| The hero of this landmark of Modernism is a mathematician, but as the title suggests, it is difficult to say anything else about him. The author,
Austrian Robert Musil, studied mathematics and philosophy in college.
| Contributed by
anonymous
"Life-changing view of how to live. The finest work I've known. Pure
logic leading to philosophy and morality."
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| Contributed by
Austin
There are two translations of this work. The one mentioned here is the newer, and by far the inferior. Ex.: Those who know German will chafe at reading "Seinesgleiches geschieht" translated as "Psuedoreality Prevails"; the old translators, Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser, much more reasonably rendered it as "The like of it now happens," which preserves the intended ambiguity.
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| Contributed by
James Bashkin
I thought this was a tremendous book. I read a Picador publication of it, if I remember correctly. I'll have to figure out which translation it was (I read it in about 1980). Apparently a relatively new translation is available (making three, perhaps?). There was a play based on The Man Without Qualities that toured England in the late 1970's or early 80's that I also saw. The play received terrible reviews, but I thought it was OK.
Well, once again I have to say that I didn't think much about math while reading this, but I was young... Maybe I did think about math and just forgot... Anyway, this is a must read, and now I think I'll need to read it again with the benefit of your comments!
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Note: In an essay called "The Mathematical Man" (1913), Musil commented on what he saw as unique about the field of mathematics at the turn of the 20th century: "Today there is no other possibility of having such fantastic, visionary feelings as mathematicians do."
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