The World as Metaphor in Robert Musil's The Man without Qualities: Possibility as Reality

Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture

by Genese Grill

Robert Musil, known to be a scientific and philosophical thinker, was committed to aesthetics as a process of experimental creation of an ever-shifting reality. Musil wanted, above all, to be a creative writer, and he obsessively engaged in almost endless deferral via variations and metaphoric possibilities in his novel project, The Man without Qualities. This lifelong process of writing is embodied in the unfinished novel by a recurring metaphor of self-generating de-centered circle worlds. The present study analyzes this structure with reference to Musil's concepts of the utopia of the Other Condition, Living and Dead Words, Specific and Non-Specific Emotions, Word Magic, and the Still Life. In contrast to most recent studies of Musil, it concludes that the extratemporal metaphoric experience of the Other Condition does not fail, but rather constitutes the formal and ethical core of Musil's novel. The first study to utilize the Klagenfurter Ausgabe (Klagenfurt edition) of Musil's literary remains (a searchable annotated text), The World as Metaphor offers a close reading of variations and text genesis, shedding light not only on Musil's novel, but also on larger questions about the modernist artist's role and responsibility in consciously re-creating the world.

Table of Contents

Failure to Reconcile as Modernist Success
Circles
Repeatability and Crime
Word Magic
Still (Not) Doing What Isn't Done
Conclusion

216 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2012

Reviews

[Sharon Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genese Grill has written a fascinating exploration of Robert Musil's unfinished novel, The Man Without Qualities. She uses Musil's words and tenderly faithful dispostion (and foibles) to shed light, perhaps, on the universal creative process within all makers - where "The World" is indeed most useful as metaphor. Grill's poignant drawing of Musil circled by his endless rewrites and continuations is the perfect visual counterpoint for her subject. It's an image of a man at prayer. Wrapped in his vortex of vision & devotion, he is also possessed. Enraptured, entranced we see how the bliss of creation cannot be seperate from the suffering. This is a great book, informed by deep intellect & creative insight.