Man Without Qualities, Volume 1

Man Without Qualities, Volume 1 | Robert Musil

so-so

Vol 1, 775 pgs, completed

An unfinished novel of ideas. Musil used satire on Austria before WWI to pursue rapidly changing values & lost foundations, his art/rational divide, and desire. He started in 1920, published these 1st 2 parts in 1930; but to a changed world. It‘s difficult & slow. It gets better as it goes, but I never found it gripping. I imagine I‘ll appreciate it more down the road. But for now I‘m happy I made it through.

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Graywacke

Man Without Qualities, Volume 1 | Robert Musil

A snapshot of cultural irrationalism, circa 1930. Happy Sunday.

Hanna-B Makes my brain hurt 2y

Graywacke @Hanna-B out of context, it is a very difficult quote to grasp. Sorry. All his stuff is. But in his mindset, it becomes very clear. 2y

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Graywacke

Man Without Qualities, Volume 1 | Robert Musil

Tagged
Hmm - plotless classic?
Yes and no. It‘s a little difficult to get into and I waver. But it‘s better now, 500 pages (and six weeks?) in than anytime earlier.
#currentlyreading
#littenswanttoknow
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I hope you like it!! 2y

Graywacke @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks me too! I hope it turns out worth it. 2y

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Graywacke

Man Without Qualities, Volume 1 | Robert Musil

“But we know the picture art presents today. Fragmentation everywhere; extremes without connections. Stendhal, Balzac, and Flaubert have already created the epic of the new mechanized social and inner life, while the demonic substrata of our lives have been laid bare by Dostoyevsky, Strindberg, and Freud. We who live today have a deep sense that there is nothing left for us to do.”

—-

Does art still mainly present “fragmentation everywhere”?

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Graywacke

Man Without Qualities, Volume 1 | Robert Musil

Quite a chapter title. So, it‘s funny and obnoxiously arrogant. It would be a good title for the book and also assure no one would read it today. Fucking dead white men. Also it opens the best chapter in the book for me. I‘m finally getting something out of this messy thing. It‘s here he says, “When a man (sic) is in the process of thinking, there is no way to catch the moment between the personal and impersonal” Part of what I think I‘m 👇

Graywacke grasping here is the lack of feeling in thought, that inspiration is nothing special, but just a mind calculus, plain thinking doing plain thinking. I‘m not saying I agree or got that right. But it‘s interesting because he‘s looking into the meaning or meaningless of soul (or maybe heart and soul) and the compromises we make removing ourselves from such a thing. 👇 2y

Graywacke Earlier he said, “a soul.
What is that? It is easy to define negatively: it is simply that which sneaks off at the mention of algebraic series.
But positively? It seems successfully to elude every effort to pin it down.” 2y

Graywacke Anyway, not sure I‘m making sense (or even that he is), but I‘m happy to be reading again and to have a little moment and some heat on the little 🧠 thingy. 2y

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Liz_M Good to see you have some concentration back! I wish you a continuing improvement. 2y

Graywacke @Liz_M thanks! 2y

vivastory Are all of the chapter titles imaginative? The impression I get of this is an unwieldy version of Remembrance of Things Past, def messy & sprawling as you said. Will tackle it one day. 2y

batsy This is definitely capturing my intention! That chapter title feels a bit like Nietzsche crossed with Dostoevsky 🙂 2y

Hanna-B I tried this one years ago 🙉 2y

Graywacke @vivastory yes, on chapter titles, although this one stands out. 🙂 I‘ve read the 1st two of Proust and this is quite different to me. All philosophy underneath, using the end of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. More like Dostoyevsky‘s underground man, but in many short episodes. 2y

Graywacke @batsy you got that from this chapter title?! You are really spot on. The book is underneath largely a dialogue with philosophers, mainly German - which leaves me floating is missing references. Nietzsche comes up a lot. Other Germans. Dostoyevsky too occasionally (and see my comment to Vivastory.) I have avoided straight philosophy in my reading and have not read Nietzsche - so it makes it an awkward fit for me. 😁 2y

