Editing Robert Musil

{{Short description|Austrian philosophical writer (1880–1942)}}
{{For|the American journalist and lyricist|Robert Musel}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
|name  = Robert Musil
|image = Musil.jpg
|caption    = 
|pseudonym   = 
|birth_date  = {{birth date|df=yes|1880|11|6}} 
|birth_place = [[Klagenfurt]], [[Austria-Hungary]]
|death_date  = {{death date and age|df=yes|1942|4|15|1880|11|6}}
|death_place = [[Geneva]], Switzerland
|alma_mater = [[Brno University of Technology]]<br>[[University of Berlin]]
|occupation  = Novelist, short story writer, playwright
|period = 1905–1942
|subject  = 
|movement = [[Modernism]]
|notable_works = ''[[The Confusions of Young Törless]]''  <br> ''[[The Man Without Qualities]]''
|signature = Robert Musil Signature.svg
|website   = 
}}

'''Robert Musil''' ({{IPA|de-AT|ˈroːbɛrt ˈmuːzɪl|lang}}; 6 November 1880 – 15 April 1942) was an [[Austria]]n philosophical writer. His unfinished novel, ''[[The Man Without Qualities]]'' ({{langx|de|link=no|Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften}}), is generally considered to be one of the most important and influential [[modernist novel]]s.

==Family==
Musil was born in Klagenfurt, [[Carinthia (state)| Carinthia]], the son of engineer Alfred ''Edler'' Musil (1846, Temeswar/[[Timișoara]] – 1924) and his wife Hermine Bergauer (1853, [[Linz]] – 1924). The [[Oriental studies|orientalist]] [[Alois Musil]] ("The Czech [[Lawrence Of Arabia|Lawrence]]") was his second cousin.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.virtualvienna.net/main/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=299&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 |title=Virtual Vienna Net – The Great Austrian Writer Robert Musil |publisher=Virtualvienna.net |date=15 April 1942 |access-date=10 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617054722/http://www.virtualvienna.net/main/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=299&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 |archive-date=17 June 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Soon after his birth, the family moved to Komotau/[[Chomutov]] in [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemia]], and in 1891 Musil's father was appointed to the chair of Mechanical Engineering at the [[German Technical University in Brno| German Technical University in Brünn/Brno]] and, later, he was raised to hereditary nobility in the [[Austria-Hungary |Austro-Hungarian Empire]]. He was baptized ''Robert Mathias Musil'' and his name was officially ''Robert Mathias Edler von Musil'' from 22 October 1917, when his father was ennobled (made ''[[Edler]]''), until 3 April 1919, when the use of noble titles was [[Austrian nobility#Abolition of nobility in 1919|forbidden in Austria]].

==Early life==
[[File:Robert Musil, pamětní deska, Brno.JPG|right|thumb|Commemorative plaque in [[Brno]]]]
Musil was short in stature, but strong and skilled at wrestling, and by his early teens, he proved to be more than his parents could handle. They sent him to a military boarding school at [[Eisenstadt]] (1892–1894) and then [[Hranice (Přerov District)|Hranice]] (1894–1897). The school experiences are reflected in his first novel ''Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless'' (''[[The Confusions of Young Törless]]'').

==Youth and studies==
After graduation Musil studied at a military academy in Vienna during the fall of 1897, but then switched to mechanical engineering, joining his father's department at the [[Brno University of Technology]]. During his university studies, he studied [[engineering]] by day, and at night, read [[literature]] and [[philosophy]] and went to the theatre and art exhibitions. [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]], [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], and [[Ernst Mach]] were particular interests of his university years.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thiher |first=Allen |title=Understanding Robert Musil |publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press |year=2009 |isbn= |pages=2–3}}</ref> Musil finished his studies in three years and, in 1902–1903, served as an unpaid assistant to Professor of Mechanical Engineering {{Interlanguage link|Carl von Bach|de}}, in [[Stuttgart]]. During that time, he began work on ''[[The Confusions of Young Törless|Young Törless]]''.

