What do you think?
Rate this book
Лутанията на възпитаника Тьорлес
"Лутанията на възпитаника Тьорлес" (1906) се смята за една от основополагащите ранни творби на литературната модерност и неслучайно "Die Zeit" й отрежда място в своята библиотека "100-те най-важни книги".
В своя първи роман Музил ни предлага дълбоко проникновено, комплексно описание на душевния живот на един юноша. И то не само през пубертета: чрез главния си герой авторът хвърля светлина върху кризисните моменти в развитието на всеки чувствителен човек. При това с потресаващо визионерство: защото само трийсетина години по-късно, по времето на националсоциалистическата диктатура, авторитарните методи ще придобият абсурдни измерения с насилието над отделната личност и нейното превръщане във второстепенен придатък към механизма на системата.
Като своеобразна парабола тъкмо на това време световноизвестният немски режисьор Фолкер Шльондорф пресъздава върху филмовата лента творбата под заглавието "Младият Тьорлес".
Роберт Музил, най-значителният романист на немски език през първата половина на ХХ век, е един от най-известните писатели на нашето столетие.
Таймс
С романа си "Лутанията на възпитаника Тьорлес" Музил докосва ужасите на настоящето и бъдещето.
Волфганг Кьопен
Този роман на един едва 22-годишен начеващ писател ще остане завинаги.
Алфред Кер
В своя първи роман Музил ни предлага дълбоко проникновено, комплексно описание на душевния живот на един юноша. И то не само през пубертета: чрез главния си герой авторът хвърля светлина върху кризисните моменти в развитието на всеки чувствителен човек. При това с потресаващо визионерство: защото само трийсетина години по-късно, по времето на националсоциалистическата диктатура, авторитарните методи ще придобият абсурдни измерения с насилието над отделната личност и нейното превръщане във второстепенен придатък към механизма на системата.
Като своеобразна парабола тъкмо на това време световноизвестният немски режисьор Фолкер Шльондорф пресъздава върху филмовата лента творбата под заглавието "Младият Тьорлес".
Роберт Музил, най-значителният романист на немски език през първата половина на ХХ век, е един от най-известните писатели на нашето столетие.
Таймс
С романа си "Лутанията на възпитаника Тьорлес" Музил докосва ужасите на настоящето и бъдещето.
Волфганг Кьопен
Този роман на един едва 22-годишен начеващ писател ще остане завинаги.
Алфред Кер
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1906
314 people are currently reading
11995 people want to read
About the author
Robert Musil
308 books1,384 followersAustrian writer.
He graduated military boarding school at Eisenstadt (1892-1894) and then Hranice, in that time also known as Mährisch Weißkirchen, (1894-1897). These school experiences are reflected in his first novel, The Confusions of Young Törless.
He served in the army during The First World War. When Austria became a part of the Third Reich in 1938, Musil left for exile in Switzerland, where he died of a stroke on April 15, 1942. Musil collapsed in the middle of his gymnastic exercises and is rumoured to have died with an expression of ironic amusement on his face. He was 61 years old.
He graduated military boarding school at Eisenstadt (1892-1894) and then Hranice, in that time also known as Mährisch Weißkirchen, (1894-1897). These school experiences are reflected in his first novel, The Confusions of Young Törless.
He served in the army during The First World War. When Austria became a part of the Third Reich in 1938, Musil left for exile in Switzerland, where he died of a stroke on April 15, 1942. Musil collapsed in the middle of his gymnastic exercises and is rumoured to have died with an expression of ironic amusement on his face. He was 61 years old.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 781 reviews
November 23, 2025
SENZA PORTA
Egon Schiele: Autoritratto (1910).
Ogni grande scoperta si compie solo per metà nel cerchio illuminato della mente cosciente, per l’altra metà nell’oscuro recesso del nostro essere più interiore, ed è innanzi tutto uno stato d’animo alla cui estremità sboccia il pensiero come un fiore.
Per me questo è un autentico libro cult, l’esordio (1906) di uno scrittore di cui ho amato sommamente il capolavoro, indimenticabile sin dal titolo, L’uomo senza qualità.
Romanzo di formazione per eccellenza, questo Törless.
E anche di de-formazione se si abbraccia la teoria di alcuni che Beineberg e Reiting, i due studenti più grandi che Törless frequenta, sono dei proto-nazisti: per parafrasare il titolo di un film di Werner Herzog, anche i nazi hanno cominciato da piccoli. Personalmente mi pare interpretazione un po’ forzata.
Romanzo sui turbamenti di quell’età infernale chiamata adolescenza, quegli anni in cui è necessario esser qualcuno di fronte a se stessi e tuttavia si è ancora troppo incompiuti per essere veramente qualcuno.
Mathieu Carrière (a sinistra) è “Il giovane Törless” nel film del 1966 diretto da Volker Schlondorff.
La magia comincia dalle primissime pagine nelle quali Musil descrive la “nostalgia” per i genitori che il giovane Törless - chiamato sempre per cognome come tutti gli altri personaggi – sviluppa al suo arrivo nel prestigioso e severissimo collegio militare: un sentimento sconosciuto, perché quando li aveva accanto, e davanti agli occhi, non avrebbe mai potuto immaginare che presto li avrebbe pensati con tale forza nostalgica, senza però riuscire a ricomporre la loro immagine davanti agli occhi della sua mente.
L’incapacità a ricreare la figura fisica dei genitori dipende dalla complessità e imprecisione del sentimento della nostalgia: e la sparizione dell’immagine finisce con l’essere la prova che proprio lì il desiderio s’appunta.
E poi, man mano che la permanenza nel collegio assorbe Törless e lo trascina in una nuova esistenza, con lo smorzarsi della nostalgia e lo svilupparsi delle relazioni sociali tra coetanei, il “senso di vuoto”: il sentimento si astrattizza, si sublima, ed eventualmente degenera. Inaridendosi dà luogo a un tormentoso senso di vuoto e di nulla. Esempio di narcisismo, e del masochismo che gli è complementare (riflesso?).
Aleksander Deineka: I ragazzi escono dall’acqua (1935).
Il grigio e la rigidità che si aspetta da un collegio militare dell’inizio del Novecento nella provincia dell’Impero Austro-Ungarico, Musil riesce a trasmetterli descrivendo il paesaggio stinto e malato e l’umanità del paese che circonda l’istituto.
Musil sembra cresciuto a pane e psicoanalisi, proprio come il suo collega e compatriota Arthur Schnitzler, entrambi austriaci come Sigmund Freud. La sottigliezza psicologica del suo narrare traspare in ogni pagina, e dopo le riflessioni su nostalgia, solitudine e vuoto, ci si imbatte nell’analogia tra il groviglio di sensazioni e pulsioni erotiche che Božena, la prostituta del borgo, suscita nel giovane Törless con le suggestioni edipiche che il pensiero della madre risveglia sin dalla sua infanzia.
Riflessioni che quasi immediatamente, senza neppure uscire dalla stanza della donna che vende il suo corpo, ma regala anche due risate e un po’ di calore umano, conducono a quelle sull’amore: sentimento che non può essere provato dagli adulti, perché non è tranquillo e composto, ma necessita di gioventù e solitudine per poter palpitare.
E da qui si scivola nel cuore dell’adolescenza contrapposta all’età della maturità …per cui una giornata che volge alla fine non è più un problema. La sua vita invece era puntata su ogni singolo giorno. Per lui ogni notte era un nulla, una tomba, un’estinzione. Non aveva ancora acquistato la capacità di mettersi giù a morire ogni sera senza darsene pensiero.
Le sevizie di Reiting e Beineberg a Basini.
La prostituta Božena riverbera il compagno di collegio Basini che suscita in Törless sia attrazione che repulsione, s’identifica con quello che il giovane turbato del titolo teme potrebbe diventare, al punto da spingerlo a chiedere l’immediato allontanamento dall’istituto di Basini, perniciosa malia da sventare. La degradazione che le fantasie di Törless percepiscono si attualizza nell’esemplificazione reale di Basini: la colpa incestuosa consumata attraverso Božena (incestuosa perché la prostituta risveglia sentimenti edipici nel giovane turbato) determina un desiderio morboso di punirsi attraverso la stessa mercificazione del corpo, o il masochismo, morale e fisico, la cui forma estrema è la passività di Törless di fronte all’aggressione di Reiting e Beineberg ai danni di Basini.
Edvatd Munch: Malinconia (1892).
Era la sensualità segreta, malinconica, senza oggetto dell’adolescenza, che è come la terra umida nera germinante della primavera, o come le oscure acque sotterranee che aspettano solo una spinta casuale per rompere gli argini.
La sensualità, il risveglio erotico giocano un ruolo determinante nei turbamenti dell’alunno Törless: l’attrazione-repulsione per il compagno Basini, come già le pulsioni per Božena, e la nostalgia per i genitori provata durante il primo periodo nell’istituto, sprofondano nei recessi dell’anima, senza lasciare, in apparenza alcuna traccia. Questa latenza dell’affetto erotico induce con la sua presenza/assenza una misteriosa doppiezza della realtà, che diventa in Törless il sentimento dominante, che cerca, inutilmente, di spiegare nel finale al collegio dei docenti. E contemporaneamente si fa strada la convinzione che la formula rivelatrice sia sepolta in lui stesso, anche se continua a restargli inesplicabile.
Musil ci conduce in territori di sensualità scarsamente esplorati all’epoca, qui al confine tra etero e omo sessualità, nel capolavoro della maturità ritorna grandiosamente e il confine là è rappresentato dal rapporto fratello-sorella, dall’aleggiante incesto.
Un altro momento del film.
Sotto tutti i pensieri, io ho in mente qualcosa di oscuro che non posso misurare razionalmente, una vita che non può essere espressa con le parole e che tuttavia è la mia vita…
Alla conclusione del romanzo Törless non ha risolto il suo problema, il nodo della sua esistenza, ma lo ha almeno individuato istintivamente, isolato e “fissato”. Il che gli consentirà da adulto, nel futuro che Musil ci lascia intuire, di darsi una regola di vita i cui connotati saranno la lieve meditabonda stanchezza di chi fa del fallimento una virtù e la sottile ironia di vita.
E io non posso non sentire echeggiare il mistero dell’Uomo senza qualità.
Come non posso non tentare un paragone tra l’adolescente Törless e l’adolescente per eccellenza, Holden Caulfield. Qui, prima dei due conflitti mondiali, un futuro è ancora immaginabile: nel romanzo di Salinger (1951), con le due guerre mondiali alle spalle, la seconda ancora recente, mi pare che il futuro sia molto più incerto.
Un altro autoritratto di Egon Schiele.
PS
“Senza Porta” è il significato più spesso accostato al nome Törless: quindi, chiuso, riservato. Blindato?
Egon Schiele: Autoritratto (1910).
Ogni grande scoperta si compie solo per metà nel cerchio illuminato della mente cosciente, per l’altra metà nell’oscuro recesso del nostro essere più interiore, ed è innanzi tutto uno stato d’animo alla cui estremità sboccia il pensiero come un fiore.
Per me questo è un autentico libro cult, l’esordio (1906) di uno scrittore di cui ho amato sommamente il capolavoro, indimenticabile sin dal titolo, L’uomo senza qualità.
Romanzo di formazione per eccellenza, questo Törless.
E anche di de-formazione se si abbraccia la teoria di alcuni che Beineberg e Reiting, i due studenti più grandi che Törless frequenta, sono dei proto-nazisti: per parafrasare il titolo di un film di Werner Herzog, anche i nazi hanno cominciato da piccoli. Personalmente mi pare interpretazione un po’ forzata.
Romanzo sui turbamenti di quell’età infernale chiamata adolescenza, quegli anni in cui è necessario esser qualcuno di fronte a se stessi e tuttavia si è ancora troppo incompiuti per essere veramente qualcuno.
Mathieu Carrière (a sinistra) è “Il giovane Törless” nel film del 1966 diretto da Volker Schlondorff.
La magia comincia dalle primissime pagine nelle quali Musil descrive la “nostalgia” per i genitori che il giovane Törless - chiamato sempre per cognome come tutti gli altri personaggi – sviluppa al suo arrivo nel prestigioso e severissimo collegio militare: un sentimento sconosciuto, perché quando li aveva accanto, e davanti agli occhi, non avrebbe mai potuto immaginare che presto li avrebbe pensati con tale forza nostalgica, senza però riuscire a ricomporre la loro immagine davanti agli occhi della sua mente.
L’incapacità a ricreare la figura fisica dei genitori dipende dalla complessità e imprecisione del sentimento della nostalgia: e la sparizione dell’immagine finisce con l’essere la prova che proprio lì il desiderio s’appunta.
E poi, man mano che la permanenza nel collegio assorbe Törless e lo trascina in una nuova esistenza, con lo smorzarsi della nostalgia e lo svilupparsi delle relazioni sociali tra coetanei, il “senso di vuoto”: il sentimento si astrattizza, si sublima, ed eventualmente degenera. Inaridendosi dà luogo a un tormentoso senso di vuoto e di nulla. Esempio di narcisismo, e del masochismo che gli è complementare (riflesso?).
Aleksander Deineka: I ragazzi escono dall’acqua (1935).
