Discussion of Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities

Bill will lead a discussion of Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities.

What constitutes the identity of an individual, a society, or a nation? Set in Vienna (“Kakania”) on the eve of World War I, this monumental, unfinished (bug or feature?) novel of ideas tells the story of Ulrich, ex-soldier and scientist, seducer and skeptic, who takes a sabbatical from life, surrendering all his qualities but finding himself drafted into the grandiose plans for the 70th jubilee of the Emperor Franz Josef, in an empire that is ending without anyone realizing it.

The meeting will take place at the Looscan Neighborhood Library.

A list of the books we've read and discussed since we started in 2004 is found at https://bit.ly/MonumentalGBHistory .