He also invented {{Interlanguage link|Musilscher Farbkreisel|de|3=Musilscher Farbkreisel}}, the Musil [[Color triangle|color top]], a motorised device for producing mixed colours by additive colour-mixing with two differently colored, sectored, rotating discs. This was an improvement over earlier models, allowing a user to vary the proportions of the two colors during rotation and to read off those proportions precisely.<ref>Rupp, H. (1908). Spindler & Hoyer Werkstätte für Wissenschaftliche Präcisionsinstrumente, Göttingen. Apparate für psychologische Untersuchungen. Preisliste XXI [Spindler & Hoyer Workshop for Scientific Precision Instruments, Göttingen. Apparatus for psychological research. Price list 21]. Göttingen: Spindler & Hoyer. Retrieved from [http://vlp.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/library/data/lit24062/index_html?pn=57&ws=1.5. vlp.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de]
Translation available at [https://sites.google.com/site/oshearobertp/publications/translations/spindler-hoyer-1908 sites.google.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401143218/https://sites.google.com/site/oshearobertp/publications/translations/spindler-hoyer-1908 |date=1 April 2019 }}</ref>

Musil's sexual life around the turn of the century, according to his own records, was mainly with a prostitute, which he treated partly as an experimental self-experience.<ref>Corino S. 2003, 151–154.</ref> But he also was infatuated with the pianist and mountaineer Valerie Hilpert, who assumed mystical features.<ref>Pfohlmann 2012, S. 32–34; Corino 2003, S. 156–167. Pekar comments: "Sigmund Freud's observation of the splitting of the love life in Eros and Sexus, the distant, pure lover and the whore find their clear confirmation here." (Pekar 1997, S. 13)</ref> 
In March 1902, Musil underwent treatment for syphilis with mercury ointment. During this time, his several years of relationship began with Hermine Dietz, the 'Tonka' of his own novel, published in 1923. Hermine's syphilitic miscarriage in 1906 and her death in 1907 may have been due to infection from Musil.<ref>Pfohlmann 2012, S. 34; Corino 2003, S. 190–194 und S. 1882 f.</ref>

Musil grew tired of engineering and what he perceived as the limited world-view of the engineer. He launched himself into a new round of doctoral studies (1903–1908) in psychology and philosophy at the [[University of Berlin]] under Professor [[Carl Stumpf]]. In 1905, Musil met his future wife, Martha Marcovaldi (née Heimann, 21 January 1874 – 6 November 1949). She had been widowed and remarried, with two children, and was seven years older than Musil. His first novel, ''Young Törless'', was published in 1906.

==Author==
In 1909, Musil completed his doctorate, with a thesis on the philosopher [[Ernst Mach]], and Professor [[Alexius Meinong]] offered him a position at the [[University of Graz]], which he turned down to concentrate on writing. Over the next two years, he wrote and published two stories, ("The Temptation of Quiet Veronica" and "The Perfecting of a Love") collected in ''Vereinigungen'' (''Unions'') published in 1911. During the same year, Martha's divorce was completed, and Musil married her. As she was Jewish and Musil Roman Catholic, they both converted to [[Protestantism]] as a sign of their union.<ref>[http://escholarship.org/uc/item/5012d14x#page-10], [http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz67509.html], [http://www.hls-dhs-dss.ch/textes/d/D12180.php]</ref> Until then, Musil had been supported by his family, but he now found employment first as a librarian in the [[Technical University of Vienna]] and then in an editorial role with the Berlin literary journal ''[[Die neue Rundschau]]''. He also worked on a play entitled ''Die Schwärmer'' (''The Enthusiasts''), which was published in 1921.