Il grigio e la rigidità che si aspetta da un collegio militare dell’inizio del Novecento nella provincia dell’Impero Austro-Ungarico, Musil riesce a trasmetterli descrivendo il paesaggio stinto e malato e l’umanità del paese che circonda l’istituto.
Musil sembra cresciuto a pane e psicoanalisi, proprio come il suo collega e compatriota Arthur Schnitzler, entrambi austriaci come Sigmund Freud. La sottigliezza psicologica del suo narrare traspare in ogni pagina, e dopo le riflessioni su nostalgia, solitudine e vuoto, ci si imbatte nell’analogia tra il groviglio di sensazioni e pulsioni erotiche che Božena, la prostituta del borgo, suscita nel giovane Törless con le suggestioni edipiche che il pensiero della madre risveglia sin dalla sua infanzia.
Riflessioni che quasi immediatamente, senza neppure uscire dalla stanza della donna che vende il suo corpo, ma regala anche due risate e un po’ di calore umano, conducono a quelle sull’amore: sentimento che non può essere provato dagli adulti, perché non è tranquillo e composto, ma necessita di gioventù e solitudine per poter palpitare.
E da qui si scivola nel cuore dell’adolescenza contrapposta all’età della maturità …per cui una giornata che volge alla fine non è più un problema. La sua vita invece era puntata su ogni singolo giorno. Per lui ogni notte era un nulla, una tomba, un’estinzione. Non aveva ancora acquistato la capacità di mettersi giù a morire ogni sera senza darsene pensiero.
Le sevizie di Reiting e Beineberg a Basini.
La prostituta Božena riverbera il compagno di collegio Basini che suscita in Törless sia attrazione che repulsione, s’identifica con quello che il giovane turbato del titolo teme potrebbe diventare, al punto da spingerlo a chiedere l’immediato allontanamento dall’istituto di Basini, perniciosa malia da sventare. La degradazione che le fantasie di Törless percepiscono si attualizza nell’esemplificazione reale di Basini: la colpa incestuosa consumata attraverso Božena (incestuosa perché la prostituta risveglia sentimenti edipici nel giovane turbato) determina un desiderio morboso di punirsi attraverso la stessa mercificazione del corpo, o il masochismo, morale e fisico, la cui forma estrema è la passività di Törless di fronte all’aggressione di Reiting e Beineberg ai danni di Basini.
Edvatd Munch: Malinconia (1892).
Era la sensualità segreta, malinconica, senza oggetto dell’adolescenza, che è come la terra umida nera germinante della primavera, o come le oscure acque sotterranee che aspettano solo una spinta casuale per rompere gli argini.
La sensualità, il risveglio erotico giocano un ruolo determinante nei turbamenti dell’alunno Törless: l’attrazione-repulsione per il compagno Basini, come già le pulsioni per Božena, e la nostalgia per i genitori provata durante il primo periodo nell’istituto, sprofondano nei recessi dell’anima, senza lasciare, in apparenza alcuna traccia. Questa latenza dell’affetto erotico induce con la sua presenza/assenza una misteriosa doppiezza della realtà, che diventa in Törless il sentimento dominante, che cerca, inutilmente, di spiegare nel finale al collegio dei docenti. E contemporaneamente si fa strada la convinzione che la formula rivelatrice sia sepolta in lui stesso, anche se continua a restargli inesplicabile.
Musil ci conduce in territori di sensualità scarsamente esplorati all’epoca, qui al confine tra etero e omo sessualità, nel capolavoro della maturità ritorna grandiosamente e il confine là è rappresentato dal rapporto fratello-sorella, dall’aleggiante incesto.
Un altro momento del film.
Sotto tutti i pensieri, io ho in mente qualcosa di oscuro che non posso misurare razionalmente, una vita che non può essere espressa con le parole e che tuttavia è la mia vita…
Alla conclusione del romanzo Törless non ha risolto il suo problema, il nodo della sua esistenza, ma lo ha almeno individuato istintivamente, isolato e “fissato”. Il che gli consentirà da adulto, nel futuro che Musil ci lascia intuire, di darsi una regola di vita i cui connotati saranno la lieve meditabonda stanchezza di chi fa del fallimento una virtù e la sottile ironia di vita.
E io non posso non sentire echeggiare il mistero dell’Uomo senza qualità.
Come non posso non tentare un paragone tra l’adolescente Törless e l’adolescente per eccellenza, Holden Caulfield. Qui, prima dei due conflitti mondiali, un futuro è ancora immaginabile: nel romanzo di Salinger (1951), con le due guerre mondiali alle spalle, la seconda ancora recente, mi pare che il futuro sia molto più incerto.
Un altro autoritratto di Egon Schiele.
PS
“Senza Porta” è il significato più spesso accostato al nome Törless: quindi, chiuso, riservato. Blindato?
December 12, 2018
the place is an exclusive all-boys boarding school in Austria. the time is the turn of the 19th century. three boys: Törless, Beineberg, and Reiting. Reiting is an amiable, energetic sort; his aggressive nature is balanced by his charm and ease in the world. Beineberg is an anti-intellectual intellectual; much like his father, he yearns to be a mystic. in Törless, still waters run deep and much of the material world holds little interest for him; contemplation and melancholy are his hallmarks. what are three such precocious lads to do with themselves? there is the village whore to spend time with, but these boys' interests go further. what to do, what to do? how about find a fellow schoolchum, learn about his weaknesses, and then grind him into nothing; torment and humiliate, beat, sexually abuse. and so there is a fourth boy: Basini. the three boys play with him.
The Confusions of Young Törless was published in 1906 by Robert Musil. apparently it is autobiographical in nature. it is a philosophical treatise and a classic coming of age novel.
although the novel's narrative is centered around the endless debasement of the passive Basini, that degradation is not at all the novel's primary concern. it is there in the title: the book is about confused young Törless: his quest for logic in an illogical world and his need to quantify the ineffable and his barely-understood desire for transcendence, for an escape from small minds and fixed roles and dualistic morality.
a boy will fight against his surroundings, he will struggle with authority figures, he will be cynical without experiencing enough of the outside world to earn that cynicism. a boy will rationalize or a boy will simply choose not to think about things that disturb him. a boy will strive, a boy will yearn, a boy will barely understand himself. but a boy will try. and he may force others to do the same.
there are worms. a worm is a symbol of decay. or rebirth? a cord dangling from drapes looks like a writhing worm in the moonlight. there is a red worm of blood that trickles down Basini's face.
there is an eye; Törless sees it in the boys' secret hideaway. it is an eye made of dust motes and shadows and dim shafts of light. he sees it in the midst of one of Basini's beatings. he contemplates it. what does this eye behold? what is the story of this eye?
there are windows. windows are a window to the unknown; Törless stares through many windows. windows are a window to memory; Törless recalls sounds he once heard through windows. the sky is a window; Törless stares at the sky and is filled with awe, wonder, and fear. Törless is a thinker, Törless is a dreamer. Törless has disturbing feelings: some about his mother, some about the local whore, some about Basini. Törless has hallucinatory dreams with meanings he can only slightly grasp. he tries to share these feelings, these dreams, but no one ever understands.
Törless, Törless, Törless. oh, Törless! you and your yearning, your dreams.
fuck you, Törless. of the three boys, I think you are the worst. Reiting likes Basini to read him stories about conquering heroes; then he fucks and beats him. Beineberg likes to use Basini as a footrest, make him bark like a dog, beat him; sometimes he fucks him. Törless asks Basini searching questions about how he feels, what is going on inside of him while all of this is happening; he makes Basini speak when Basini would rather cry; sometimes he fucks him. guess who Basini falls in love with? Reiting and Beineberg's motivations are banal (despite Beineberg's laughably pretentious attempt to intellectualize his predations): they are cruel boys who enjoy brutalizing someone under their thumb. Törless is not like them, he's a sensitive lad. he wants to understand many things, imaginary numbers and order vs. chaos and the logic of dreams. unlike his friends, he is not a malevolent sort and his sexual arousal at Basini's tortures confuse him. poor, confused Törless! Basini means nothing to him, he considers him to be "meaningless" - except as one of many puzzles he is desperate to figure out. fuck you, Törless. your confusions are nothing compared to what you and your buddies dole out.
the problem with this thoughtful, absorbing, boring, poetic, mechanistic, frustrating, compelling, often brilliant novel is that it is exactly like its title character. it is not about the debasement and Törless' key role there. it is all about our protagonist's struggle, his inner life. well, it was a bit hard for this reader to focus on such things when throughout all of the philosophical musings are brief descriptions of the boys' predations. the intellectualization of such acts, their use as metaphor, all the world's a play and we are merely actors on a stage, what goes on behind the curtain and within a mind... honestly I don't give a flying fuckeroo about all that when some weak kid is getting destroyed by stronger kids. you used the wrong metaphor, Musil. all the philosophical musings - I would say 90% of the novel - were rendered obnoxious and uninteresting after it became clear that Musil himself is disinterested in what is happening to Basini. like the novel's protagonist, the author also views Basini as meaningless. Musil, you are like Törless. you make that crystal clear. and that is not a good look.
September 7, 2023
No sé qué pensar de esta novela. No me ha disgustado ni aburrido, pero tampoco me ha parecido nada del otro mundo ni en su forma ni en su fondo.
Lo mejor, todo lo relacionado con el asunto del acoso escolar, la indiferencia de la autoridad escolar, la voluptuosidad que encuentran los participantes en la ejecución del poder físico y psicológico sobre alguien, la cobardía y hasta el gusto por la sumisión del acosado. No sería capaz de apostar sobre cuál es la posición que el autor asume al respecto, lo que es un punto a su favor.
Por el contrario, todo lo relacionado con eso que se denomina novela de crecimiento o de aprendizaje me ha dejado frío, cuando no irritado con esa posibilidad de camino hacia la sabiduría a través de la crueldad. Me ha parecido muy artificioso y sobreactuado todo lo relacionado con las lucubraciones existenciales, la religiosidad trascendentalista, los calores propios de la adolescencia.
Eso sí, la imagen que da fin a la novela me ha parecido fabulosa.
June 30, 2025
Readers who associate boarding school fiction with sneaky midnight feasts, harmless pranks or wizardry may come to find the introspection of young Törless’s education not only shocking but also too dense. Musil is not so much interested in investigating the exterior world of the protagonist, and chooses instead to look deeply into the psychological and moral awakening of youth. Young Törless drifts through interior monologue, to dreamlike sequences, to the horrors of life away from home, where punishment is dished out by some nasty little brats that were deplorable. I wanted to drop them down a deep well. But If I'm honest, I didn't really like anybody, and it didn't come as a surprise to me either.
Törless was clearly, sexually speaking, in a muddle, and afraid to confront his own feelings and desires. He seems to suggest that for one to live a normal life, one must regulate the depth to which one wants to explore one's desires or the extent to which one wants to obey them. Yet, the more he refuses to interrogate those feelings that draw him closer to his friend, the deeper the internal torments. In a way, it's interesting that parts of the novel can be seen as an early indication to the rise of fascism, and it's written well enough, which I expected anyway, but I found there really wasn't much to like, especially the second-half. If I had to write down a list of things I wouldn't want to read about again, then sadistic bullying would definitely be somewhere near the top.
January 5, 2026
This story of teenagers who allow themselves to persecute one of their own because they consider him inferior is seen by others as a premonition of Nazism. But this book also tells us about the victim's behavior, ideas, and calculations that lead the torturers and victims to humiliate and allow themselves to be offended, respectively. The inner life is well described, and how it is shaken or stimulated by adolescence, independent of the history of persecution or, perhaps, in connection with it. The Confessions (plural) of the pupil Törless do not speak to us only of school harassment. They are also present throughout the novel, addressing concerns linked to our place in the world at the dawn of the 20th century, including the themes of adolescence, pederasty, and the search for one's sexuality, as well as belief and doubt within the school institution, the quest for meaning, and others. It was a vibrant, well-written novel with vivid images, whose central theme is branding and education.
November 11, 2018
Αυτό το βιβλίο είναι βαρύ και κρύο σαν τα ακατέργαστα παράξενα μέταλλα.
Δείχνει να παλεύει με σκοτεινούς αγγέλους ψυχικής ανέλιξης και αυτογνωσίας, μα η μάχη μοιάζει ψεύτικα μανιακή και το αίμα απο τις πληγές που προξενεί στα θύματα είναι περισσότερο πνευματικό ορμονικό μείγμα σκέψης και βάρβαρης ηδονής.
Οι ψυχολογικές καταστάσεις των ηρώων συναισθησιακά μυρίζουν χρώμα φθινοπώρου με γεύση γκρίζου ουρανού πριν την βροχή και άγγιγμα απο μια θορυβώδη ηθική και πολλές συγχυσμένες εμπειρίες νεανικών παθών.
Έφηβοι παγιδευμένοι σε ζοφερές φυλακές εκπαίδευσης υφίστανται περιτομή ψυχής απο κάποιους αναχρονιστικούς δασκάλους με σκονισμένα μυαλά και ψήγματα φασισμού σε συναισθηματικό και φιλοσοφικό πλαίσιο.
Διαδάσκονται μαθηματική ποίηση ρητής σκληροτητας, εκπαιδεύονται, μορφώνονται, διαμορφώνουν χαρακτήρα απο ενα κοπάδι βοοειδών με ακαδημαϊκή επίφαση έδρας.
