Robert Musil
Encyclopedia
Robert Musil (ˈmuːzɪl or [ˈmuːsɪl]; November 6, 1880 – April 15, 1942) was an Austria
n writer
. His unfinished long novel The Man Without Qualities
is generally considered to be one of the most important modernist
novel
s. However, this novel has not been so widely read because of its delayed publication and also because of the lengthy and intricate plot that foresaw the impending disaster in Europe
after the first world war.
– 1924) and his wife Hermine Bergauer (1853, Linz
– 1924), who lived together with an unrelated "uncle" Heinrich Reiter (born 1856), the houseguest in the Musil family. The elder Musil was an engineer. The family moved to Chomutov until October 1881, and in 1891 he was appointed 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. He was a second cousin of Alois Musil
, the orientalist.
Hermine Bergauer was the daughter of a Bohemian German engineer, Franz (Xaver von) Bergauer (December 3, 1805, Horschowitz – October 11, 1886, Linz).
(1892–1894) and then Hranice, at that time also known as Mährisch Weißkirchen, (1894–1897). These school experiences are reflected in his first novel, Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless (The Confusions of Young Törless
).
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.
Even then, however, Musil was growing tired of engineering and what he perceived as 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 1905, Musil had met Martha Marcovaldi (née Heinemann, January 21, 1874 – November 6, 1949) 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. In the midst of these studies his first novel, Young Törless, was published in 1906.
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") collected in Vereinigungen (Unions) published in 1911. During this same year, Martha's divorce was completed and Musil married her. 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), which was eventually published in 1921.
When World War I
began, Musil joined the Army, stationed first in Tirol
, and then away from danger at Austria's Supreme Army Command in Bozen
Bolzano. In 1916 Musil visited Prague
and met Franz Kafka
, whose work he held in high esteem, as he did the work of Bohemian poet Rainer Maria Rilke
. At the memorial service for Rilke in Berlin, Musil remarked that Rilke was "undervalued" for most of his life, and by the time of his death, he had turned into "a delicate, well-matured liqueur suitable for grown-up ladies", but that his work is "too demanding" to be "considered relaxing". After the war's end, and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Musil returned to his literary career in Vienna. He published a collection of short stories, Drei Frauen (Three Women), in 1924, and then in 1930 and 1933 in Berlin - 1,074-page Volume 1 (Part I: A Sort of Introduction, and Part II: The Like of It Now Happens) and 605-page unfinished Volume 2 (Part III: Into the Millennium (The Criminals)) of his masterpiece, The Man Without Qualities
(Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften). Part III did not include 20 chapters withdrawn from Vol. 2 of 1933 while in printer's galley proofs. 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
.
The Man Without Qualities brought Musil only 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 daily worries and encouraged him to further his literary work, even though Musil was initially critical of Mann.
In the early 1920s Musil lived mostly in Berlin. In Vienna
Musil was a frequent visitor to Eugenie Schwarzwald's
salon (the model for 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
.
The last years of Musil's life were dominated by Nazism
and World War II
: the Nazis banned his books. He saw early Nazism first-hand while living in Berlin from 1931 to 1933. In 1938, when Austria became a part of the Third Reich, Musil and his Jewish wife Martha left for exile in Switzerland, where he died on April 15, 1942. Martha wrote to Franz Theodor Csokor that taking off his clothes in the bathroom, maybe when doing gymnastics or just making a hefty movement, he had been hit by a stroke and, when she found him a few minutes later, did not look dead at all but so alive with some mockery and astonishment on his face. He was 61. Only eight people were present at his cremation. Martha cast his ashes into the woods of Mont Salève. From 1933 until his very last day, Musil was working on Part III of The Man Without Qualities. In 1943 in Lausanne, Martha published a 462-page collection of material from his literary remains including the 20 galley chapters withdrawn from Part III before publishing Vol. 2 in 1933, as well as drafts of the final incomplete chapters and notes on the development and direction of the novel; she died in Rome
in 1949.
, containing extensive selections from unpublished drafts, appeared in 1995.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. His unfinished long novel The Man Without Qualities
The Man Without Qualities
The Man Without Qualities is an unfinished novel in three books by the Austrian writer Robert Musil....
is generally considered to be one of the most important modernist
Modernist literature
Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism, a predominantly European movement beginning in the early 20th century that was characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional aesthetic forms...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s. However, this novel has not been so widely read because of its delayed publication and also because of the lengthy and intricate plot that foresaw the impending disaster in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
after the first world war.
