The Man Without Qualities: Picador Classic (Modern Critical Interpretations) (Vintage International) (Picador Books)

by Robert Musil

Sophie Wilkins (Translator)

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Book cover for The Man Without Qualities

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With an introduction by Jonathan Lethem

It is 1913, and Viennese high society is determined to find an appropriate way of celebrating the seventieth jubilee of the accession of Emperor Franz Josef. But as the aristocracy tries to salvage something illustrious out of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the ordinary Viennese world is beginning to show signs of more serious rebellion. Caught in the middle of this social labyrinth is Ulrich: youngish, rich, an ex-soldier, seducer and scientist.

Unable to deceive himself that the jumble of attributes and values that his world has bestowed on him amounts to anything so innate as a 'character', he is effectively a man 'without qualities', a brilliant, detached observer of the spinning, racing society around him. Part satire, part visionary epic, part intellectual tour de force, The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil is a work of immeasurable importance.

  • ISBN10 1509818197
  • ISBN13 9781509818198
  • Publish Date 23 February 2017 (first published December 1953)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country GB
  • Publisher Pan Macmillan
  • Imprint Picador
  • Format eBook (EPUB)
  • Pages 1152
  • Language English