[[File:Klagenfurt - Musilhaus - Robert Musil.jpg|thumb|left|Depiction of Musil at the Musilhaus in [[Klagenfurt]]]]
When [[World War I]] began, Musil joined the army and was stationed first in [[Tyrol (state)|Tirol]] and then at Austria's Supreme Army Command in Bozen (ital. [[Bolzano]]). In 1916, Musil visited [[Prague]] and met [[Franz Kafka]], whose work he held in high esteem. After the end of the war and the collapse of the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian Empire]], Musil returned to his literary career in Vienna. He published a collection of short stories, ''Drei Frauen'' (''Three Women''), in 1924. He also admired the Bohemian poet [[Rainer Maria Rilke]], whom Musil called "great and not always understood" at his memorial service in 1927 in Berlin. According to Musil, Rilke "did nothing but perfect the German poem for the first time", but by the time of his death, Rilke had turned into "a delicate, well-matured liqueur suitable for grown-up ladies".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/private/rilke-the-clay-pot/ |work=The Times Literary Supplement|first=Robert|last=Vilain|title=Rilke the clay pot|date=16 September 2009 }}</ref> However, his work is "too demanding" to be "considered relaxing".<ref>Robert Musil, ''Precision and Soul: Essays and Addresses'', trans. Burton Pike and David S. Luft (Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1995).</ref>

In 1930 and 1933, his masterpiece, ''[[The Man Without Qualities]]'' (''Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften'') was published in Berlin<ref name="Bookseller">{{cite web | last = Peter L. Stern & Company, Inc. | title = Book Details: MUSIL, ROBERT, Der Mann Ohne Eigenschaften (The Man Without Qualities) | publisher = Peter L. Stern & Company, Inc. | url = http://www.sternrarebooks.com/details.php?record=24963 | access-date = 26 October 2011 }}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> in two volumes consisting of three parts, running into 1,074 pages: Volume 1 (Part I: A Sort of Introduction, and Part II: The Like of It Now Happens) and 605-page unfinished Volume 2 (Part III: Into the Millennium (The Criminals)).<ref name="Freed">{{cite book | last = Freed| first = Mark M. | title = Robert Musil and the Nonmodern; A note on Musil's texts | publisher = The Continuum International Publishing Group | edition = 1 | date = 5 May 2011 | location = New York | pages = xi | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5aOK_5wfOVwC&pg=PR11 | isbn = 978-1-4411-2251-3 }}</ref> Part III did not include the 20 chapters withdrawn from Volume 2 of 1933 in printer's galley proofs. The novel deals with the moral and intellectual decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire through the eyes of the book's protagonist, Ulrich, an ex-mathematician who has failed to engage with the world around him in a manner that would allow him to possess ''qualities''. It is set in [[Vienna]] on the eve of [[World War I]].

''The Man Without Qualities'' brought Musil only mediocre commercial success. Although he was nominated for the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]], he felt that he did not receive the recognition he deserved. He sometimes expressed annoyance at the success of better known colleagues such as [[Thomas Mann]] or [[Hermann Broch]], who admired his work deeply and tried to shield him from economic difficulties and encouraged his writing even though Musil initially was critical of Mann.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kimball |first=Roger |title=The Qualities of Robert Musil |url=https://newcriterion.com/article/the-qualities-of-robert-musil/|website=newcriterion.com |date=February 1996 |language=en}}</ref>

In the early 1920s, Musil lived mostly in Berlin. In Vienna, Musil was a frequent visitor to [[Eugenie Schwarzwald]]'s salon (the model for [[Diotima of Mantinea|Diotima]] in ''The Man Without Qualities''). In 1932, the Robert Musil Society was founded in Berlin on the initiative of Mann. In the same year, Mann was asked to name outstanding contemporary novels, and he cited only one, ''The Man Without Qualities''.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} In 1936, Musil suffered his first stroke, while swimming.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A companion to the works of Robert Musil |date=2007 |others=Philip Payne, Graham Bartram, Galin Tihanov |isbn=978-1-57113-687-9 |location=Rochester, New York |pages=22 |oclc=910326455}}</ref>

