A fresh and extensive look at the works of the great Austrian novelist in the context of the German and Austrian culture of his time.

A fresh and extensive look at the works of the great Austrian novelist in the context of the German and Austrian culture of his time.

A panel of authors, critics, and academics convened by the Literaturhaus in Munich in 1999 voted Robert Musil'sThe Man without Qualities the most important German novel of the 20th century. Their collective judgment restson strong foundations: on the work's encyclopedic compass, embracing intellectual, social, political, and cultural concerns embodied in themes of striking originality; on its probing of key issues of Austrian and German life fromthe first four decades of the twentieth century; on the brilliance of its language, unsurpassed by any other 20th-century author writing in German. While this Companion givesThe Man without Qualities the central focus it deserves, it also contributes to a deeper understanding of Musil's other significant works; in harnessing a team of established scholars from North America and Europe to the task of providing an assessment of Musil's work, it setsnew standards in scope and originality. The analyses are embedded in an appreciation of the intellectual contexts of Musil's writing, yielding fresh insights into Musil's artistic accomplishment and into his place in the Austrianand German cultural traditions of the 20th century.

Contributors: Philip Payne, Klaus Amann, Galin Tihanov, Matthias Luserke-Jaqui, Silvia Bonacchi, Christian Rogowski, Peter Henninger, Walter Fanta, Karl Corino, GeneseGrill, Burton Pike, Rüdiger Görner

Philip Payne is emeritus Professor of German Studies at Lancaster University, UK; Graham Bartram is retired as Senior Lecturer in German Studies at Lancaster University, UK; and GalinTihanov is the George Steiner Professor of Comparative Literature at Queen Mary University of London, UK.

Introduction: The Symbiosis of Robert Musil's Life and Works - Philip Payne
Robert Musil: Literature and Politics - Klaus Amann
Robert Musil's Diaries: Medium between Life and Literature - Philip Payne
Robert Musil in the Garden of Conservatism - Galin Tihanov
Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß: Adolescent Sexuality, the Authoritarian Mindset, and the Limits of Language - Matthias Luserke-Jaqui
Musil's "Die Vollendung der Liebe": Experience Analyzed and Reconstituted - Sylvia Bonacchi
"Shifts in Emphasis": Robert Musil'sDie Schwärmer and Twentieth-Century Drama - Christian Rogowski
Robert Musil's Novellas in the CollectionDrei Frauen - Peter Henninger
The Genesis ofDer Mann ohne Eigenschaften - Walter Fanta
The Contribution of Biographical Research to the Understanding of Characters and Themes ofDer Mann ohne Eigenschaften - Karl Corino
Figuring Thought in Culture: "Utopia" inDer Mann ohne Eigenschaften from the Perspective ofKulturwissenschaft - Matthias Luserke-Jaqui
The "Other" Musil: Robert Musil and Mysticism - Genese Grill
Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften: Unfinished or without End? - Burton Pike
The "Finale" ofDer Mann ohne Eigenschaften: Competing Editions and the "Telos" of the Narrative - Walter Fanta
"Reception without Qualities": Musil's Impact on Austrian and German Writers after 1945 - Rudiger Gorner
Select Bibliography
Robert Musil's Life: A Chronology - Karl Corino
Notes on the Contributors
Index