Family
Musil was the son of Alfred Edler von Musil (1846, TemesvárTimisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
– 1924) and his wife Hermine Bergauer (1853, Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
– 1924), who lived together with an unrelated "uncle" Heinrich Reiter (born 1856), the houseguest in the Musil family. The elder Musil was an engineer. The family moved to Chomutov until October 1881, and in 1891 he was appointed to the chair of Mechanical Engineering at the German Technical University in Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
, and awarded a hereditary peerage in the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
shortly before it collapsed. He was a second cousin of Alois Musil
Alois Musil
Alois Musil was an Austro-Hungarian and Czech theologist, orientalist, explorer and writer.Musil was the oldest son born into the family of a poor farmer...
, the orientalist.
Hermine Bergauer was the daughter of a Bohemian German engineer, Franz (Xaver von) Bergauer (December 3, 1805, Horschowitz – October 11, 1886, Linz).
Biography
The young Musil was short in stature, 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 EisenstadtEisenstadt
- Politics :The current mayor of Eisenstadt is Andrea Fraunschiel ÖVP.The district council is composed as follows :* ÖVP: 17 seats* SPÖ: 8 seats* Austrian Green Party: 2 seats* FPÖ: 2 seats- Castles and palaces :...
(1892–1894) and then Hranice, at that time also known as Mährisch Weißkirchen, (1894–1897). These school experiences are reflected in his first novel, Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless (The Confusions of Young Törless
The Confusions of Young Törless
The Confusions of Young 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.-Plot introduction:Musil's novel is ostensibly a Bildungsroman, a story of a young...
).
After graduating as a cadet, Musil briefly studied at a military college in Vienna during the fall of 1897, but then switched to engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, 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
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
, and Ernst Mach
Ernst Mach
Ernst Mach was an Austrian physicist and philosopher, noted for his contributions to physics such as the Mach number and the study of shock waves...
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
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
. During this time he began work on Young Törless.
Even then, however, Musil was growing tired of engineering and what he perceived as 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
Carl Stumpf
Carl Stumpf was a German philosopher and psychologist.Born in Wiesentheid, he studied with Franz Brentano and Hermann Lotze...
. In 1905, Musil had met Martha Marcovaldi (née Heinemann, January 21, 1874 – November 6, 1949) 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. In the midst of these studies his first novel, Young Törless, was published in 1906.
In 1909, Musil completed his doctorate and was offered a position by Professor Alexius Meinong
Alexius Meinong
Alexius Meinong was an Austrian philosopher, a realist known for his unique ontology...
, at the University of Graz
University of Graz
The University of Graz , a university located in Graz, Austria, is the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria....
, 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") collected in Vereinigungen (Unions) published in 1911. During this same year, Martha's divorce was completed and Musil married her. 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), which was eventually published in 1921.
When World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
began, Musil joined the Army, stationed first in Tirol
Tyrol (state)
Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...
, and then away from danger at Austria's Supreme Army Command in Bozen
Bozen
Bozen may refer to:*Bolzano, a bi-lingual northern Italian provincial capital city of which Bozen is the official German name*Bözen, a Swiss municipality*Bożeń, a village in Poland*Bozen Green, a village in Hertfordshire, England...
Bolzano. In 1916 Musil visited Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
and met Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
, whose work he held in high esteem, as he did the work of Bohemian poet Rainer Maria Rilke
Rainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
. At the memorial service for Rilke in Berlin, Musil remarked that Rilke was "undervalued" for most of his life, and by the time of his death, he had turned into "a delicate, well-matured liqueur suitable for grown-up ladies", but that his work is "too demanding" to be "considered relaxing". After the war's end, and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Musil returned to his literary career in Vienna. He published a collection of short stories, Drei Frauen (Three Women), in 1924, and then in 1930 and 1933 in Berlin - 1,074-page Volume 1 (Part I: A Sort of Introduction, and Part II: The Like of It Now Happens) and 605-page unfinished Volume 2 (Part III: Into the Millennium (The Criminals)) of his masterpiece, The Man Without Qualities
The Man Without Qualities
The Man Without Qualities is an unfinished novel in three books by the Austrian writer Robert Musil....
(Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften). Part III did not include 20 chapters withdrawn from Vol. 2 of 1933 while in printer's galley proofs. 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
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
on the eve of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
The Man Without Qualities brought Musil only mediocre commercial success. Though he was nominated for the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
, he felt he did not receive the recognition he deserved. He sometimes expressed annoyance at the success of more famous colleagues like Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
or Hermann Broch
Hermann Broch
Hermann Broch was a 20th century Austrian writer, considered one of the major Modernists.-Life:Broch was born in Vienna to a prosperous Jewish family and worked for some time in his family's factory, though he maintained his literary interests privately...