== Thought ==
The fundamental problem Musil confronts in his essays and fiction is the crisis of [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] values that engulfed Europe during the early twentieth century.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Understanding Robert Musil|last=Thiher|first=Allen|publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press|year=2009|pages=155}}</ref> He endorses the Enlightenment project of emancipation, while at the same time examining its shortcomings with a questioning irony.<ref name=":0" /> Musil believed that the crisis required a renewal in social and individual values that, accepting science and reason, could liberate humanity in beneficent ways.<ref name=":0" /> Musil wrote:<blockquote>After the Enlightenment most of us lost courage. A minor failure was enough to turn us away from reason, and we allowed every barren enthusiast to inveigh against the intentions of a [[Jean le Rond d'Alembert|d'Alembert]] or a [[Denis Diderot|Diderot]] as mere rationalism. We beat the drums for feeling against intellect and forgot that without intellect ... feeling is as dense as a blockhead (''dick wie ein Mops ist'').<ref>{{Cite book|title=Understanding Robert Musil|last=Thiher|first=Allen|publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press|year=2009|pages=161}}</ref></blockquote>

He took aim at the ideological chaos and misleading generalizations about culture and society promoted by nationalist reactionaries. Musil wrote a withering critique of [[Oswald Spengler]] entitled "Mind and Experience: a Note for Readers Who Have Escaped the Decline of the West (''Geist und Erfahrung: Anmerkung für Leser, welche dem Untergang des Abendlandes entronnen sind'')", in which he dismantles the latter's misunderstanding of science and misuse of axiomatic thinking, to try to understand human complexity and promote a deterministic philosophy.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Understanding Robert Musil|last=Thiher|first=Allen|publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press|year=2009|pages=166–169}}</ref>

He deplored the social conditions under the Austro-Hungarian Empire and foresaw its disappearance.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Understanding Robert Musil|last=Thiher|first=Allen|publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press|year=2009|pages=171–173}}</ref> Surveying the upheavals of the 1910s and 1920s, Musil hoped that Europe could find an internationalist solution to the "dead end of imperial nationalism".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Understanding Robert Musil|last=Thiher|first=Allen|publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press|year=2009|pages=187}}</ref> In 1927, he signed a declaration of support for the [[Austrian Social Democratic Party]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Payne |first1=Philip |last2=Bartram |first2=Graham |last3=Tihanov |first3=Galin |title=A Companion to the Works of Robert Musil |date=2007 |publisher=Camden House |page=428}}</ref>

Musil was a staunch [[individualist]] who opposed the authoritarianism of both right and left. A recurring theme in his speeches and essays through the 1930s is the defense of the autonomy of the individual against the authoritarian and collectivist ideas then prevailing in Germany, Italy, Austria, and Russia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Payne |first1=Philip |last2=Bartram |first2=Graham |last3=Tihanov |first3=Galin |title=A Companion to the Works of Robert Musil |date=2007 |publisher=Camden House |pages=69–70}}</ref> He participated in the anti-fascist International Writers' Congress for the Defense of Culture in 1935 in which he spoke in favor of artistic independence against the claims of the state, class, nation, and religion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Payne |first1=Philip |last2=Bartram |first2=Graham |last3=Tihanov |first3=Galin |title=A Companion to the Works of Robert Musil |date=2007 |publisher=Camden House |page=78}}</ref>

== Later life ==
The last years of Musil's life were dominated by [[Nazism]] and [[World War II]]: the Nazis banned his books. He saw early Nazism first-hand while he was living in Berlin from 1931 to 1933. In 1938, when Austria [[Anschluss|was annexed]] by [[Nazi Germany]], Musil and his Jewish wife, Martha, left for exile in Switzerland, where he died at the age of 61. Martha wrote to Franz Theodor Csokor that he had suffered a stroke.<ref>Der Monat 026/1950, pp. 185–189, on www.ceeol.com</ref>

Only eight people attended his [[cremation]]. Martha cast his ashes into the woods of Mont [[Salève]].<ref>[http://www.sbg.ac.at/exil/lecture_5023.pdf Markus Kreuzwieser] 
 {{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> From 1933 to his death, Musil had been working on Part III of ''The Man Without Qualities''. In 1943 in Lausanne, Martha published a 462-page collection of material from his literary remains, including the 20 [[Galley proof| galley chapters]] withdrawn from Part III before Volume 2 appeared in 1933,<ref name="Bookseller"/> as well as drafts of the final incomplete chapters and notes on the development and direction of the novel.<ref name="Freed"/> She died in Rome in 1949.