Στερημένα πνεύματα και σώματα μπερδεύουν ή αγνοούν την προσωπική και θεσμική οριοθέτηση της εξουσίας και της ηθικής με αποτέλεσμα να προετοιμάζουν μαθητές που θα πετύχουν ως άθλιοι κομπάρσοι σε θεατρικά έργα συνειδησιακής υποταγής στη βία, σε έργα τέχνης όπου η ανεπάρκεια της γλώσσας και της συναίσθησης, διαχωρίζεται απο κόσμους και γεγονότα επιβραβεύοντας τον άτυπο εξωφρενικό εκφοβισμό.
Ένα στρατιωτικό οικοτροφείο με πνευματικά νεογνά ναζιστικών νταήδων ταπεινώνουν, βασανίζουν, βιάζουν, καταστρέφουν και επαίρονται με προφάσεις ψευδο φιλοσοφικής, ψευδό μυστικιστικής, ίδιας και άδειας πολυλογίας.
Παράλληλα ανακαλύπτουν τη σεξουαλική ηδονή μέσα απο βάρβαρες και φρικιαστικές ενέργειες έχοντας πάντα ένα εξιλαστήριο θύμα και μια ακατανόητη και εξοργιστική σιωπηρή συνενοχή απο την
πλειοψηφία των θεατών του σαδισμού.
Οι μυθιστορηματικές περιγραφές του Μούζιλ κυκλοφορούν στην λογοτεχνική σκηνή για πρώτη φορά το 1906. Έκτοτε εικάζεται πως είναι άρρηκτα συνδεδεμένες με τη δική του σχολική εμπειρία καθώς όλο το κείμενο έχει ένα προφητικό άρωμα της γερμανικής προοπτικής και της ανόδου του φασισμού.
Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς ασπασμούς.
October 29, 2017
Ο Musil βρίσκεται στο επίπεδο των Mann, Hesse, στους τρεις κορυφαίους της γερμανικής λογοτεχνίας.
Το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο είναι συγκλονιστικό !!!
Το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο είναι συγκλονιστικό !!!
March 10, 2024
Musils Bücher bekommen immer drei Sterne von mir, auch hier. Ein Zeichen völliger Ratlosigkeit, wie ich das Gelesene für mich werten soll. Im Vergleich zum Mann ohne Eigenschaften empfand ich beim Törleß den Erzähler wesentlich prägnanter und vor allem wertender. Das hat mich im ersten Drittel doch sehr überrascht und hielt mich auf Distanz zum Roman. Später ähnelt die Erzählweise dann aber immer mehr dem MoE, d.h. viel direkte Rede mit längeren essayhaften Einschüben über die verschiedensten Themen von Philosophie, Psychologie bis zur Mathematik. Auch ähnelte der Törleß als meist stiller Beobachter der sadistischen Grausamkeiten in seinem Internat charakterlich dem Ulrich aus MoE. Insofern empfand ich es interessant, diesen Roman quasi als Vorgeschichte zum sperrigen Meisterwerk des Autors zu lesen.
Ich hatte vermutet, dass der Törleß eine Art Schülerroman wie Hesses Unterm Rad sei. Doch diese Bücher unterscheiden sich grundlegend. Musils Buch ist weit mehr als eine Gesellschaftskritik einer geschundenen Jugend. Es ist die selbstbewusste Stimme der Jugend, die eine neue Zeit proklamiert und die alten bürgerlichen Normen und Werte zerschlagen will. Und das tut sie nicht nur mit Worten und Gedankenspielen, sondern physisch anhand eines Sündenbocks, den sie auserkoren, zu quälen und zu erniedrigen. Der Mitschüler Basini wird gerade zu entmenschlicht, wenn er auf dem Dachboden geschlagen, gedemütigt und vergewaltigt wird. Das war mir teilweise zu explizit in der Gewaltdarstellung und las sich dadurch unangenehm. Aber Musil ergötzt sich nicht daran, sondern lenkt den Fokus mehr auf den Beobachter Törleß und seine Gedanken und Gefühle beim Betrachten der beklemmenden Geschehnisse. Das wirkt dann schon visionär, wie er Themen anspricht, die für ein Buch zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts sicherlich ungewöhnlich und skandalös waren. Insbesondere wenn sich Törleß Gedanken um seine geschlechtliche Identität macht und homosexuelle Erfahrungen erlebt. Das hat mich beeindruckt. Zudem sind die beiden Sadisten Reiting und Beineberg in ihrer menschenverachtend Haltung ein Typus, den man mit den Nationalsozialisten gleich setzen möchte. Beschreibt Musil da schon eine sich erst 30 Jahre später auftretende Katastrophe? Der Gedanke drängt sich auf, aber der militärisch geprägten Reiting als Napoleon als Vorbild und der hat die Menschen auch verheizt in seinen barbarischen Kriegen. Das Dunkle im Menschen war schon immer da und Musil kann es gut beschreiben.
Gestört hat mich allerdings der allwissende Erzähler, der aus der zeitlichen Distanz von mehreren Jahren immer wieder erklärend eingreift, wenn man selbst versucht, Schlüsse aus den Aussagen und dem Handeln der Personen zu schließen. Ich fühlte mich bevormundet und auch teilweise verwirrend zugequatscht, wenn mal so etwas wie eine Handlung entstand, die dann aber wieder durch eine längere Abhandlung abgewürgt wurde. Man muss schon Spaß am Fabulieren Musils haben, um an seinen Büchern Gefallen zu finden. Daher ist der Törleß ein guter Einstieg, wenn man sich dem Mann ohne Eigenschaften stellen will. Es war auf jeden Fall eine interessante Lektüre, aber ich bleibe weiterhin eher Anhänger der klassischen Erzählweise bei Romanen aus dieser Zeit und würde Mann, Hesse oder Fontane dem Musil vorziehen.
Ich hatte vermutet, dass der Törleß eine Art Schülerroman wie Hesses Unterm Rad sei. Doch diese Bücher unterscheiden sich grundlegend. Musils Buch ist weit mehr als eine Gesellschaftskritik einer geschundenen Jugend. Es ist die selbstbewusste Stimme der Jugend, die eine neue Zeit proklamiert und die alten bürgerlichen Normen und Werte zerschlagen will. Und das tut sie nicht nur mit Worten und Gedankenspielen, sondern physisch anhand eines Sündenbocks, den sie auserkoren, zu quälen und zu erniedrigen. Der Mitschüler Basini wird gerade zu entmenschlicht, wenn er auf dem Dachboden geschlagen, gedemütigt und vergewaltigt wird. Das war mir teilweise zu explizit in der Gewaltdarstellung und las sich dadurch unangenehm. Aber Musil ergötzt sich nicht daran, sondern lenkt den Fokus mehr auf den Beobachter Törleß und seine Gedanken und Gefühle beim Betrachten der beklemmenden Geschehnisse. Das wirkt dann schon visionär, wie er Themen anspricht, die für ein Buch zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts sicherlich ungewöhnlich und skandalös waren. Insbesondere wenn sich Törleß Gedanken um seine geschlechtliche Identität macht und homosexuelle Erfahrungen erlebt. Das hat mich beeindruckt. Zudem sind die beiden Sadisten Reiting und Beineberg in ihrer menschenverachtend Haltung ein Typus, den man mit den Nationalsozialisten gleich setzen möchte. Beschreibt Musil da schon eine sich erst 30 Jahre später auftretende Katastrophe? Der Gedanke drängt sich auf, aber der militärisch geprägten Reiting als Napoleon als Vorbild und der hat die Menschen auch verheizt in seinen barbarischen Kriegen. Das Dunkle im Menschen war schon immer da und Musil kann es gut beschreiben.
Gestört hat mich allerdings der allwissende Erzähler, der aus der zeitlichen Distanz von mehreren Jahren immer wieder erklärend eingreift, wenn man selbst versucht, Schlüsse aus den Aussagen und dem Handeln der Personen zu schließen. Ich fühlte mich bevormundet und auch teilweise verwirrend zugequatscht, wenn mal so etwas wie eine Handlung entstand, die dann aber wieder durch eine längere Abhandlung abgewürgt wurde. Man muss schon Spaß am Fabulieren Musils haben, um an seinen Büchern Gefallen zu finden. Daher ist der Törleß ein guter Einstieg, wenn man sich dem Mann ohne Eigenschaften stellen will. Es war auf jeden Fall eine interessante Lektüre, aber ich bleibe weiterhin eher Anhänger der klassischen Erzählweise bei Romanen aus dieser Zeit und würde Mann, Hesse oder Fontane dem Musil vorziehen.
June 22, 2024
It took me a while to realize which approach Musil had chosen for this book. At first you have the impression that it is a classic coming-of-age story about the young Törless, a sensitive young boy from a wealthy middle-class background. This is reinforced by his arrival at a boarding school and the homesickness he feels (and especially for his mother). But then Musil seems to focus in depth on Törless's struggle with the dark sides in his own soul and the novel even takes on a bit of a gothic aspect. This is followed by the mysterious, sometimes violent scenes in which a fellow student, Basini, is regularly humiliated by two other students. For Törless this arouses both excitement and disgust, and the novel now clearly takes on a homoerotic slant, in which our young hero continues to dig deep into his soul, engages in ruthless self-analysis, and sublimates his confusion into rather abstract reflections on mathematical, imaginary numbers.
So this novel goes in different directions, making it difficult to really get a grip on it. The rather archaic language (especially in the Dutch translation I read) reinforces this. But Musil makes it clear with this debut that he has quite a lot to offer. I understand the criticism that this novel heralds the culture of violence that would flare up in Germany a few decades later during the Nazi period, but this seems to me to be a rather anachronistic reading, because this story could just as easily have been set in a British or French boarding school.
So this novel goes in different directions, making it difficult to really get a grip on it. The rather archaic language (especially in the Dutch translation I read) reinforces this. But Musil makes it clear with this debut that he has quite a lot to offer. I understand the criticism that this novel heralds the culture of violence that would flare up in Germany a few decades later during the Nazi period, but this seems to me to be a rather anachronistic reading, because this story could just as easily have been set in a British or French boarding school.
October 31, 2017
Introduction
Note on the Text
Select Bibliography
A Chronology of Robert Musil
--The Confusions of Young Törless
Explanatory Notes
Note on the Text
Select Bibliography
A Chronology of Robert Musil
--The Confusions of Young Törless
Explanatory Notes
March 7, 2022
The Confusions of Young Torless is an incredible book, reminiscent at times of Rilke in its ability to wrestle with complex spiritual and psychological themes. Reading this book was like constantly trying to grasp something slightly abstract, slightly out of reach, though very human and real and rooted in language. This is an ambitious (though short) book, an extremely thoughtful and difficult read.
Maybe it is fitting that the book is so hard to describe, since one of its main themes is the ineffable-ness of certain human experience. One thing the book is NOT about, however, is the "devastating" effects of the "abuse of power" as it states in the back of the book. Sure, that's what happens, but the author's focus seems determinedly "off", always in the head of young Torless, who approaches the events that unfold with a much deeper and complex inquisitiveness than the simple moral lesson/parable suggested in that blurb.
At the center is the metaphor of imaginary numbers. Torless learns of them in math class, and spends some pages thinking about how we can start with something completely real, apply an element that does not exist to it (but we pretend it does, temporarily, just for the sake of conjecture) and that the logical result of that (because the imaginary numbers eventually cancel each other out on both sides of the equation) is a real result. But that the bridge between the two real worlds is one that's completely made up.
This metaphor, though not always explicitly stated, can be applied to many of the themes in this book: the way our conceptions of "self" are propped up by a set of lies we tell ourselves, the way we conduct our lives in the daytime differently from at night (though we need the night as a bridge to get to the next day), the way we can be completely rational with our thoughts even though we are essentially emotional (and irrational) beings.
The confusion of young Torless becomes our confusion as he thinks obscurely about these themes among many others: guilt, shame, pride, sexuality, the contradictions of the self, coherence between mind, body, and soul… and how we smooth over these contradictions of ourselves. The writing itself is sometimes very confusing, I often found myself lost in what the book was trying to say (especially in the first 50 pages, which seemed at times aimless), but it is that effort that slowly begins to make sense as the book reveals itself; as the book gets less and less abstract, the writing itself becomes more tangible.
Maybe it is fitting that the book is so hard to describe, since one of its main themes is the ineffable-ness of certain human experience. One thing the book is NOT about, however, is the "devastating" effects of the "abuse of power" as it states in the back of the book. Sure, that's what happens, but the author's focus seems determinedly "off", always in the head of young Torless, who approaches the events that unfold with a much deeper and complex inquisitiveness than the simple moral lesson/parable suggested in that blurb.
At the center is the metaphor of imaginary numbers. Torless learns of them in math class, and spends some pages thinking about how we can start with something completely real, apply an element that does not exist to it (but we pretend it does, temporarily, just for the sake of conjecture) and that the logical result of that (because the imaginary numbers eventually cancel each other out on both sides of the equation) is a real result. But that the bridge between the two real worlds is one that's completely made up.