, who admired his work deeply, and, moved by his material poverty, tried to shield him against daily worries and encouraged him to further his literary work, even though Musil was initially critical of Mann.
In the early 1920s Musil lived mostly in Berlin. In Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
Musil was a frequent visitor to Eugenie Schwarzwald's
Eugenie Schwarzwald
Eugenie Schwarzwald, née Nußbaum, was born June 4, 1872, in Polupanovka, near Ternopil, in Austria-Hungary and died on August 7, 1940, in Zurich. She was an Austrian philanthropist, writer and pedagogue developing and supporting education for girls in Austria...
salon (the model for Diotima
Diotima of Mantinea
Diotima of Mantinea is a female seer who plays an important role in Plato's Symposium. Her ideas are the origin of the concept of Platonic love. Since the only source concerning her is Plato, it is uncertain whether she was a real historical personage or merely a fictional creation...
in The Man Without Qualities). In 1932, the Robert Musil Society was founded in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
on the initiative of Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
. The same year Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
was asked to name an eminent contemporary novel and he cited exclusively The Man Without Qualities. In 1936, Musil had his first stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
.
The last years of Musil's life were dominated by Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
: the Nazis banned his books. He saw early Nazism first-hand while living in Berlin from 1931 to 1933. In 1938, when Austria became a part of the Third Reich, Musil and his Jewish wife Martha left for exile in Switzerland, where he died on April 15, 1942. Martha wrote to Franz Theodor Csokor that taking off his clothes in the bathroom, maybe when doing gymnastics or just making a hefty movement, he had been hit by a stroke and, when she found him a few minutes later, did not look dead at all but so alive with some mockery and astonishment on his face. He was 61. Only eight people were present at his cremation. Martha cast his ashes into the woods of Mont Salève. From 1933 until his very last day, Musil was working on Part III of The Man Without Qualities. In 1943 in Lausanne, Martha published a 462-page collection of material from his literary remains including the 20 galley chapters withdrawn from Part III before publishing Vol. 2 in 1933, as well as drafts of the final incomplete chapters and notes on the development and direction of the novel; she died in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 1949.
Legacy
After his death Musil's work was almost forgotten in German-speaking countries. His writings began to reappear during the early 1950s. The first translation of The Man Without Qualities in English was published by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins in 1953, 1954 and 1960. An updated translation by Sophie Wilkins and Burton PikeBurton Pike
Burton Pike is professor emeritus of comparative literature and Germanic languages and literature at the CUNY Graduate Center. He received his Ph. D from Harvard University, and has also taught at the University of Hamburg, Cornell University, and Queens College and Hunter College of the City...
, containing extensive selections from unpublished drafts, appeared in 1995.
Timeline
- 1880 November 6, Robert Musil born in Klagenfurt. Father Engineer Alfred Musil, mother Hermine.
- 1881–1882 The Musils move to Komotau, Bohemia.
- 1882–1891 The Musils move to Steyr (Oberöstereich). Robert attends the Volksschule and the first grade of the Realgymnasium.
- 1891–1892 Moves to Brunn. Attends the RealschuleRealschuleThe Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
. - 1892–1894 Attends the Militär-Unterrealschule in Eisenstadt.
- 1894–1897 Attends the Militär-Oberrealschule in Mährisch-Weisskirchen (the present-day Hranice in the Czech Republic) During his working with artileries Musil discovers his interest in technique.
- 1897 Attends the Technische Militärakademie in Vienna.
- 1898–1901 Quits officer training and starts studies at the Technical University of Brunn. His father had been a professor there since 1890. First literary attempt, and first diary notations.
- 1901 PhD exams.
- 1901–1902 Musil enlists in the infantry regiment of Freiherr von Hess Nr. 49 in Brunn
- 1902–1903 Moves to Stuttgart to work at the University. Works on his first novel Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless
- 1903–1908 Takes up a philosophy study; his majors are "logic and experimental psychology".
- 1905 In his diaries he makes the first notes that will eventually lead to Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften.
- 1906 Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Torless is published. Developed an apparatus to research colour experience in people.
- 1908 Beiträge zur Beurteilung der Lehren Machs is the title of his doctoral thesis with which he promotes in philosophy, natural science and mathematics. Declines an offer to upgrade his last military rank to an equal civilian rank in favour of writing.
- 1908–1910 Works in Berlin as an editor for the magazine Pan and on his Vereinigungen and Die Schwärmer.