==Legacy==
After his death, Musil's work was almost forgotten. His writings began to reappear during the early 1950s. The first translation of ''The Man Without Qualities'' in English was published by [[Ernst Kaiser]] and Eithne Wilkins in 1953, 1954, and 1960. An updated translation by Sophie Wilkins and [[Burton Pike]], containing extensive selections from unpublished drafts, appeared in 1995.<ref>{{cite book|author=The Man Without Qualities (2 volume set) |title=The Man Without Qualities (2 volume set): Robert Musil, Burton Pike, Sophie Wilkins: 9780394510521: Amazon.com: Books |date=9 December 1996 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |isbn=0394510526 }}</ref>
Musil's work, including its philosophical aspects, has received more attention since then.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/jun/17/featuresreviews.guardianreview28 | work=The Guardian | first=Jane | last=Smiley | title=Robert Musil: The Man without Qualities | date=17 June 2006}}</ref> [[Milan Kundera]] said, "No novelist is dearer to me,"<ref>{{Cite book|title=Immortality|last=Kundera|first=Milan|publisher=HarperCollins|year=1991|isbn=0-06-097448-6|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/immortality00kund_0/page/50 50]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/immortality00kund_0/page/50}}</ref> and [[Thomas Bernhard]] said he was "addicted" to Musil.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} One of the most important philosophy journals, ''[[The Monist]]'', published a special issue on "The Philosophy of Robert Musil" in 2014, edited by [[Bence Nanay]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://monist.oxfordjournals.org/content/97/1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150326010335/http://monist.oxfordjournals.org/content/97/1|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 March 2015|title=The Philosophy of Robert Musil|website=Monist.oxfordjouranls.org|access-date=16 December 2017}}</ref>

