The Modern Novel

Biography

Robert Musil was born in Klagenfurt in 1880. His father was an engineer (he made improvements to the steam turbine) but, like his son, had eclectic interests (he was also a portrait painter). His mother was a gifted pianist. He started off at military college and then went to study civil engineering and subsequently switched to psychology and philosophy in Berlin, publishing a dissertation on Mach’s theories. He worked as a librarian before writing a play Die Anarchisten [The Anarchists] (later known as Die Schwärmer (The Enthusiasts)). During the First World War he worked as a press attaché. After the war, he worked as a civil servant before becoming a freelance writer. He lived variously in Vienna, Berlin and Geneva, where he died in 1942, unknown and in poverty. He is best know for two novels – Die Verwirrungen des Zögling Törless (Young Törless), which was made into a well-known film by German director Volker Schlöndorff and Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (The Man Without Qualities), one of the greatest 20th century novels, which he started in the early twenties and which was to occupy him for the rest of his life (it was incomplete on his death).

Books about Robert Musil

Lowell A. Bangerter: Robert Musil
Karl Dinklage: Robert Musil: Leben, Werk, Wirkung (in German)
Hannah Hickman: Robert Musil & the Culture of Vienna
Hannah Hickman: Robert Musil and the Literary Landscape of His Time
David S. Luft: Robert Musil and the Crisis of European Culture, 1880-1942

Other links

Robert Musil
Robert Musil
A Writer With Qualities
Robert Musil (in German)
Robert Musil (in German)
Robert Musil (in German)
Robert Musil (1880-1942) (in German)
Musil, Robert (in German)