This metaphor, though not always explicitly stated, can be applied to many of the themes in this book: the way our conceptions of "self" are propped up by a set of lies we tell ourselves, the way we conduct our lives in the daytime differently from at night (though we need the night as a bridge to get to the next day), the way we can be completely rational with our thoughts even though we are essentially emotional (and irrational) beings.
The confusion of young Torless becomes our confusion as he thinks obscurely about these themes among many others: guilt, shame, pride, sexuality, the contradictions of the self, coherence between mind, body, and soul… and how we smooth over these contradictions of ourselves. The writing itself is sometimes very confusing, I often found myself lost in what the book was trying to say (especially in the first 50 pages, which seemed at times aimless), but it is that effort that slowly begins to make sense as the book reveals itself; as the book gets less and less abstract, the writing itself becomes more tangible.
October 10, 2016
--That moment when you realize that having your head in the clouds is not always a good thing. In short, the "confusions" of Young Torless are the confusions of all who wonder how the seemingly rational person can become embroiled in the heinous. But also--
"And suddenly--and it seemed to him as if it had happened for the very first time--Torless became aware of how incredibly high the sky was.
It was almost a shock. Straight above him, shining between the clouds, was a small, blue hole, fathomlessly deep.
He felt it must be possible, if only one had a long, long ladder, to climb up and into it. But the further he penetrated, raising himself on his gaze, the further the blue, shining depth receded. And still it was as though some time it must be reached, as though by sheer gazing one must be able to stop it and hold it. The desire to do this became agonizingly intense." (87)
--Young Torless is a thoughtful youth, and by that I mean that his head is full of the thoughts typical of youth- of conventional, nascent navel-gazers. Not thoughts for others, but the poetry of self-indulgence. The things that occur to people when they have a surfeit of time and a dearth of responsibility. Yet none are sustained for long enough to be useful and are abandoned at the first vertiginous point.
"Now Torless began to think about this, making an effort to be as calm and rational as he could. 'Of course there is no end,' he said to himself, 'it just keeps going on and on forever, into infinity.' He kept his eyes fixed on the sky, saying this aloud to himself as though he were testing the power of a magic formula." (87-88)
--One might be tempted to glimpse one's own early musings in this military boarding school boy. Who hasn't been startled by the concept of imaginary numbers? Who hasn't experienced the shock of starting with concrete operations, lapsing into impossibilities of i, suspending disbelief long enough to find a couple of canceling squares for your nasty roots, and coming out on the other side with something both intelligible and meaningful? Who hasn't thought that reading philosophy was pointless because Kant already nailed it all down in a couple of dusty tomes?
"But it was no use; the words meant nothing, or rather, they meant something quite different, as if, while dealing with the same subject, they were taking it from another side, one that was strange, unfamiliar and irrelevant.
'Infinity!'...
But now it flashed through him, with startling clarity, that there was something terribly disturbing about this word. It seemed to him like a concept that had been tamed and with which he himself had been daily going through his little circus tricks; and now all of a sudden it had broken loose. Something surpassing all comprehension, something wild and annihilating, that once had been put to sleep by some ingenious operation, had suddenly leapt awake and was there again in all its terrifying strength. There in the sky, it was standing over him, alive and threatening and sneering." (88)
--It is the re-reading of precisely these lines that points up what I find utterly terrifying about this book. Torless' descent is more than one of complaisance or complicity, it must be recognized as commissive (simplified: Torless, and two other classmates, Reiting and Beineberg torture a younger, weaker coeval, by physical beatings, sexual assaults, mental abuse) though I can see Torless' defense attorneys reading for a plea down. What makes matters even more repugnant is the ease with which the perpetrators distance themselves from the victim and the detachment of the adult rectors who seem eager to latch onto some muddy metaphysical rationalizations during the proceeding, farcical inquest. The sum is the disconcerting feeling of staring into an evil abyss, which is rendered all the more stomach churning by its banality. Or maybe it's just the passivity of the individual infected by the sickness of herd?
--Here Reiting discusses changing the tactics for abusing the victim, shifting from individualized brutality to mob blindness (lines which I believe are responsible for the book's blurb claiming that this work prefigured the rise of Nazism, at least from a group-psychological standpoint):
"We can turn it over in our minds, polish it up and keep on adding new refinements. Without the appropriate details it's still a bit of a bore, for the present. Perhaps we'll hand him right over to the class to deal with. That would be the most sensible thing to do. If each one of so many contributes even a little, it'll be enough to tear him to pieces. And anyway, I have a liking for these mass movements. Nobody means to contribute anything spectacular, and yet the waves keep rising higher and higher, until they break over everyone's head. You chaps just wait and see, nobody will lift a finger, but all the same there'll be a terrific upheaval. Instigating a thing like that gives me really quite particular pleasure." (174-175)
--Awful stuff. Gah. So, how can I rate this four stars? I guess it is simply this: Musil's prose (which the book's blurb so accurately describes as "claustrophobic" and "poetic") is immersive and engaging. The reader is bound and horrified. Further, I've never been able to understand the phrase "the banality of evil." Now, I might.
Note: I read the Wilkins and Kaiser Englishing, which was so good I forgot I was reading a translation.
"And suddenly--and it seemed to him as if it had happened for the very first time--Torless became aware of how incredibly high the sky was.
It was almost a shock. Straight above him, shining between the clouds, was a small, blue hole, fathomlessly deep.
He felt it must be possible, if only one had a long, long ladder, to climb up and into it. But the further he penetrated, raising himself on his gaze, the further the blue, shining depth receded. And still it was as though some time it must be reached, as though by sheer gazing one must be able to stop it and hold it. The desire to do this became agonizingly intense." (87)
--Young Torless is a thoughtful youth, and by that I mean that his head is full of the thoughts typical of youth- of conventional, nascent navel-gazers. Not thoughts for others, but the poetry of self-indulgence. The things that occur to people when they have a surfeit of time and a dearth of responsibility. Yet none are sustained for long enough to be useful and are abandoned at the first vertiginous point.
"Now Torless began to think about this, making an effort to be as calm and rational as he could. 'Of course there is no end,' he said to himself, 'it just keeps going on and on forever, into infinity.' He kept his eyes fixed on the sky, saying this aloud to himself as though he were testing the power of a magic formula." (87-88)
--One might be tempted to glimpse one's own early musings in this military boarding school boy. Who hasn't been startled by the concept of imaginary numbers? Who hasn't experienced the shock of starting with concrete operations, lapsing into impossibilities of i, suspending disbelief long enough to find a couple of canceling squares for your nasty roots, and coming out on the other side with something both intelligible and meaningful? Who hasn't thought that reading philosophy was pointless because Kant already nailed it all down in a couple of dusty tomes?
"But it was no use; the words meant nothing, or rather, they meant something quite different, as if, while dealing with the same subject, they were taking it from another side, one that was strange, unfamiliar and irrelevant.
'Infinity!'...
But now it flashed through him, with startling clarity, that there was something terribly disturbing about this word. It seemed to him like a concept that had been tamed and with which he himself had been daily going through his little circus tricks; and now all of a sudden it had broken loose. Something surpassing all comprehension, something wild and annihilating, that once had been put to sleep by some ingenious operation, had suddenly leapt awake and was there again in all its terrifying strength. There in the sky, it was standing over him, alive and threatening and sneering." (88)
--It is the re-reading of precisely these lines that points up what I find utterly terrifying about this book. Torless' descent is more than one of complaisance or complicity, it must be recognized as commissive (simplified: Torless, and two other classmates, Reiting and Beineberg torture a younger, weaker coeval, by physical beatings, sexual assaults, mental abuse) though I can see Torless' defense attorneys reading for a plea down. What makes matters even more repugnant is the ease with which the perpetrators distance themselves from the victim and the detachment of the adult rectors who seem eager to latch onto some muddy metaphysical rationalizations during the proceeding, farcical inquest. The sum is the disconcerting feeling of staring into an evil abyss, which is rendered all the more stomach churning by its banality. Or maybe it's just the passivity of the individual infected by the sickness of herd?
--Here Reiting discusses changing the tactics for abusing the victim, shifting from individualized brutality to mob blindness (lines which I believe are responsible for the book's blurb claiming that this work prefigured the rise of Nazism, at least from a group-psychological standpoint):
"We can turn it over in our minds, polish it up and keep on adding new refinements. Without the appropriate details it's still a bit of a bore, for the present. Perhaps we'll hand him right over to the class to deal with. That would be the most sensible thing to do. If each one of so many contributes even a little, it'll be enough to tear him to pieces. And anyway, I have a liking for these mass movements. Nobody means to contribute anything spectacular, and yet the waves keep rising higher and higher, until they break over everyone's head. You chaps just wait and see, nobody will lift a finger, but all the same there'll be a terrific upheaval. Instigating a thing like that gives me really quite particular pleasure." (174-175)
--Awful stuff. Gah. So, how can I rate this four stars? I guess it is simply this: Musil's prose (which the book's blurb so accurately describes as "claustrophobic" and "poetic") is immersive and engaging. The reader is bound and horrified. Further, I've never been able to understand the phrase "the banality of evil." Now, I might.
Note: I read the Wilkins and Kaiser Englishing, which was so good I forgot I was reading a translation.
June 4, 2022
Like a less interesting Lord of the Flies. Set in an exclusive boys boarding school it explores the idea that humans (although the body of literature would suggest it's more expensively educated boys) are naturally cruel and without scrutiny will act on these baser instincts, especially when in a group. It is prescient to the Stanford prison experiment as we have a group of early teenaged boys deciding to exert their own punishment upon a boy they have caught stealing. The victimisers couch their behaviour in various ways to make it more palatable – one has an Eastern mystic philosophical explanation, Torless to view as an objective observer – as they become increasingly sadistic.
A short book but one that had me looking forward to the end.
A short book but one that had me looking forward to the end.
March 3, 2024
Ein Anti-Entwicklungsroman: Das Chthonische schlägt zurück.
Inhalt: 5/5 Sterne (einzelpsychologische Vivisektion)
Form: 5/5 Sterne (Lücken erlaubendes, assoziatives, schwebendes Schreiben)
Komposition: 4/5 Sterne (konsistent, am Ende zu kurz abgehandelt)
Leseerlebnis: 5/5 Sterne (ein chthonisches gruselig Nachhallen)
Ausführlicher, vielleicht begründeter auf kommunikativeslesen.com
Neben den vielen aktuellen Coming-Of-Age-Romanen lohnt sich hier und da ein Blick zurück. Als gegenwärtige wären da u.a. zu nennen: Ariane Kochs „Die Aufdrängung“, Benedict Wells „Hard Land“, Claudia Schumachers „Liebe ist gewaltig“, Eckhart Nickels „Spitzweg“ oder Stephen Kings „Später“. All diese konzentrieren sich sehr auf die emotionale Berg- und Talfahrt im Erwachsenenleben, weniger aber auf das sogenannte Intellektuelle oder Geistige. Anders hier, in Robert Musils „Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß“:
„Diesen dunklen, geheimnisvollen Weg, den [Törleß] gegangen. Wenn sie ihn fragen würden: warum hast du Basini misshandelt? – so könnte er ihnen doch nicht antworten: weil mich dabei ein Vorgang in meinem Gehirn interessierte, ein Etwas, von dem ich heute trotz allem noch wenig weiß und vor dem alles, was ich darüber denke, mir belanglos erscheint. Dieser kleine Schritt, der ihn noch von dem Endpunkte des geistigen Prozesses trennte, den er durchzumachen hatte, schreckte ihn wie ein ungeheurer Abgrund.“
Der Plot lässt sich schnell umreißen. Zwei Jugendliche quälen, missbrauchen einen vierten, und Törleß als Vierter, springt mal dem Opfer, mal den Tätern unentschieden und mal aus geistiger, begehrlicher, moralischer oder zufälliger Hinsicht zur Seite. Die Struktur speist sich aus dem Ungenauen, das sich in Törleß abspielt, der kein Held gewöhnlicher Gestalt ist. In ihm verkörpert sich vielmehr ein gewisses zivilisatorisches Erlahmen, eine vorweggenommene Gestalt dessen, was als gescheiterte Aufklärung knapp zwanzig Jahres später Oswald Spengler in „Der Untergang des Abendlandes“ umreißen sollte. Auf den Text bezogen, Törleß vermag nicht mit intellektuellen Mitteln sein Begehren, seine Leidenschaft, seine Lust zu durchschreiten und verfällt er deshalb umso barbarischer und verantwortungsloser:
„Und nun begann Törleß doch noch zu schreiben, – aber hastig und ohne mehr auf die Form zu achten. »Ich fühle«, notierte er, »etwas in mir und weiß nicht recht, was es ist.« Rasch strich er aber die Zeile wieder durch und schrieb an ihrer Stelle: »Ich muss krank sein, – wahnsinnig!« Hier überlief ihn ein Schauer, denn dieses Wort empfindet sich angenehm pathetisch. »Wahnsinnig, – oder was ist es sonst, dass mich Dinge befremden, die den anderen alltäglich erscheinen? Dass mich dieses Befremden quält? Dass mir dieses Befremden unzüchtige Gefühle« – er wählte absichtlich dieses Wort voll biblischer Salbung, weil es ihn dunkler und voller dünkte – »erregt? «“
Dieser Coming-of-Age-Roman beschreibt, wie kein anderer, das Nicht-Coming-of-Age, denn Törleß verbleibt unentschieden, pendelnd, unsicher inmitten der Dinge, ohne Verantwortung und Selbstbewusstsein zu erlangen. Das Kalte und Leere, das sich in den Versuchen von Törleß widerspiegeln, steigern im Text sich zum Gespenstigen, zu einer Art unheimlichem Nachvollzugs eines Scheitern, eines Selbst, das vor sich zurückschreckt und letztlich in sich zusammenfällt. Das Grauen erinnert an Edgar Allan Poes Der Fall des Hauses Usher oder Das verräterische Herz. In Musils Debütroman vereist sich das Denken zu einer psychopathologischen Pattsituation, aus dem Törleß nicht mehr herausfindet:
„So wie ich [Törleß] fühle, dass ein Gedanke in mir Leben bekommt, so fühle ich auch, dass etwas in mir beim Anblicke der Dinge lebt, wenn die Gedanken schweigen. Es ist etwas Dunkles in mir, unter allen Gedanken, das ich mit den Gedanken nicht ausmessen kann, ein Leben, das sich nicht in Worten ausdrückt und das doch mein Leben ist ….“
Musil beschreibt das Heranwachsen eines unempfindlichen Individuums, das sich nur für die eigenen Sensationen, für den eigenen Thrill interessiert, und bereitet den Weg für die Darstellung von Figuren wie Patrick Bateman aus Bret Easton Ellis‘ Roman „American Psycho“ oder wie in Truman Capotes „Kaltblütig“. Auf seine Weise steht Musils Entwicklungsroman sehr eigenständig dar, eine vorweggenommene Ausdeutung dessen, was später die Dialektik der Aufklärung genannt wird und begrifflich das Scheitern der Aufklärung selbst zementiert. Das Chthonische hallt nach und schlägt in der Persona Törleß, ohne ein Wässerchen zu trüben, ungemindert zurück.