==Timeline==
*1880 November 6, Robert Musil born in Klagenfurt. Mother Hermine, father engineer Alfred Musil.
*1881–1882 The Musils move to Chomutov in Bohemia.
*1882–1891 The Musils move to [[Steyr]] (Austria). Robert attends the elementary school and the first grade of the [[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]].
*1891–1892 Move to Brno. Attends the ''[[Realschule]]''.
*1892–1894 Attends the military boarding school in Eisenstadt.
*1894–1897 Attends the military ''Militär-Oberrealschule'' in [[Hranice (Přerov District)|Hranice]] (present-day in the Czech Republic) during his working with artillery Musil discovers his interest in technique.
*1897 Attends the ''{{Interlanguage link|Technische Militärakademie|de|3=k.u.k. Technische Militärakademie}}'' in Vienna.
*1898–1901 Quit officer training and starts studies at the Technical University in Brno. His father had been a professor there since 1890. First literary attempt and first diary notations.
*1901 doctoral examinations.
*1901–1902 Musil enlists in the infantry regiment of Freiherr von Hess Nr. 49 in Brno.
*1902–1903 Move to Stuttgart to work at the university. Works on his first novel, ''Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless''
*1903–1908 Takes up studies in philosophy; his majors are "logic and experimental psychology".
*1905 In his diaries he makes the first notes that develop into ''Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften''.
*1906 ''Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Torless'' is published. Developed an apparatus to research colour experience in people.
*1908 ''Beiträge zur Beurteilung der Lehren Machs'' is the title of his doctoral thesis. Declines an offer to upgrade his last military rank to an equal civilian rank in favour of writing.
*1908–1910 Works in Berlin as an editor for the magazine ''Pan'' and on his ''Vereinigungen'' and ''Die Schwärmer''.
*1911–1914 Librarian at the Technical University of Vienna.
*1911 on 15 April Musil marries Martha Marcovaldi. ''Vereinigungen'' is published.
*1912–1914 Editor for several literary magazines, including ''[[Neue Rundschau]]''.
*1914–1918 During World War I, Musil is officer at the Italian front. Decorated several times.
*1916–1917 July–April: publishes the "Soldaten-Zeitung".
*1917 On 22 October, Alfred Musil was hereditary ennobled as ''Alfred [[Edler]] von Musil'', making Robert Musil also a member of the nobility until it was abolished less than two years later.<ref name="since October 22, 1917">He was baptized ''Robert Mathias Musil'' and his name was officially ''Robert Mathias Edler von Musil'' from 22 October 1917, when his father received a hereditary title of nobility [[Edler]], until 3 April 1919, when the use of noble titles was [[Austrian nobility#Abolition of nobility in 1919|forbidden in Austria]].</ref>
*1918 Takes up writing again.
*1919–1920 Works for the Information Service of the Austrian foreign department in Vienna.
*1920 April–June: lives in Berlin. Meets Ernst Rowohlt, who will become his publisher in 1923.
*1920–1922 Adviser for army matters in Vienna.
*1921–1931 Works as theatre critic, essayist, and writer in Vienna. Works on ''Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften''.
*1921 The play ''Die Schwärmer'' is published.
*1923–1929 Is vice-president of ''Schutzverband deutscher Schriftsteller in Österreich''. Meets [[Hugo von Hofmannsthal]], who is president of the foundation.
*1923 Awarded the [[Kleist Prize]] for ''Die Schwärmer''. On 4 December ''Vinzenz und die Freundin bedeutender Männer'' is premièred in Berlin.
*1924 on 24 January his mother died and on 1 October his father died. Awarded the art prize of the city of Vienna. ''Drei Frauen'' is published.
*1927 Delivers a speech following the death the previous year of [[Rainer Maria Rilke]] in Berlin.
*1929 4 April première of ''Die Schwärmer''. Over Musil's objections, the play is shortened and, according to him, incomprehensible. In the autumn awarded the [[Gerhart Hauptmann]] award.
*1930 The first two parts of ''Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften'' are published. In spite of critical support, Musil's financial situation is precarious.
*1931–1933 Lives and works in Berlin.
*1932 Foundation of a ''Musil-Gesellschaft'' by Kurt Glaser in Berlin. The foundation aims to provide Musil with the means necessary to continue working on his novel. At the end of the year the third part of ''Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften'' is published.
*1933 in May Musil leaves Berlin with his wife, Martha. Via [[Karlovy Vary]] and [[Potštejn]] in [[Czechoslovakia]] they reach Vienna.
*1934–1938 After the dismantling of the Berlin ''Musil-Gesellschaft'', a new one is founded in Vienna.
*1935 Lecture for the Internationalen Schriftstellerkongress für die Verteidigung der Kultur in Paris.
*1936 Publishes his collection of thoughts, observations, and stories ''Nachlass zu Lebzeiten''. Suffers a stroke.
*1937 on 11 March invited by the Werkbund lecture "On stupidity" in Vienna
*1938 Via northern Italy Musil and his wife flee to [[Zürich]]. Two days after their arrival, on 4 September, they have tea at Thomas Mann's home in Küsnacht.
*1939 In July moves to Geneva. Musil continues to work on his novel and grows lonelier with exile. Thanks to the Zürich vicar Robert Lejeune, Musil receives some financial support, including from the American couple, Henry Hall and Barbara Church. In Germany and Austria ''Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften'' and ''Nachlaß zu Lebzeiten'' are banned. All his works are banned in 1941.
*1942 April 15, Musil dies in [[Geneva]].
*1943 Martha Musil publishes the unfinished remains of ''Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften''.
*1952–1957 [[Adolf Frisé]] publishes the complete works of Robert Musil at Rowohlt.