- 1911–1914 Librarian at the Technical University of Vienna.
- 1911 On April 15 Musil marries Martha Marcovaldi. Vereinigungen is published.
- 1912–1914 Editor for several literary magazines, including Die Neue Rundschau.
- 1914–1918 During World War I, Musil is officer at the Italian front. Decorated several times.
- 1916–1917 July–April: publishes the "Soldaten-Zeitung".
- 1917 On October 22, Alfred Musil ennobled. This nobility is hereditary, so Robert Musil also belonged to the nobility until it was abolished less than two years later.
- 1918 Takes up writing again.
- 1919–1920 Works for the Information Service of the Austrian foreign department in Vienna.
- 1920 April–June: lives in Berlin. Meets Ernest Rowohlt who will become, in 1923, his publisher and will remain so.
- 1920–1922 Adviser for army matters in Vienna.
- 1921–1931 Works as theater critic, essayist and writer in Vienna. Works on Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften.
- 1921 The play Die Schwärmer is published.
- 1923–1929 Is vice-president of Schutzverbandes deutscher Schriftsteller in Östereich. Meets Hugo von HofmannsthalHugo von HofmannsthalHugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal ; , was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.-Early life:...
, who is president of the foundation. - 1923 Awarded the Kleist PrizeKleist PrizeThe Kleist Prize is an annual German literature prize. The prize was first awarded in 1912, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Heinrich von Kleist. The Kleist Prize was the most important literary award of the Weimar Republic, but was discontinued in 1933.In 1985 the prize...
for Die Schwärmer. On December 4 Vinzenz und die Freundin bedeutender Männer is premiered in Berlin. - 1924 On January 24 his mother and on October 1 his father die. Awarded the art prize of the city of Vienna. Drei Frauen is published.
- 1927 Holds a speech on the occasion on the death of Rainer Maria RilkeRainer Maria RilkeRené Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
in Berlin. - 1929 April 4 premiere of Die Schwärmer. In spite of protests by Musil, the play is shortened and therefore incomprehensible, according to Musil. In the autumn awarded the Gerhart HauptmannGerhart HauptmannGerhart Hauptmann was a German dramatist and novelist who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912.-Life and work:...
award. - 1930 The first two parts of Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften are published. In spite of critical support, the financial situation is precarious.
- 1931–1933 Lives and works in Berlin.
- 1932 Foundation of a Musil-Gesellschaft by Kurt Glaser in Berlin. The foundation aims to provide Musil with the means necessary to continue working on his novel. At the end of the year the third part of Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften is published.
- 1933 In May Musil leaves Berlin, with his wife Martha. Via Karlsbad and Schloss Pottenstein (Potstejn) they eventually reach Vienna.
- 1934–1938 After the dismantling of the Berlin Musil-Gesellschaft, a new one is founded in Vienna.
- 1935 Lecture for the Internationalen Schriftstellerkongress für die Verteidigung der Kultur" in Paris.
- 1936 Publishes his collection of thoughts, observations and stories Nachlass zu Lebzeiten. Suffers a stroke.
- 1938 Via Northern Italy Musil and his wife flee to Zürich. Two days after their arrival, on September 4, they are having tea at Thomas Mann's home in Küsnacht.
- 1939 In July moves to Geneva. Musil continues to work on his novel under the worst financial circumstances, and grows lonelier with exile. Thanks to the Zürich vicar Robert Lejeune, Musil receives some financial support, including from the American couple Henry Hall and Barbara Church. In Germany and Austria Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften and Nachlaß zu Lebzeiten are banned and this ban is extended to all of his works in 1941.
- 1942 April 15, Musil dies in Geneva.
- 1943 Martha Musil publishes the unfinished remains of Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften on her own account.
- 1952–1957 Adolf Frisé publishes the complete works of Robert Musil at Rowohlt.
Further reading
- McBride, Patrizia C. The Void of Ethics: Robert Musil and the Experience of Modernity. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 2006.
- Philip Payne, Graham Bartram and Galin Tihanov (eds), A Companion to the Works of Robert Musil (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2007).
- B. PikeBurton PikeBurton Pike is professor emeritus of comparative literature and Germanic languages and literature at the CUNY Graduate Center. He received his Ph. D from Harvard University, and has also taught at the University of Hamburg, Cornell University, and Queens College and Hunter College of the City...
, Robert Musil: An Introduction to His Work, Kennikat Press, 1961, reissued 1972. - Thomas Sebastian, The Intersection оf Science And Literature in Musil's 'The Man Without (Rochester, NY: Camden House. 2005).