Short stories by a modernist master, the author of The Man Without Qualities. Extravagant, sensual, mystical, and autobiographical, these stories by Robert Musil are, as Frank Kermode has written, "elaborate attempts to use fiction for its true purposes, the discovery and regeneration of the human world." V. S. Pritchett wrote, "In his descriptions of love affairs and especially in the portraits of women in love, Musil is truly original; in managing...
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Contemporary Fiction Humanities Literary Literature Literature & Fiction Short StoriesThe first two stories are reminiscent of Ambrose Bierce, if you like(ed) those, 'In the Midst of Life' would be a good place to start. The third story, Tonka betrays his influences (Kafka and Nietzsche in particular) quite subtly and are a delight to chance upon since they are done better than your average derivative paraphrast is usually able to accomplish. #4 will test the patience, but its resolution as predictable it may...
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Musil's great gift as a writer was to be scientifically precise about ineffable states of mind, and the stories in Three Women (1924) display his talent for creating an atmosphere of metaphysical tension or 'float' out of unremarkable situations with little inherent drama. Not much happens on the surface in these stories, but Musil infuses the not-happening with so much significance that the meaning of humanity's life on earth...
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Robert Musil is not read much anymore; if he is known at all, it is usually through his monumental work, "The Man Without Qualities" - a piece comparable to both Joyce's "Ulysses" and Mann's "The Magic Mountain" in its complexity and elusiveness. Among the modernists, Musil is noted for his attempt to bring a sort of "mysticism" to the problems and philosophies of society; he was interested in the cacaphony of ideas which...
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