Graywacke @Hanna-B it‘s work, no? I feel like, 125 pages in (!!) I‘m finally finding a place to tune in. 80 pages i was ready to quit. 2y

Hanna-B So much work, I didn‘t manage to decipher any story the times I tried. I‘ve always felt that was my shortcoming 2y

Graywacke @Hanna-B I think if a writer demands we go into their mindset, without offering something to make us want to…it‘s not our shortcoming. 🙂 (unless you have a term paper due) (in concept I think the more we put in, the more we get out. In reality I‘m very lazy. Sorry dear authors. 🤷🏻‍♂️) 2y

batsy @Graywacke I haven't read much Nietzsche, either, just excerpts. The title just gave me Ecce Homo vibes (which I haven't read, but the chapter titles are pretty great). 2y

Hanna-B Well said. There needs to be a hook. I don‘t mind a challenging read (well pre Covid), but there needs to be rewards on the way. 2y

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Graywacke

Man Without Qualities, Volume 1 | Robert Musil

Joy of isolation means that sometimes it‘s hard not to read. Another book started. This one a very slow 800-page classic. And it‘s only volume I.

(I didn‘t mean the thumb in the eye, but my dedicated isolation 🐈‍⬛ only held his silly pose a moment. So it will have to be.)

Bklover Hmmm.. I‘ve not heard of this one. Will check it out. Keep us posted on your progress! 2y

batsy I've heard so much about this and I will attempt to get to it ... Someday 😅 Look forward to your thoughts/posts. 2y

Graywacke @Bklover @batsy The only review I have ever read about this (other than one existing Litsy post I read yesterday) is from Beowulf on the Beach - Jack Murnighan‘s selection of the “50 greatest hits”. I‘ve been following his list for over ten years. So far this is really thoughtful and really slow. Think Dostoyevsky‘s underground man - but sane. I like it, but not sure I 800-pages like it (or 1000 more pages in V2 like it).

Beowulf on the Beach

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batsy @Graywacke I haven't heard of Beowulf on the Beach I think, so thank you for bringing it my way! "Dostoevsky's Underground Man but sane" is a pretty compelling blurb ? 2y

Graywacke @batsy i only worry when the Underground Man himself begins to sound sane. 🙂 (it happened to me once. I was worried about myself! 😟) 2y

Graywacke @batsy Murnighan is fun, light. But I liked his list because it seemed manageable and thorough enough for me. 50 is more digestible than 1000. 2y

batsy @Graywacke Yes, it is! It seems more manageable to cover the essentials, as such, in a manageable way and then branch out where our interests take us. 2y

Graywacke @batsy i decided somewhere along the line to spend each year on two authors from his - chronologically working from the oldest (bible) and newest (Cormac McCarthy). So my 25 yr plan. ☺️ But what‘s weird is i‘ve stuck with thai dorky plan for 10+ years. I only abandoned Thomas Pynchon (but after reading V and Gravity‘s Rainbow). It‘s been really rewarding. The only problem is the Victorian authors are very far away. 2y

Graywacke @batsy but the idea is I take two works from the 50 and put a year into those author, including those works. I‘m not recommending this, for the record. 😁But I try to make it fun. The year I did Homer, i read lots of Greek plays and other ancient Greek stuff, for example. It was my best theme. I‘m still sad we don‘t really have any Sappho, that it was all lost. 2y

batsy As I've said before, I admire the time you put into delving into an author's works. I think it's the best way to read the important stuff. The 6 months I spent in a seminar studying Ulysses comes to mind! If only we didn't have to deal with the inconvenient stuff, like time and mortality 🤧 2y

Graywacke @batsy yes, these two things are very unkind to reading planning. ☹️ 2y

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Leftcoastzen

Man Without Qualities, Volume 1 | Robert Musil

Happy Birthday to Robert Musil born Nov.6th, 1880 .He kept writing on the same book for years the link above is to vol 1 of 3 , a newer translation.I read this first volume years ago , was obsessed with finding back in the day.I should try to tackle the newer translation, all 3 volumes.Seems very significant but not much talked about. https://unherd.com/2020/09/the-last-gasps-of-a-european-empire/

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