Inhalt: 5/5 Sterne (einzelpsychologische Vivisektion)
Form: 5/5 Sterne (Lücken erlaubendes, assoziatives, schwebendes Schreiben)
Komposition: 4/5 Sterne (konsistent, am Ende zu kurz abgehandelt)
Leseerlebnis: 5/5 Sterne (ein chthonisches gruselig Nachhallen)
Ausführlicher, vielleicht begründeter auf kommunikativeslesen.com
Neben den vielen aktuellen Coming-Of-Age-Romanen lohnt sich hier und da ein Blick zurück. Als gegenwärtige wären da u.a. zu nennen: Ariane Kochs „Die Aufdrängung“, Benedict Wells „Hard Land“, Claudia Schumachers „Liebe ist gewaltig“, Eckhart Nickels „Spitzweg“ oder Stephen Kings „Später“. All diese konzentrieren sich sehr auf die emotionale Berg- und Talfahrt im Erwachsenenleben, weniger aber auf das sogenannte Intellektuelle oder Geistige. Anders hier, in Robert Musils „Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß“:
„Diesen dunklen, geheimnisvollen Weg, den [Törleß] gegangen. Wenn sie ihn fragen würden: warum hast du Basini misshandelt? – so könnte er ihnen doch nicht antworten: weil mich dabei ein Vorgang in meinem Gehirn interessierte, ein Etwas, von dem ich heute trotz allem noch wenig weiß und vor dem alles, was ich darüber denke, mir belanglos erscheint. Dieser kleine Schritt, der ihn noch von dem Endpunkte des geistigen Prozesses trennte, den er durchzumachen hatte, schreckte ihn wie ein ungeheurer Abgrund.“
Der Plot lässt sich schnell umreißen. Zwei Jugendliche quälen, missbrauchen einen vierten, und Törleß als Vierter, springt mal dem Opfer, mal den Tätern unentschieden und mal aus geistiger, begehrlicher, moralischer oder zufälliger Hinsicht zur Seite. Die Struktur speist sich aus dem Ungenauen, das sich in Törleß abspielt, der kein Held gewöhnlicher Gestalt ist. In ihm verkörpert sich vielmehr ein gewisses zivilisatorisches Erlahmen, eine vorweggenommene Gestalt dessen, was als gescheiterte Aufklärung knapp zwanzig Jahres später Oswald Spengler in „Der Untergang des Abendlandes“ umreißen sollte. Auf den Text bezogen, Törleß vermag nicht mit intellektuellen Mitteln sein Begehren, seine Leidenschaft, seine Lust zu durchschreiten und verfällt er deshalb umso barbarischer und verantwortungsloser:
„Und nun begann Törleß doch noch zu schreiben, – aber hastig und ohne mehr auf die Form zu achten. »Ich fühle«, notierte er, »etwas in mir und weiß nicht recht, was es ist.« Rasch strich er aber die Zeile wieder durch und schrieb an ihrer Stelle: »Ich muss krank sein, – wahnsinnig!« Hier überlief ihn ein Schauer, denn dieses Wort empfindet sich angenehm pathetisch. »Wahnsinnig, – oder was ist es sonst, dass mich Dinge befremden, die den anderen alltäglich erscheinen? Dass mich dieses Befremden quält? Dass mir dieses Befremden unzüchtige Gefühle« – er wählte absichtlich dieses Wort voll biblischer Salbung, weil es ihn dunkler und voller dünkte – »erregt? «“
Dieser Coming-of-Age-Roman beschreibt, wie kein anderer, das Nicht-Coming-of-Age, denn Törleß verbleibt unentschieden, pendelnd, unsicher inmitten der Dinge, ohne Verantwortung und Selbstbewusstsein zu erlangen. Das Kalte und Leere, das sich in den Versuchen von Törleß widerspiegeln, steigern im Text sich zum Gespenstigen, zu einer Art unheimlichem Nachvollzugs eines Scheitern, eines Selbst, das vor sich zurückschreckt und letztlich in sich zusammenfällt. Das Grauen erinnert an Edgar Allan Poes Der Fall des Hauses Usher oder Das verräterische Herz. In Musils Debütroman vereist sich das Denken zu einer psychopathologischen Pattsituation, aus dem Törleß nicht mehr herausfindet:
„So wie ich [Törleß] fühle, dass ein Gedanke in mir Leben bekommt, so fühle ich auch, dass etwas in mir beim Anblicke der Dinge lebt, wenn die Gedanken schweigen. Es ist etwas Dunkles in mir, unter allen Gedanken, das ich mit den Gedanken nicht ausmessen kann, ein Leben, das sich nicht in Worten ausdrückt und das doch mein Leben ist ….“
Musil beschreibt das Heranwachsen eines unempfindlichen Individuums, das sich nur für die eigenen Sensationen, für den eigenen Thrill interessiert, und bereitet den Weg für die Darstellung von Figuren wie Patrick Bateman aus Bret Easton Ellis‘ Roman „American Psycho“ oder wie in Truman Capotes „Kaltblütig“. Auf seine Weise steht Musils Entwicklungsroman sehr eigenständig dar, eine vorweggenommene Ausdeutung dessen, was später die Dialektik der Aufklärung genannt wird und begrifflich das Scheitern der Aufklärung selbst zementiert. Das Chthonische hallt nach und schlägt in der Persona Törleß, ohne ein Wässerchen zu trüben, ungemindert zurück.
March 15, 2024
Wer ist Törleß und was beschäftigt ihn?
„Ihre Ränder verloren sich in dem ringsum zertretenen Boden und waren nur an zwei Reihen Akazienbäumen kenntlich, die traurig mit verdursteten, von Staub und Ruß erdrosselten Blättern zu beiden Seiten standen.
Machten es diese traurigen Farben, machte es das bleiche, kraftlose, durch den Dunst ermüdete Licht der Nachmittagssonne: Gegenstände und Menschen hatten etwas Gleichgültiges, Lebloses Mechanisches an sich, als seien sie aus der Szene eines Puppentheaters genommen.“
Ein junges Männlein, das gleichgültig und leblos durch seine Welt wabert. Das Gefühl, nur ausgetreten Fußspuren zu folgen und entdeckt: da ist so unfassbar viel Unverstandenes in mir, ein unausgefülltes Nichts, eine Sehnsucht, die verstörenden Genuss findet, an Dingen, die nicht sein sollen. Hilflosigkeit, Orientierungslosigkeit, Angst vor subtilen Empfindeleien, das Gefühl etwas verloren zu haben, von dem er nicht weiß was es ist.
„Er fühlte sich mehr denn je verlassen und auf verlornem Posten, aber in dieser Wehmut lag ein feines Vergnügen, ein Stolz, etwas Fremdes zu tun, einer unverstandenen Gottheit zu dienen. Und dann konnte wohl auch vorübergehend in seinen Augen etwas aufleuchten, das an den Aberwitz religiöser Ekstase gemahnte.
Zu Beginn des Buches versucht Törleß in Relexionen diese Empfindungen und Gedanken zu fassen und fühlt sie zurückweichen. Das Reale entzieht sich dem Symbolischen.
Er ermüdet schnell in diesen Reflexionen und zieht eine Mauer hoch.
Grundsätzlich verhandelt Musil die Grenzen formaler Systeme, anhand von Kant und den Übergang vom Konkreten, Verstandesmäßigem zum Unbekannten, Unsagbaren, Metaphysischen. Törleß ist Positivismuskritik und ein Mahnmal, wie jemand auf dem Weg zur Subjektivierung krepiert – sich im Erwachsenenalter an eine formale, abstrakte Moral hängt, ohne konkreten Inhalt des moralischen Lebens.
Er zählte dann zu jenen ästhetisch-intellektuellen Naturen, welchen die Beachtung der Gesetze und wohl auch teilweise der öffentlichen Moral eine Beruhigung gewährt, weil sie dadurch enthoben sind, über etwas Grobes, von dem feineren seelischen Geschehen Weitabliegendes nachdenken zu müssen, die aber eine gelangweilte Unempfindlichkeit mit dieser großen äußeren, ein wenig ironischen Korrektheit verbinden, sobald man ein persönlicheres Interesse für deren Gegenstände von ihnen verlangt.
Hauptsache nicht Denken! Bitte keine Reflexivität! Keine Versöhnung mit dem Anderen! Schöngeistige Fassade aufgelegt und auf zum Überwinden und Verdrängen! Gesetzgebende Moral auf Post it gepinnt, angeklebt und die Finsternis umschifft.
Huch, was machen die ganzen autoritären Gestalten hier?
__________________________________
Mein überfordertes Geblubber nach dem ersten Read (2021-02):
Ein sprachliches Fest- Musil versteht es die Pupertären Gefühlswirrungen in poetische, psychologisch ausdrucksstarke Worte und Beobachten zu packen, wie ich es noch nie gelesen habe. Jede Seite ist ein Fest mit Hunderten Möglichkeiten nachzusinnen. Ein Buch das ich nur sehr langsam lesen konnte, weil es eine solche Wucht hat.
„Ihre Ränder verloren sich in dem ringsum zertretenen Boden und waren nur an zwei Reihen Akazienbäumen kenntlich, die traurig mit verdursteten, von Staub und Ruß erdrosselten Blättern zu beiden Seiten standen.
Machten es diese traurigen Farben, machte es das bleiche, kraftlose, durch den Dunst ermüdete Licht der Nachmittagssonne: Gegenstände und Menschen hatten etwas Gleichgültiges, Lebloses Mechanisches an sich, als seien sie aus der Szene eines Puppentheaters genommen.“
Ein junges Männlein, das gleichgültig und leblos durch seine Welt wabert. Das Gefühl, nur ausgetreten Fußspuren zu folgen und entdeckt: da ist so unfassbar viel Unverstandenes in mir, ein unausgefülltes Nichts, eine Sehnsucht, die verstörenden Genuss findet, an Dingen, die nicht sein sollen. Hilflosigkeit, Orientierungslosigkeit, Angst vor subtilen Empfindeleien, das Gefühl etwas verloren zu haben, von dem er nicht weiß was es ist.
„Er fühlte sich mehr denn je verlassen und auf verlornem Posten, aber in dieser Wehmut lag ein feines Vergnügen, ein Stolz, etwas Fremdes zu tun, einer unverstandenen Gottheit zu dienen. Und dann konnte wohl auch vorübergehend in seinen Augen etwas aufleuchten, das an den Aberwitz religiöser Ekstase gemahnte.
Zu Beginn des Buches versucht Törleß in Relexionen diese Empfindungen und Gedanken zu fassen und fühlt sie zurückweichen. Das Reale entzieht sich dem Symbolischen.
Er ermüdet schnell in diesen Reflexionen und zieht eine Mauer hoch.
Grundsätzlich verhandelt Musil die Grenzen formaler Systeme, anhand von Kant und den Übergang vom Konkreten, Verstandesmäßigem zum Unbekannten, Unsagbaren, Metaphysischen. Törleß ist Positivismuskritik und ein Mahnmal, wie jemand auf dem Weg zur Subjektivierung krepiert – sich im Erwachsenenalter an eine formale, abstrakte Moral hängt, ohne konkreten Inhalt des moralischen Lebens.
