Robert Musil

The Profile

Austrian novelist and essayist, author of Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß and the unfinished novel Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften.

Born 6 November 1880 in Klagenfurt (then Austria-Hungary); died 15 April 1942 in Geneva, Switzerland. Author of the unfinished novel Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (The Man Without Qualities).

The available review examines Musil's Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß as a psychological novel about a boy confronting cruelty, sexuality and moral confusion. The reviewer compares Musil to Kafka and Pirandello and praises the novel as a classic worth rediscovery. Themes include derealization, bourgeois values, and the breakdown of certainties like science and faith.