Robert Musil

Austrian philosophical writer (1880-1942) · Austria · Writers · Died at 61

Robert Musil is read about 631 times a day, in 62 languages.

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His unfinished novel about a man with no fixed qualities became one of modernism's essential texts - a vast, philosophical dismantling of identity and empire that he never managed to complete.

Writers Writer / Author Literature Fiction Theatre Screenwriting Austria Europe

A life in dates

1942Died15 April 19421930“His appearance gives no clue to what his profession might be, and yet he doesn't look like a man without a profession either. Consider what he's like: He always knows what to do.”In their wordsDer Mann ohne EigenschaftenRead the whole statement

“Questions and answers click into each other like cogs of a machine. Each person has nothing but quite definite tasks. The various professions are concentrated at definite places.”In their wordsDer Mann ohne EigenschaftenRead the whole statement

“To pass freely through open doors, it is necessary to respect the fact that they have solid frames.”In their wordsDer Mann ohne EigenschaftenRead the whole statement

1929Gerhart Hauptmann prizeAward1923Kleist PrizeAward1913“Mathematics is the bold luxury of pure reason, one of the few that remain today.”In their wordsp. 41Read the whole statement

“With its claims to profundity, boldness and originality, thinking still limits itself provisionally to the exclusively rational and scientific.”In their wordsp. 43Read the whole statement

“The restricting of intellectual and spiritual needs to the mania of progress...”In their wordsp. 23Read the whole statement

1880Born6 November 1880

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Musil

Alfred Zangerl - Bäuerin mit Kuh. Radierung, 1923

Alfred Zangerl - Fünf Männer und ein Grammophon. Radierung, 1923

Alfred Zangerl - Kuhhüterin. Radierung

Ernst Wilhelm Lotz an Robert Musil 1914-07-17

Franz Kafka an Robert Musil 1914-02-27 Umschlag

Märkisch Buchholz Lesefährten Waldweisen Robert Musil

Robert Musil - Beitrag zur Beurteilung der Lehren Machs. Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde genehmigt von der philosophischen Fakultät der Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitt zu Berlin

In their own words 9

Robert Musil

9 statements, newest first

If there is a sense of reality, there must also be a sense of possibility. To pass freely through open doors, it is necessary to respect the fact that they have solid frames.
1930, Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften, Own words
His appearance gives no clue to what his profession might be, and yet he doesn't look like a man without a profession either. Consider what he's like: He always knows what to do.
1930, Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften, Own words
Questions and answers click into each other like cogs of a machine. Each person has nothing but quite definite tasks. The various professions are concentrated at definite places.
1930, Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften, Own words

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Awards

Gerhart Hauptmann prize1929

Kleist Prize1923

Family

Father Alfred Musil

Robert Musil

Partners

Spouse Martha Musil

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About this person

Robert Musil was born in Austria on 6 November 1880, and spent decades constructing The Man Without Qualities, a sprawling philosophical novel that interrogated the nature of self and society in the dying days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The work remained unfinished when he died on 15 April 1942, but its fragmented brilliance secured his place among the defining voices of literary modernism. What he left behind wasn't a closed book but an open question.

Country

Austria

In common with Robert

Maude FealyAlso in Emergency Squad (1940)

Robert PaigeAlso in Emergency Squad (1940)

Walter TetleyAlso in Emergency Squad (1940)

Writers from Austria 3

Peter Handke64.4

Miep Gies60.5

Arthur Schnitzler65.9

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