Er zählte dann zu jenen ästhetisch-intellektuellen Naturen, welchen die Beachtung der Gesetze und wohl auch teilweise der öffentlichen Moral eine Beruhigung gewährt, weil sie dadurch enthoben sind, über etwas Grobes, von dem feineren seelischen Geschehen Weitabliegendes nachdenken zu müssen, die aber eine gelangweilte Unempfindlichkeit mit dieser großen äußeren, ein wenig ironischen Korrektheit verbinden, sobald man ein persönlicheres Interesse für deren Gegenstände von ihnen verlangt.
Hauptsache nicht Denken! Bitte keine Reflexivität! Keine Versöhnung mit dem Anderen! Schöngeistige Fassade aufgelegt und auf zum Überwinden und Verdrängen! Gesetzgebende Moral auf Post it gepinnt, angeklebt und die Finsternis umschifft.
Huch, was machen die ganzen autoritären Gestalten hier?
__________________________________
Mein überfordertes Geblubber nach dem ersten Read (2021-02):
Ein sprachliches Fest- Musil versteht es die Pupertären Gefühlswirrungen in poetische, psychologisch ausdrucksstarke Worte und Beobachten zu packen, wie ich es noch nie gelesen habe. Jede Seite ist ein Fest mit Hunderten Möglichkeiten nachzusinnen. Ein Buch das ich nur sehr langsam lesen konnte, weil es eine solche Wucht hat.
January 15, 2016
Törless is confused. Indeed, the title of this book, in some editions (not mine), is The Confusions of Young Törless. Skimming the plot surface of this book, Törless is a student in an Austrian military school. Two student-friends of Törless find out that yet another student, Basini, has been stealing small amounts of money. They proceed to sadistically, homosexually torture him. Törless finds himself aroused, and, thus, confused.
Törless finds himself in ...a frequent sudden lassitude ... with a queer uneasiness ... a tingling in his brain ... a fine-toothed doubt ... a vague feeling ... a foreboding that he was wasting his time ... a dense, gluey boredom ... a queer state that kept him awake ... utterly mangled ... with his suffocating heart ... he lay there, all wrapped up in his memories ... to say nothing of the light flittering feet of innumerable iridescent lizards.
I would have appreciated a sign that said: HERE BE LASSITUDE!
There are works of literature that are about one thing, but are really about the author's struggle with sexual identity. (I had a professor that was certain Kafka was crying out.) Young Törless is inside out of that. The plot is all about four boys engaged in homosexual acts, but that's not the point. Smarter folks than me have called this "a chilling foreshadowing of the coming of Nazism."(New York Times Book Review) But that's about 30 years of foreshadowing, so I don't know.
In order to fully understand what Musil is talking about in this novel, Nazis or otherwise, you'd need to have a working understanding of mathematical imaginary numbers and the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. I don't and you can't make me.
Törless finds himself in ...a frequent sudden lassitude ... with a queer uneasiness ... a tingling in his brain ... a fine-toothed doubt ... a vague feeling ... a foreboding that he was wasting his time ... a dense, gluey boredom ... a queer state that kept him awake ... utterly mangled ... with his suffocating heart ... he lay there, all wrapped up in his memories ... to say nothing of the light flittering feet of innumerable iridescent lizards.
I would have appreciated a sign that said: HERE BE LASSITUDE!
There are works of literature that are about one thing, but are really about the author's struggle with sexual identity. (I had a professor that was certain Kafka was crying out.) Young Törless is inside out of that. The plot is all about four boys engaged in homosexual acts, but that's not the point. Smarter folks than me have called this "a chilling foreshadowing of the coming of Nazism."(New York Times Book Review) But that's about 30 years of foreshadowing, so I don't know.
In order to fully understand what Musil is talking about in this novel, Nazis or otherwise, you'd need to have a working understanding of mathematical imaginary numbers and the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. I don't and you can't make me.
November 21, 2017
Bu nasıl bir psikolojik tahlil, ifade yeteneği, belagat? Şaştım kaldım Musil'e ^^ Mihail Bahtin dostum ağzımı doldura doldura diyorum ki halt etmişsin, üzgünüm :)
March 11, 2024
I'm floored that this is a novel from 1906. I got uncomfortable reading this on public transport because of how violent and intense it was. I was sucked in from early on, knowing nothing about this book whatsoever beside it being a classic. "A Bildungsroman, a story of a young disoriented man searching for moral values in society and their meaning for him" wikipedia says, and true enough, it is, but on a more basic level it's about depravity at a boarding school, about peer pressure and sexual awakenings and trying to make sense of an ultimately absurd world. It also read, at times, slightly unhinged, which just sucked me in more. That weird dream about Kant and his math teaching is going to haunt me. I breezed through this novel and will definitely read it again. The language is fantastic, the prose practical and yet unusual, and the content, well, actually shocked me - of course with the knowledge how long ago it was written, and how modern it feels in its core. I also found myself thinking "I wish this is what they meant with dark academia, then I'd read more of it!".
September 7, 2021
Terminata la lettura del libro ho riletto la recensione di Orsodimondo e l'ho trovata perfetta: ha centrato i temi essenziali ed è esaustiva al punto che non resta altro da aggiungere sui contenuti e sugli intenti.
Quello che posso riportare invece sono le mie impressioni: la lettura è stata per me di immersione totale, il sentire di Torless è narrato in maniera compiuta e, a tratti, la tematica universale, permette di riconoscere i conflitti tipici dell'adolescenza, l'anelito di appartenenza al gruppo, la richiesta ostentata di accettazione per trovare una confortevole zona di azione nella collettività.
E, a questo conformismo, il sacrificio della propria individualità è un tributo che appare irrilevante; almeno fintanto che la coscienza di sé non diventa invece condizione imprescindibile per crescere e affermarsi.
Un romanzo di formazione permeato di psicologia ma, come esplicitato da Musil stesso mediante lettere ai quotidiani, non da intendersi come dottrina scientifica da spiegare per far comprendere, ma come un vissuto riflessivo, per far "sentire" sulla pelle e nei sensi del lettore un coinvolgimento che vada oltre le singole vicende così come narrate, che quindi rivestono carattere accessorio e non pregiudizievole del congenito messaggio cosmico.
Per quanto mi riguarda ha centrato l'obiettivo.
"Egli paventava tali fantasie, conscio della perversità ch'era nel loro fondo, e temeva che prendessero sempre più potere su di lui. Ma quelle lo sopraffacevano nei momenti in cui credeva di essere più serio e più puro. Forse questo avveniva per reazione ad altri momenti, in cui intuiva esperienze sentimentali diverse, che maturavano in lui troppo precocemente. Una forza etica di grande finezza, nella fase iniziale del suo sviluppo, indebolisce l'anima, anche se di essa, un giorno, costituirà forse l'esperienza più audace; come se, nell' affondare le radici, dovesse sconvolgere il terreno, che le radici stesse, in futuro sosterranno. Per questo gli adolescenti di grande avvenire hanno, il più delle volte, un passato ricco d' umiliazioni."
Quello che posso riportare invece sono le mie impressioni: la lettura è stata per me di immersione totale, il sentire di Torless è narrato in maniera compiuta e, a tratti, la tematica universale, permette di riconoscere i conflitti tipici dell'adolescenza, l'anelito di appartenenza al gruppo, la richiesta ostentata di accettazione per trovare una confortevole zona di azione nella collettività.
E, a questo conformismo, il sacrificio della propria individualità è un tributo che appare irrilevante; almeno fintanto che la coscienza di sé non diventa invece condizione imprescindibile per crescere e affermarsi.
Un romanzo di formazione permeato di psicologia ma, come esplicitato da Musil stesso mediante lettere ai quotidiani, non da intendersi come dottrina scientifica da spiegare per far comprendere, ma come un vissuto riflessivo, per far "sentire" sulla pelle e nei sensi del lettore un coinvolgimento che vada oltre le singole vicende così come narrate, che quindi rivestono carattere accessorio e non pregiudizievole del congenito messaggio cosmico.
Per quanto mi riguarda ha centrato l'obiettivo.
"Egli paventava tali fantasie, conscio della perversità ch'era nel loro fondo, e temeva che prendessero sempre più potere su di lui. Ma quelle lo sopraffacevano nei momenti in cui credeva di essere più serio e più puro. Forse questo avveniva per reazione ad altri momenti, in cui intuiva esperienze sentimentali diverse, che maturavano in lui troppo precocemente. Una forza etica di grande finezza, nella fase iniziale del suo sviluppo, indebolisce l'anima, anche se di essa, un giorno, costituirà forse l'esperienza più audace; come se, nell' affondare le radici, dovesse sconvolgere il terreno, che le radici stesse, in futuro sosterranno. Per questo gli adolescenti di grande avvenire hanno, il più delle volte, un passato ricco d' umiliazioni."
December 8, 2022
روده درازی قرن هیجدهمی
توی لفافه حرف زدن، زیاد و پیچیده حرف زدن ، خسته شدم ازت مرد حسابی
توی لفافه حرف زدن، زیاد و پیچیده حرف زدن ، خسته شدم ازت مرد حسابی
December 11, 2017
The Confusions of Young Robert Musil
Semi-autobiographically little Robert slowly develops into an adolescent. Sensitive and insecure in the company of equally insecure boys without qualities, except being of respectable aristocratic families.
Coming-of-age in a boarding school environment where everyone is eager to prove his manhood (!) either by showing traces of intellect, by being the master bully or bragging of imaginary amorous adventures.
The long and winding road leading to climax is very foreseeable – for a man who studied both psychology and philosophy and even graduated the latter cum laude, the descriptions of the mechanisms at work in groups is quite weak.
Controversial for it´s time? Maybe, but even in Austria it was an open secret what boys did together after dark.
There is nothing of real interest to be obtained from this work, no new insight into human soul or behavior and nothing of historical significance. In short, it was a waste of time.
Semi-autobiographically little Robert slowly develops into an adolescent. Sensitive and insecure in the company of equally insecure boys without qualities, except being of respectable aristocratic families.
Coming-of-age in a boarding school environment where everyone is eager to prove his manhood (!) either by showing traces of intellect, by being the master bully or bragging of imaginary amorous adventures.
The long and winding road leading to climax is very foreseeable – for a man who studied both psychology and philosophy and even graduated the latter cum laude, the descriptions of the mechanisms at work in groups is quite weak.
Controversial for it´s time? Maybe, but even in Austria it was an open secret what boys did together after dark.
There is nothing of real interest to be obtained from this work, no new insight into human soul or behavior and nothing of historical significance. In short, it was a waste of time.
December 5, 2020
Τι μπορεί να πει κανείς για ένα τέτοιο βιβλίο?
Τολμηρό, ατμοσφαιρικό, περιεκτικό, προφητικό, φιλοσοφικό, καθόλου διδακτικό, απαιτητικό και σίγουρα αριστουργηματικό.
Ενηλικίωση, σεξουαλικότητα, αισθησιασμός, ενοχή, bullying, βαρβαρότητα, σαδισμός, ενδοσκόπηση, μελαγχολία, υποκρισία, όλα συνυπάρχουν.
Ο νεαρός Ταίρλες προσπαθεί να κάνει την υπέρβαση, αγωνίζεται να βάλει σε τάξη τις σκέψεις του, το σώμα τους, τις επιθυμίες του. Απαντήσεις δεν βρίσκει ούτε στα Μαθηματικά (και στους φανταστικούς αριθμούς), ούτε στον Κάντ. Έλκεται από το κακό αλλά παραμένει θεατής και θύτης της βίας που υπάρχει στους σκοτεινο��ς χώρους της στρατιωτικής ακαδημίας.
Αφήγημα με στοιχεία Bildungsroman αλλά χωρίς κάθαρση, λύσεις και απαντήσεις όπου ο πρωταγωνιστής απλά τρέπεται σε φυγή.
Ανυπομονώ να διαβάσω τον “Άνθρωπος χωρίς Ιδιότητες”
Τολμηρό, ατμοσφαιρικό, περιεκτικό, προφητικό, φιλοσοφικό, καθόλου διδακτικό, απαιτητικό και σίγουρα αριστουργηματικό.
Ενηλικίωση, σεξουαλικότητα, αισθησιασμός, ενοχή, bullying, βαρβαρότητα, σαδισμός, ενδοσκόπηση, μελαγχολία, υποκρισία, όλα συνυπάρχουν.
Ο νεαρός Ταίρλες προσπαθεί να κάνει την υπέρβαση, αγωνίζεται να βάλει σε τάξη τις σκέψεις του, το σώμα τους, τις επιθυμίες του. Απαντήσεις δεν βρίσκει ούτε στα Μαθηματικά (και στους φανταστικούς αριθμούς), ούτε στον Κάντ. Έλκεται από το κακό αλλά παραμένει θεατής και θύτης της βίας που υπάρχει στους σκοτεινο��ς χώρους της στρατιωτικής ακαδημίας.
Αφήγημα με στοιχεία Bildungsroman αλλά χωρίς κάθαρση, λύσεις και απαντήσεις όπου ο πρωταγωνιστής απλά τρέπεται σε φυγή.
Ανυπομονώ να διαβάσω τον “Άνθρωπος χωρίς Ιδιότητες”
February 26, 2020
Con quella fine analisi introspettiva e psicologica che caratterizza molti dei suoi scritti, in questo splendido romanzo di formazione Musil traccia la crescita personale, intellettuale e, soprattutto spirituale del giovane Törless, la scoperta del sé che passa tra luci e ombre, tra sessualità e sofferenza e non esita certo a sprofondare anche nel disgusto o nella disillusione quando si ritrova a fare i conti con la bassa crudeltà umana. Un percorso complesso e spesso incerto, compreso in un costante stato riflessivo che, in ultima analisi, porta alla scoperta di una diversità quasi inconciliabile con un contesto esterno gretto e ottuso.
