Besonderheit ..... (9k)
The Man Without Qualities
If there is a sense of reality, there must also be a sense of possibility. (8k)
There, in Kakania, that misunderstood State that has since vanished (16k)
Some excerpts from the translation of Burton Pike/Sophie Wilkins. (14k) ^ top
III. Essays
From the New York Review of Books
On the Edge of Revelation - J.M. Coetzee (21k)
On (the English translation of) 'Three Women'.
Death and the Dichter - John Bayley (27k)
On Musil as Dichter and 'Vereinigungen'.
The Man of Many Qualities - J M Coetzee (40k)
On (the English translation of) Musils' diaries.
Other Sources
The Unfinished - George Steiner (26k)
Musil as writer and thinker. Mainly about Man Without Qualities
This article was snailmailed by Karen Dawson.
The Hovering Life - William H. Gass(53k)
- On the Man Without Qualities.
Read the reaction by prof. Philip H. Beard (7k)
The restoration of The Man without Qualities - Harvey Pekar (9k)
A review of the English translation by Alfred A. Knopf
Modernity Laid Bare - Virgil Newmoianu (9k)
The same, with emphasis on the historical context
The Monstrous Novel - Frederik Tygstrup (47k)
On the so-called unreadable novels by Joyce, Proust, Musil.
German texts
For German readers: there are some good essays to be found at www.hausarbeiten.de. Search for the Musil keyword, and quite a few essays will be shown. None of them will be used for this site.
Fragen nach Musil - Adolf Frisé (22k)
Stichworte zu seiner Biogragphie. On Musil and his characters.
Kundera's appreciation of The Man Without Qualities.
Eine Zeit ohne Eigenschaften - Harmut Böhme (69k)
Robert Musil und die Posthistoire.
Ordnung Und Möglichkeit - Thomas Pekar (25k)
Robert Musils 'Möglichkeitssinn' als Poetologisches Prinzip.
'Movere' als Motiv - Hermann Sileitsch (147k)
Zur Topik und Motivik von Robert Musils Die Vollendung der Liebe.
IV. Bibliography
I am still working on the bibliography. Please wait ........1906 Die Verwirrungen des Zögling Törleß, (Wiener Verlag)
1911 Vereinigungen. Zwei Erzählungen, (Georg Müller)
1921 Die Schwärmer. Schauspiel in drei Aufzügen, (Sibyllen-Verlag)
1923 Grigia. Novelle. (Georg Müller)
1923 Die Portugiesin. (Rowohlt)
1924 Drei Frauen. Novellen. (Rowohlt)
1926 Vinzenz und die Freundin bedeutender Männer. Possen in drei Akten. (Rowohlt)
1927 Rede zur Rilke Feier in Berlin am 16. Januar (Rowohlt)
1930 Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften Roman, Buch Einz, 1. und 2. Teil.(Rowohlt)
1933 Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften. Roman, Buch Einz, 3. Teil (Rowohlt)
1937 Über die Dummheit. Vortrag. (Bermann-Fischer)
1943 Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften. Roman, from the posthumous papers. (Martha Musil)
1977 Tagebücher
1981 Briefe