Robert musil

Robert Musil (6 November 1880 in Klagenfurt - 15 April 1942 in Geneva) was an Austrian writer, author of The Man Without Qualities.

Biography

The son of a family of lower nobility, as a child he was admitted to the military school in Eisenstadt (1892 to 1894), from where he went to the military institute for young officers Mährish-Weisskirchen in Hranice (1894-1897). He left the academy to enter the Brno High School, where he graduated as an engineer (1898-1901).

His doctoral thesis, which he read in 1908, dealt with the theories of the physicist Ernst Mach. He also studied logic and experimental psychology at the University of Berlin (1903-1908). He taught engineering while writing his first novel The Trials of Student Törless, a harsh depiction of adolescent life at a military college. The success of this work encouraged him to leave teaching and combine his work in Berlin as a librarian and editor of the magazine Die neue Rundschau (1914), with the writing of two short novels about love relationships, Unions (1911).

He served in the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Army during World War I (1914-1918). He later became a civil servant in the new Republic of Austria, between 1919 and 1922, before devoting himself entirely to writing. He published a book of short stories, Three Women, in 1924.

Except for two more years in Berlin (1931–1933), he lived in Vienna until the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany in 1938, at which time he went into exile in Switzerland, partly because of the origin of his wife Marthe Marcovaldi, whom he had married in 1911, partly because of his visceral political and ideological opposition. He died in Geneva, with great financial difficulties, in 1942.

In that last period he wrote two volumes of The Man Without Qualities (1930–1943), based on a 1905 draft.

Works

Ed. original

Postal by Franz Kafka to Robert Musil, February 27, 1914

• Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß (1906), Rowohlt The Tribulations of the student Törless
• Vereinigungen (1911), Rowohlt. Unions
• Die Schwärmer (1921), Rowohlt. The hallucinated
• Vinzenz und die Freundin bedeutender Männer (1924), Rowohlt. Vincent or the friend of important men
• Drei Frauen (1924) Rowohlt. Three women
• Nachlaß zu Lebzeiten (1936) Rowohlt. Papers written in life
• Über die Dummheit (1937), Rowohlt. About stupidity
• Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften1942 Rowohlt. The man without attributes
• Tagebücher, Journals
• Brief, 1901-1942Rowohlt. Letters
• Zur Beurteilung der Lehren MachsRowohlt, 1980.

Spanish editions

Robert Musil Literatur Museum

• The Extravials of the College Törless, Reader Circle, 2004 ISBN 978-84-672-0265-6
• The hallucinated, Barral Editors, 1970, ISBN 978-84-211-0007-3
• About stupidity, Abada Editors, 2007 ISBN 978-84-96258-99-0
• The man without attributes, Seix Barral, 2007 ISBN 978-84-322-2774-5
• Unions, Seix Barral, 1995 ISBN 978-84-322-3128-5
• Tests and conferences , A. Machado Libros, 1992 ISBN 978-84-7774-548-8
• Journals, New Bolsillo Editions, 2004 ISBN 978-84-9793-507-4
• Three womenSeix Barral, 1992 ISBN 978-84-322-3100-1
• Early process and posthumous works published in life, Sexto Piso España, 2007 ISBN 978-84-96867-00-0
• About stupidity, bid & co. editor, 2010 ISBN 978-980-6741-99-7

References

• W. Berghahn, Robert MusilRowohlt, 1972
• Juan García Ponce, The Millennial KingdomPre-Textos, 1979.
• Elías Canetti, The Eyes GameAlliance, 1990.
• Claudio Magris, The Clarisse ringEdicions 62, 1993.
• Claudio Magris, Il mito absburgicoEinaudi, 1996.
• Claudio Magris, Dietro got parole.Garzanti, 2002.
• The Man of the Century [1]
• Oliver Pfohlmann, Robert MusilRowohlt, 2012
• Frédéric Joly, Robert Musil, tout réinventerSeuil, 2015.

Movie adaptations

In 1966, director Volker Schlöndorff made Young Törless, an adaptation of the novel that Musil had written 60 years earlier. It was his first film, after having been an assistant to directors such as Resnais, Malle and Melville. This film received the FIPRESCI award at the Cannes Film Festival as well as the German Film Awards for best film, screenplay and director.