June 4, 2018
Dobro, to je taj problem sa ocenjivanjem. Knjigama koje nemaju velike ciljeve olako dajemo silne zvezdice dok prema knjigama velikih majstora koje ne uspeju sve što žele često budemo previše strogi. Nije ovo loša knjiga, možda sam preterao s trojkom ali, nažalost, nije ni za pet. Ovo je Muzilova prva knjiga koju je napisao i to u vreme dok još nije pomišljao da se u potpunosti posveti pisanju. Tako, uopšte ne može da se poredi s Čovekom bez osobina. Očigledno je da se ovde još uvek tražio. Tražio se i stilski. Vidi se da je Muzil od početka bio čovek koji nije pristajao na kompromise. Vidi se i njegov stav da umetnost pre svega treba da tera na razmišljanje. Ovo je roman koji ima mnogo nivoa. Ali ovde još nije uspeo da dođe do one raskošne filozofije iz svog glavnog dela. Doduše, to mu ovde nije ni glavni cilj. Ovde je više u prvom planu psihologija, razvoj i problematičan položaj slabih i slobodnomislećih dečaka u vojnoj školi i uopšte u autoritarnom svetu. Takođe, otvara i škakljiva pitanja eksperimentisanja sa homoseksualnošću i surovošću mladića u takvim sredinama. Da, ima filozofiranja i stalno se smenjuju delovi dijaloga i radnje sa razradom filozofskih muka mladog čoveka ali ništa od toga meni nije od nekog značaja. I to mi je osnovni problem, nedorečenost i nedovoljna relevantnost (barem za mene) razmišljanja u ovoj knjizi. U smislu, mogao sam i bez ove knjige i sumnjam da ću joj se vraćati. Malo mi je i sve konfuzno. Ali sve to ne znači, da se kajem što sam potrošio par sati teško se probijajući kroz ovaj roman. I još uvek imam želju da pročitam i ostala njegova dela.
March 1, 2011
The New York Times Book Review was supposed to have said that this novel, published in 1906, was a chilling foreshadowing of the coming of Nazism. That, I feel, was a bit of a stretch.
Four young men in an all-boys military school in Austria, maybe sometime the start of 20th century. Torless, with his heavy philosophical musings, and around whom the story is built; Basini, weak and victimized; Beineberg, the mad (silly, to me) mystic; and Reiting, the manipulator who revels on torture. At the side (of the story, and of the school too) is a house where an aging prostitute lives. As expected, what with these good-looking boys with raging libido and no girls on sight (except a prostitute who mocks them), there were some boy-and-boy loving. Then, the bullying and abuse by the strong against the weak.
Admittedly, Beineberg's crazy ideas, though not racist, may be likened to Hitler's own, to some degree. He and Reiting, with their adolescent cruelty, could conceivably have grown into full-blown Nazis by the 1930's. Still, however, they were not that unusual. There are bullies and lunatics in all schools, even up to now.
Trying to understand what Torless was saying, in the midst of all these, was the torture for me. One can say they were too deep for me to understand. Another might say, however, that they're just plain baloney. Whatever.
Four young men in an all-boys military school in Austria, maybe sometime the start of 20th century. Torless, with his heavy philosophical musings, and around whom the story is built; Basini, weak and victimized; Beineberg, the mad (silly, to me) mystic; and Reiting, the manipulator who revels on torture. At the side (of the story, and of the school too) is a house where an aging prostitute lives. As expected, what with these good-looking boys with raging libido and no girls on sight (except a prostitute who mocks them), there were some boy-and-boy loving. Then, the bullying and abuse by the strong against the weak.
Admittedly, Beineberg's crazy ideas, though not racist, may be likened to Hitler's own, to some degree. He and Reiting, with their adolescent cruelty, could conceivably have grown into full-blown Nazis by the 1930's. Still, however, they were not that unusual. There are bullies and lunatics in all schools, even up to now.
Trying to understand what Torless was saying, in the midst of all these, was the torture for me. One can say they were too deep for me to understand. Another might say, however, that they're just plain baloney. Whatever.
April 19, 2019
Decadent Austro-Hungarian kids torture and sodomize a classmate as a rehearsal of the upper-class adulthood awaiting them out of the military academy.
Physical and psychological harassment!
A crumbling empire!
Pre-nazi post-sadism galore!
Depravity!
Pseudo-Freudian expressionism!
The chance to hear the bookshop assistant's ooohs and aaahs as you put a book by Robert Musil on the counter!
No need to say I licked my lips as soon as I read the blurb. Boy, I must have looked like Wile E. Coyote drooling after the Road Runner.
Ahem.
Mährisch Weisskirschen, Moravia, around 1900.
Three teen cadets of a military school spend their time hiding in attics and cellars turned into impromptu boudoirs, eating pastries and paying weekly visits to a Slavic pockmarked whore in the nearby village. Spoiled brats get easily bored though, especially when they also happen to be mad as they come, as the author tells us from the very beginning.
We know little more about them: no first names, no information about their origins and age, the fewest possible descriptions of their looks. All the author really wants us to keep in mind is that these kids are utterly insane, each of them in his own way.
Törless, the protagonist, is obsessed with sex and quite keen on introspection and self-abasement. His mind is haunted by fantasies of blasphemy and incest (more precisely, he gets off imagining her mother's sexual life). Hence his morbid attraction to the scum, seen as a means to fill an existential void made of the feeling of not belonging in either his own social class nor in the dirty populace, both of which fascinate and disgust him at the same time.
Beineberg is even more disquieting in his potentially murderous ennui: a Mitteleuropean dandy, between Des Esseintes and De Sade's beastly aristocrats, fond of cheap esotericism and weird Hindu philosophy, a hodgepodge of exotic bullshit that allows him to escape his frightening lack of any morals whatsoever.
Last but not least, Reiting - whose violent nature is cunningly sublimated in a destructive, asocial behaviour. This sadistic sociopath, born in a controversial (half ruined?) family and brimming with frustrated dreams of juvenile grandeur, is the basic asshole whose only aim is the objectification of his victim, devoid of any sort of intellectual subtlety.
Quite different natures indeed; unfortunately enough, they all share a penchant for (homo)sexually charged violence that finds the perfect victim - perhaps a scapegoat - in a fourth boy, Basini (clearly Italian origins), a creepy weakling bound to be mercilessly exploited by the depraved trio.
To be honest, nobody would ever shed a tear for him: Basini is so disgustingly opportunist that he hardly stirs up any feeling of sympathy in the reader. What follows is quite predictable: in the eyes of the perpetrators, Basini is the nameless, faceless, voiceless and soulless Untermensch: the less-than-human creature made to be enslaved, thus enduring all its masters' whimsical fantasies. When a farcical series of petty thefts puts the kid in their hands, the boys lose control once and for all.
Although Musil's clever writing never indulges in detailed descriptions of sex and brutality, he basically tells us about a homosexual gang-rape that takes place in a dusty backroom, with plenty of sadistic acts as foreplay - including the use of whips and needles. From this moment on, each of the three buddies gets increasingly involved in experimenting his peculiar version of abusive lust, desires that go beyond mere sex and manifest themselves in the forms of psychological torments (Törless), parodies of tantric spirituality (Beineberg) and sheer old-school sadism (Reiting).
According to Musil, a former student of Weisskirchen college himself, this short novel is full of autobiographical hints and true memories. Although slightly altered for the author's fictional purposes, both the events and the setting are thus supposed to be painfully real; after all, R. M. Rilke gave a similar description of Weisskirchen, which he had also attended a few years before Musil.
Even if the writing style is far from being perfect (in my opinion, that is) this debut novel is amazingly interesting and complex. I dare say it provides the reader with an unexpected insight in the years that shaped last century's collective and individual psyche. No doubt the passages of Törless' musings and ramblings are way too long and often repetitive; they're nonetheless a great example of how deeply the newborn science of psychoanalysis was influencing European literature and arts.
Bildungsroman? Yes, but also a surprisingly good depiction of an era we hardly know and fathom in all its momentous importance.
Forget about the stereotypical idea of a repressive, heavy-handed education in which the students' vulnerable minds are violated with huge doses of ossified culture, religiosity and militarism. On the contrary, what truly scares here is the educational void of the institutions, the total lack of direction and meaning of a whole culture.
Teachers are hardly ever mentioned, let aside a few passages in which they are actually caricatures of themselves. Families are equally non-existent or toxic: mothers seen as ghosts awakening Œdipal pulsions, fathers dismissed as entities floating in a limbo of oblivion. Religion is nothing more than a school lesson nobody cares about. All in all, in such a desert of boredom and hopelessness the claustrophobic atmosphere of the college, so drenched in lust and violence, is the only conceivable way out.
No wonder some of these brats joined the highest ranks of the Nazi party when the real fun began, a couple of decades later, overjoyed to take part in the orgy of blood and lust they probably had been craving since their teens.
Hard to believe this book was written in 1906, huh? But then one must bear in mind these were the years of Freud, Viennese Secession, Die Brücke, Fauvism... Musil's little psychos were indeed the first product of a world that was ridding itself of the burden of the past without daring to take a closer look to the present: a present of moral exhaustion and irrationality in which all the pillars of the old world - State, Family, Church, Army - were walking dead, eaten from within by the worms of their terrifying emptiness.
Musil's characters are certainly the embodiment of his times. However, the reader of nowadays is able to look at them from an even darker perspective: that of the future. We know what was going to happen a few years later to most of these youngsters, a whole generation who would be butchered in the blood-soaked, shitty ratholes of WW1; well-groomed pretty junkers merrily sent to be machine-gunned, eviscerated by hand grenades, killed by typhus in the name of their sacred Country and respectable Families.
Because,
"La bourgeoisie n'a jamais hésité même à tuer ses fils."
Suggested soundtrack: Dum Dum Girls, "Lost Boys And Girls Club".
Physical and psychological harassment!
A crumbling empire!
Pre-nazi post-sadism galore!
Depravity!
Pseudo-Freudian expressionism!
The chance to hear the bookshop assistant's ooohs and aaahs as you put a book by Robert Musil on the counter!
No need to say I licked my lips as soon as I read the blurb. Boy, I must have looked like Wile E. Coyote drooling after the Road Runner.
Ahem.
Mährisch Weisskirschen, Moravia, around 1900.
Three teen cadets of a military school spend their time hiding in attics and cellars turned into impromptu boudoirs, eating pastries and paying weekly visits to a Slavic pockmarked whore in the nearby village. Spoiled brats get easily bored though, especially when they also happen to be mad as they come, as the author tells us from the very beginning.
We know little more about them: no first names, no information about their origins and age, the fewest possible descriptions of their looks. All the author really wants us to keep in mind is that these kids are utterly insane, each of them in his own way.
Törless, the protagonist, is obsessed with sex and quite keen on introspection and self-abasement. His mind is haunted by fantasies of blasphemy and incest (more precisely, he gets off imagining her mother's sexual life). Hence his morbid attraction to the scum, seen as a means to fill an existential void made of the feeling of not belonging in either his own social class nor in the dirty populace, both of which fascinate and disgust him at the same time.
Beineberg is even more disquieting in his potentially murderous ennui: a Mitteleuropean dandy, between Des Esseintes and De Sade's beastly aristocrats, fond of cheap esotericism and weird Hindu philosophy, a hodgepodge of exotic bullshit that allows him to escape his frightening lack of any morals whatsoever.
Last but not least, Reiting - whose violent nature is cunningly sublimated in a destructive, asocial behaviour. This sadistic sociopath, born in a controversial (half ruined?) family and brimming with frustrated dreams of juvenile grandeur, is the basic asshole whose only aim is the objectification of his victim, devoid of any sort of intellectual subtlety.
Quite different natures indeed; unfortunately enough, they all share a penchant for (homo)sexually charged violence that finds the perfect victim - perhaps a scapegoat - in a fourth boy, Basini (clearly Italian origins), a creepy weakling bound to be mercilessly exploited by the depraved trio.
To be honest, nobody would ever shed a tear for him: Basini is so disgustingly opportunist that he hardly stirs up any feeling of sympathy in the reader. What follows is quite predictable: in the eyes of the perpetrators, Basini is the nameless, faceless, voiceless and soulless Untermensch: the less-than-human creature made to be enslaved, thus enduring all its masters' whimsical fantasies. When a farcical series of petty thefts puts the kid in their hands, the boys lose control once and for all.
Although Musil's clever writing never indulges in detailed descriptions of sex and brutality, he basically tells us about a homosexual gang-rape that takes place in a dusty backroom, with plenty of sadistic acts as foreplay - including the use of whips and needles. From this moment on, each of the three buddies gets increasingly involved in experimenting his peculiar version of abusive lust, desires that go beyond mere sex and manifest themselves in the forms of psychological torments (Törless), parodies of tantric spirituality (Beineberg) and sheer old-school sadism (Reiting).
