The Confusions of Young Törless
Encyclopedia
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.
novel is ostensibly a Bildungsroman
, a story of a young disoriented man searching for moral values in society and their meaning for him.
The expressionistic
novel, based on Musil's personal experiences at a military boarding school in Hranice (in Austria-Hungary
, now in the Czech Republic)--and written according to Musil
"because of boredom"--started his literary career. In later life, however, Musil denied that the novel was about youthful experiences of his own. Due to its explicit sexual content, the novel at first caused a scandal among the reading public and the authorities of Austria-Hungary
.
Later, various premonitions of fascism
were identified in the text, including the characters of Beineberg and Reiting, who seem to be orderly pupils by day but shamelessly abuse their classmate psychologically, physically and sexually by night.
In 1966 German director Volker Schlöndorff
made the film Der junge Törless
based on the novel.
Törless's moral and sexual confusion leads him to join Beineberg's and Reiting's degradation of Basini; he is both sexually attracted to Basini and Beineberg and repelled by them. He observes and takes part in the torture and rape of Basini while telling himself that he is trying to understand the gap between his rational self and his obscure irrational self; he is a disturbed and despairing observer of his own states of consciousness. Basini, being homosexual, is somewhat complicit in the abuse, as he apparently enjoys the sexual part of Beineberg and Reiting's "expeirments". Beinberg and Reiting compensate for their own shame about their attraction to Basini by debasing him. Basini professes love for Torless and Torless comes to reciprocate somewhat, but ultimately is repelled by Basini's unwillingness to stand up for himself. This disgust with Basini's passivity ultimately leads him to almost off handedly stand up to Beineberg and Reiting. When the torment becomes unbearable, Törless covertly advises Basini to turn himself in to the headmaster as a way out of the situation.
An investigation starts, but the only party to be found guilty is Basini. (In this respect the novel adheres to the 'rules' for stories about bullying at school: the victim has to take the blame and the bullies go unpunished). Törless makes a strange existential speech to the school authorities about the gap between the rational and irrational ("but that after all, things just happen"), which puzzles the authorities more than anything else. They decide he is of too refined an intellect for a military academy, and suggest to his parents that he be privately educated, a conclusion that he comes to on his own.
Other subplots include Törless's experience with the local prostitute Božena, his encounter with his mathematics teacher, and his analysis of his parents' attitudes toward the world.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
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
Robert Musil
Robert Musil was an Austrian writer. His unfinished long novel The Man Without Qualities is generally considered to be one of the most important modernist novels...
, first published in 1906.
Plot introduction
Musil'sRobert Musil
Robert Musil was an Austrian writer. His unfinished long novel The Man Without Qualities is generally considered to be one of the most important modernist novels...
novel is ostensibly a Bildungsroman
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, bildungsroman or coming-of-age story is a literary genre which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood , and in which character change is thus extremely important...
, a story of a young disoriented man searching for moral values in society and their meaning for him.
The expressionistic
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
novel, based on Musil's personal experiences at a military boarding school in Hranice (in Austria-Hungary
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...
, now in the Czech Republic)--and written according to Musil
Robert Musil
Robert Musil was an Austrian writer. His unfinished long novel The Man Without Qualities is generally considered to be one of the most important modernist novels...
"because of boredom"--started his literary career. In later life, however, Musil denied that the novel was about youthful experiences of his own. Due to its explicit sexual content, the novel at first caused a scandal among the reading public and the authorities of Austria-Hungary
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...
.
Later, various premonitions of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
were identified in the text, including the characters of Beineberg and Reiting, who seem to be orderly pupils by day but shamelessly abuse their classmate psychologically, physically and sexually by night.
In 1966 German director Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff is a Berlin-based German filmmaker who has worked in Germany, France and the United States...
made the film Der junge Törless
Young Törless
Young Törless is a 1966 German film directed by Volker Schlöndorff, adapted from the autobiographical novel The Confusions of Young Törless by Robert Musil. It deals with the sadistic and homoerotic tendencies of a group of boys at an Austrian military academy at the beginning of the 20th...
based on the novel.
Plot summary
Three cadets of an Austrian military boarding school, Reiting, Beineberg and Törless, catch their classmate Basini stealing money from one of the three and decide to punish him themselves instead of turning him in to the school authorities. They start abusing him, first physically and then psychologically and sexually, while also blackmailing him by threatening to denounce him. Their abusive treatment of Basini becomes openly sexual and increasingly sadistic; nevertheless, he endures all the torture even when, after being deprived of any dignity, he is discredited by the entire class.Törless's moral and sexual confusion leads him to join Beineberg's and Reiting's degradation of Basini; he is both sexually attracted to Basini and Beineberg and repelled by them. He observes and takes part in the torture and rape of Basini while telling himself that he is trying to understand the gap between his rational self and his obscure irrational self; he is a disturbed and despairing observer of his own states of consciousness. Basini, being homosexual, is somewhat complicit in the abuse, as he apparently enjoys the sexual part of Beineberg and Reiting's "expeirments". Beinberg and Reiting compensate for their own shame about their attraction to Basini by debasing him. Basini professes love for Torless and Torless comes to reciprocate somewhat, but ultimately is repelled by Basini's unwillingness to stand up for himself. This disgust with Basini's passivity ultimately leads him to almost off handedly stand up to Beineberg and Reiting. When the torment becomes unbearable, Törless covertly advises Basini to turn himself in to the headmaster as a way out of the situation.
An investigation starts, but the only party to be found guilty is Basini. (In this respect the novel adheres to the 'rules' for stories about bullying at school: the victim has to take the blame and the bullies go unpunished). Törless makes a strange existential speech to the school authorities about the gap between the rational and irrational ("but that after all, things just happen"), which puzzles the authorities more than anything else. They decide he is of too refined an intellect for a military academy, and suggest to his parents that he be privately educated, a conclusion that he comes to on his own.
Other subplots include Törless's experience with the local prostitute Božena, his encounter with his mathematics teacher, and his analysis of his parents' attitudes toward the world.
Editions and translations
- The Confusions of Young Törless by Robert MusilRobert MusilRobert Musil was an Austrian writer. His unfinished long novel The Man Without Qualities is generally considered to be one of the most important modernist novels...
(Penguin Classics, 2001) ISBN 978-0142180006 – This edition is notable for its introduction by Nobel Prize winning author J.M. Coetzee