==Bibliography==
[[File:Musil, Robert – Grigia, 1923 – BEIC 3279160.jpg|thumb|''Grigia'' (1923)]]
* {{wikisource-inline}}
* ''[[The Confusions of Young Törless|Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß]]'' (1906). ''The Confusions of Young Törless'', novel 
* ''Vereinigungen'' (1911). A collection of two short stories: "The Temptation of Quiet Veronica" and "The Perfecting of Love"
**''Unions: Two Stories'', translated with an introduction by Genese Grill (New York: Contra Mundum Press: 2019)
**''Intimate Ties: Two Novellas'', trans. Peter Wortsman (Archipelago, 2019)
* ''Die Schwärmer'' (1921). ''The Enthusiasts'', play, trans. Andrea Simon (New York: Performance Arts Journal Publications, 1983)
* ''Vinzenz und die Freundin bedeutender Männer'' (1924). ''Vinzenz and the Girlfriend of Important Men'', play
* ''Drei Frauen'' (1924). ''Three Women'', a collection of three novellas "Grigia", "The Portuguese Lady", and "Tonka"
* ''Nachlaß zu Lebzeiten'' (1936). ''Posthumous Papers of a Living Author'', trans. Peter Wortsman (Eridanos Press, 1988)
**A collection of short prose pieces.
* ''Über die Dummheit'' (1937). ''About Stupidity'', lecture
* ''[[The Man Without Qualities|Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften]]'' (1930, 1933, 1943). ''The Man Without Qualities''
'''Compilations in English'''
* ''Tonka and Other Stories'', trans. [[Eithne Wilkins]] and [[Ernst Kaiser]] (1965); later reprinted as ''Five Women'' (1986)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Musil |first=Robert |url=http://archive.org/details/fivewomen0000musi |title=Five Women |date=1986 |location=Boston  |publisher= D.R. Godine |isbn=978-0-87923-603-8}}</ref>
** Compiles the five stories of ''Vereinigungen'' and ''Drei Frauen''
* ''Precision and Soul: Essays and Addresses'', edited and translated by Burton Pike and David S. Luft (The University of Chicago Press, 1990)
* ''Thought Flights'', translated with an introduction by Genese Grill (New York: Contra Mundum Press, 2015)
* ''Agathe, or the Forgotten Sister'', trans. Joel Agee (New York Review Books, 2019). This is "a selection of these chapters [from the last third of ''The Man Without Qualities''], two of which have not previously appeared in English". (p. xxxii.)
* ''Theater Symptoms: Plays & Writings on Drama'', translated with an introduction & preface by Genese Grill (New York: Contra Mundum Press, 2020)
* ''Literature and Politics: Selected Writings'', trans. Genese Grill (New York: Contra Mundum Press, 2023)

== In popular culture ==
''Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß'' was later made into the movie ''[[Young Törless|Der junge Törless]]'' (1966).

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Genese Grill, "The World as Metaphor in Robert Musil's 'The Man without Qualities': Possibility as Reality" (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2012).
* Stefan Jonsson, ''Subject Without Nation: Robert Musil and the History of Modern Identity'' (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2000).
* Patrizia C. McBride, ''The Void of Ethics: Robert Musil and the Experience of Modernity'' (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 2006).
* Philip Payne, Graham Bartram and Galin Tihanov (eds.), ''A Companion to the Works of Robert Musil'' (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2007).
* [[Burton Pike]], ''Robert Musil: An Introduction to His Work'' (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1961).
* Thomas Sebastian, ''The Intersection of Science and Literature in Musil's'' The Man Without Qualities (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2005).
* Gabriela Stoicea, "Moosbrugger and the Case for Responsibility in Robert Musil’s ''Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften''." ''The German Quarterly'', vol. 91, no. 1, 2018, pp.&nbsp;49–66.

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons category}}
* [http://www.xs4all.nl/~jikje/ Comprehensive site in Dutch and English] by J. van Beers
* [http://www.musilmuseum.at/ The website of the Robert Musil Literature Museum]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120207083925/http://www.greatbooksguide.com/Musil.html "Exhuming Robert Musil: A Fresh Look at ''The Man Without Qualities''"] by Ted Gioia (Great Books Guide)
* {{Gutenberg author | id=37187}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Musil, Robert Mathias|name=Robert Musil|author=yes}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Robert Musil}}
* {{Librivox author |id=12140}}
* {{Cite book|publisher=Muller & Co.|last= Musil|first= Robert|title= Grigia |place= Potsdam|year= 1923|url= https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=3279160}}

{{German literature}}
{{Modernism}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musil, Robert}}
[[Category:1880 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Austrian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Austrian male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Austrian novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Austrian short story writers]]
[[Category:Austrian male dramatists and playwrights]]
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[[Category:Austrian people of Czech descent]]
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