According to Musil, a former student of Weisskirchen college himself, this short novel is full of autobiographical hints and true memories. Although slightly altered for the author's fictional purposes, both the events and the setting are thus supposed to be painfully real; after all, R. M. Rilke gave a similar description of Weisskirchen, which he had also attended a few years before Musil.
Even if the writing style is far from being perfect (in my opinion, that is) this debut novel is amazingly interesting and complex. I dare say it provides the reader with an unexpected insight in the years that shaped last century's collective and individual psyche. No doubt the passages of Törless' musings and ramblings are way too long and often repetitive; they're nonetheless a great example of how deeply the newborn science of psychoanalysis was influencing European literature and arts.
Bildungsroman? Yes, but also a surprisingly good depiction of an era we hardly know and fathom in all its momentous importance.
Forget about the stereotypical idea of a repressive, heavy-handed education in which the students' vulnerable minds are violated with huge doses of ossified culture, religiosity and militarism. On the contrary, what truly scares here is the educational void of the institutions, the total lack of direction and meaning of a whole culture.
Teachers are hardly ever mentioned, let aside a few passages in which they are actually caricatures of themselves. Families are equally non-existent or toxic: mothers seen as ghosts awakening Œdipal pulsions, fathers dismissed as entities floating in a limbo of oblivion. Religion is nothing more than a school lesson nobody cares about. All in all, in such a desert of boredom and hopelessness the claustrophobic atmosphere of the college, so drenched in lust and violence, is the only conceivable way out.
No wonder some of these brats joined the highest ranks of the Nazi party when the real fun began, a couple of decades later, overjoyed to take part in the orgy of blood and lust they probably had been craving since their teens.
Hard to believe this book was written in 1906, huh? But then one must bear in mind these were the years of Freud, Viennese Secession, Die Brücke, Fauvism... Musil's little psychos were indeed the first product of a world that was ridding itself of the burden of the past without daring to take a closer look to the present: a present of moral exhaustion and irrationality in which all the pillars of the old world - State, Family, Church, Army - were walking dead, eaten from within by the worms of their terrifying emptiness.
Musil's characters are certainly the embodiment of his times. However, the reader of nowadays is able to look at them from an even darker perspective: that of the future. We know what was going to happen a few years later to most of these youngsters, a whole generation who would be butchered in the blood-soaked, shitty ratholes of WW1; well-groomed pretty junkers merrily sent to be machine-gunned, eviscerated by hand grenades, killed by typhus in the name of their sacred Country and respectable Families.
Because,
"La bourgeoisie n'a jamais hésité même à tuer ses fils."
Suggested soundtrack: Dum Dum Girls, "Lost Boys And Girls Club".
May 3, 2022
Partamos de que esta novela fue escrita en 1906, y habla sobre homosexualidad. Por más Austria, Alemania y Suiza que fueran, sin duda fue un gran rompedor de esquemas morales de la época. Y es que me atrevería a decir que fue uno de los primeros escritores modernos en tratar de un modo crudo y a la vez profundo el deseo masculino. Así, a secas, pues pese a que las escenas homoeróticas podrían llevarnos a pensar que se trata de un punto de vista de lo queer o lo exclusivamente homosexual, lo cierto es que Musil va mucho más allá de la connotación de orientación sexual al intentar desentrañar el origen mismo del deseo, el placer y la fruición, por un lado. Y por otro, la dinámica de las relaciones de poder y el abuso. Son los mecanismos internos de ello y no los resultados, lo que le interesa al autor.
Premisa de entrada arriesgada y que se puede fundir en los mecanismos propios de la ficción. Y de hecho, eso es lo que hace. Musil -entre las varias cosas que estudió- también se especializó en psicología experimental y esta disciplina es precisamente la que envuelve a toda la novela. Y quizás a toda la obra de Musil, pues su mayor característica narrativa es la de intentar adentrarse en las motivaciones profundas de sus personajes, desde su cualidad como hombres o mujeres; aunque en estas exploraciones profundas haya mucho de ideas entretejidas por el propio autor, que no necesariamente obedecen a una observación del comportamiento humano. Es decir, Musil a la vez que revela los condicionamientos del subconsciente, los hace bailar a su ritmo de autor de ficción. Hay revelaciones cruciales y profundas en esa exploración de la psiquis de sus personajes pero también hay material esculpido en la base del espíritu humano, en lo cual creo que radica la genialidad de Musil: ser un gran escultor de la condición del ser.
Las tribulaciones del estudiante Törless son eso. Las tribulaciones de un estudiante de una escuela militar, quizás las que el propio Musil tuvo alguna vez, pues asistió a una academia de ese tipo, por lo que también podría haber algo de autoficción. Ahora, esas tribulaciones son confrontadas de forma cada vez más retorcida, cruenta y profunda. La violencia propia de escuelas de adiestramiento militar empieza a buscar explicaciones apelando a una lógica acomodaticia, pseudo-moral y filosófica, altamente maniquea y manipuladora, de manos de dos de sus compañeros, quienes la ejercen hacia un tercero; mientras el atribulado Törless hace lo propio con sus creencias, su psiquis y su intelecto. Hay una explicación por encima de la verdad matemática irrefutable, a la que Törless se rebela y cuestiona: la exactitud matemática es ficción, no existe en el plano real, por lo tanto, todo lo demás es cuestionable, incluso el espíritu humano. Y de esto va la novela, escrita con ese estilo muy propio de Musil, lleno de metáforas y símiles, sin llegar a ser poético, sino por el contrario, haciendo un uso exclusivamente mental e intelectivo de estas figuras literarias, y anunciándolo cada vez que lo hace.
Por lo demás, esperen unas cuantas escenas despiadadas y retorcidas que sorprenden sobre todo por la época en la que fueron escritas. Ello no obstante, no es gratuito y está estructurado conforme a esa exploración profunda de la que he hablado en esta reseña. Musil no es para todos y no es de lectura simple (aunque en apariencia lo sea en esta novela), pero tiene una forma exquisita, brillante y a la vez enmarañada de construir a sus personajes, que resultan de una intensidad inusitada, y eso lo convierte en un autor imprescindible del Siglo XX. Por último, algo que me deja pensando es si Vargas Llosa habrá leído esta novela cuando escribió "La ciudad y los perros"... (no son comparables, pero hay un evidente paralelismo).
Premisa de entrada arriesgada y que se puede fundir en los mecanismos propios de la ficción. Y de hecho, eso es lo que hace. Musil -entre las varias cosas que estudió- también se especializó en psicología experimental y esta disciplina es precisamente la que envuelve a toda la novela. Y quizás a toda la obra de Musil, pues su mayor característica narrativa es la de intentar adentrarse en las motivaciones profundas de sus personajes, desde su cualidad como hombres o mujeres; aunque en estas exploraciones profundas haya mucho de ideas entretejidas por el propio autor, que no necesariamente obedecen a una observación del comportamiento humano. Es decir, Musil a la vez que revela los condicionamientos del subconsciente, los hace bailar a su ritmo de autor de ficción. Hay revelaciones cruciales y profundas en esa exploración de la psiquis de sus personajes pero también hay material esculpido en la base del espíritu humano, en lo cual creo que radica la genialidad de Musil: ser un gran escultor de la condición del ser.
Las tribulaciones del estudiante Törless son eso. Las tribulaciones de un estudiante de una escuela militar, quizás las que el propio Musil tuvo alguna vez, pues asistió a una academia de ese tipo, por lo que también podría haber algo de autoficción. Ahora, esas tribulaciones son confrontadas de forma cada vez más retorcida, cruenta y profunda. La violencia propia de escuelas de adiestramiento militar empieza a buscar explicaciones apelando a una lógica acomodaticia, pseudo-moral y filosófica, altamente maniquea y manipuladora, de manos de dos de sus compañeros, quienes la ejercen hacia un tercero; mientras el atribulado Törless hace lo propio con sus creencias, su psiquis y su intelecto. Hay una explicación por encima de la verdad matemática irrefutable, a la que Törless se rebela y cuestiona: la exactitud matemática es ficción, no existe en el plano real, por lo tanto, todo lo demás es cuestionable, incluso el espíritu humano. Y de esto va la novela, escrita con ese estilo muy propio de Musil, lleno de metáforas y símiles, sin llegar a ser poético, sino por el contrario, haciendo un uso exclusivamente mental e intelectivo de estas figuras literarias, y anunciándolo cada vez que lo hace.
Por lo demás, esperen unas cuantas escenas despiadadas y retorcidas que sorprenden sobre todo por la época en la que fueron escritas. Ello no obstante, no es gratuito y está estructurado conforme a esa exploración profunda de la que he hablado en esta reseña. Musil no es para todos y no es de lectura simple (aunque en apariencia lo sea en esta novela), pero tiene una forma exquisita, brillante y a la vez enmarañada de construir a sus personajes, que resultan de una intensidad inusitada, y eso lo convierte en un autor imprescindible del Siglo XX. Por último, algo que me deja pensando es si Vargas Llosa habrá leído esta novela cuando escribió "La ciudad y los perros"... (no son comparables, pero hay un evidente paralelismo).
March 18, 2023
Il voto è la media del voto delle due opere. Il giovane Törless è probabilmente uno dei libri meglio scritti che abbia mai letto: la scrittura di Musil è elegantissima, è una prosa analitica (in senso per lo più psicanalitico, volta a scandagliare il mondo interiore del protagonista, Törless) coadiuvata spesso da similitudini che gli conferiscono anche un'aurea modestamente poetica, senza mai risultare pesante, anzi. Il romanzo verte su un intreccio semplicissimo, ossia l'educazione sessuale di Törless in collegio, trama svoltasi nel giro circa di due sole settimane. È il racconto dell'iniziazione di Törless al mondo adulto, non soltanto da un punto di vista sessuale, ma anche intellettuale: lo studente scopre grazie al turbamento procuratogli dalla scoperta del sesso (e dal rapporto omosessuale che ne è alla base) una sensibilità interiore, soprattutto di matrice matematica (autobiografica), che lo eleva al di sopra sia del decadimento morale in cui è invischiato (e che inconsciamente ricerca nella sua giovinezza con voluttà) sia al di sopra dei due camerati più grandi, gli spietati Beineberg e Reiting, tutti tesi con le loro strambe congetture (interessante è il superomismo di Beineberg, a cui a volta sembra Musil concedere una certa simpatia) a giustificare i loro rapporti omosessuali.
I Congiungimenti sono invece un testo molto più sperimentale: 3 racconti in cui la trama è così ridotta all'osso da ruotare attorno a singoli episodi, e in cui la scrittura di Musil diventa psicanalizzante e poetica all'inverosimile. I tre racconti vertono particolarmente sul tema canonico dell'amore, ma indagato nella particolare chiave pessimistica di Musil, ossia nella inconciliabilità dei due amanti e sulla spinta completamente irrazionale del desiderio sessuale, il tutto sancendo il fallimento (prima quasi che la scienza nascesse) della psicanalisi: Musil dichiara velatamente l'inesplorabilità della coscienza umana nella sua interezza. Per quanto le tematiche siano suggestivissime, l'eccessiva densità della prosa, l'eccessivo dilungarsi sull'interiorità dei personaggi (perlopiù femminili), rendono la lettura del testo quasi asfissiante.
I Congiungimenti sono invece un testo molto più sperimentale: 3 racconti in cui la trama è così ridotta all'osso da ruotare attorno a singoli episodi, e in cui la scrittura di Musil diventa psicanalizzante e poetica all'inverosimile. I tre racconti vertono particolarmente sul tema canonico dell'amore, ma indagato nella particolare chiave pessimistica di Musil, ossia nella inconciliabilità dei due amanti e sulla spinta completamente irrazionale del desiderio sessuale, il tutto sancendo il fallimento (prima quasi che la scienza nascesse) della psicanalisi: Musil dichiara velatamente l'inesplorabilità della coscienza umana nella sua interezza. Per quanto le tematiche siano suggestivissime, l'eccessiva densità della prosa, l'eccessivo dilungarsi sull'interiorità dei personaggi (perlopiù femminili), rendono la lettura del testo quasi asfissiante.
February 6, 2017
Πρόκειται για το πρώτο -και καλύτερο- βιβλίο του Musil που γράφτηκε πριν τον Α' Παγκόσμιο πόλεμο. Ο συγγραφέας έπιασε τον παλμό της εποχής του, παρατηρώντας πράγματα και γεγονότα, και έγραψε ένα βιβλίο σχεδόν προφητικό, μιας και περιέγραψε με διορατικό τρόπο την άνοδο του ναζισμού.Ταυτόχρονα, αποτελεί και μια ανάλυση της εφηβείας και της "σύγχυσης " (ηθικής, ερωτικής κλπ) που τη συνοδεύει.
Το μυθιστόρημα έχει 3 διακριτές ενότητες: η πρώτη είναι εισαγωγική με πολλές αναδρομές στο παρελθόν του Ταίρλες, η δεύτερη αποτελεί την κύρια υπόθεση και η τρίτη αποτελεί την κορύφωση της υπόθεσης με τελικό αποτέλεσμα τη φυγή του Ταίρλες από το οικοτροφείο.
Η ομοφυλοφιλία , ένα από τα θέματα που θίγονται, είναι σύμφωνα με τα λεγόμενα του συγγραφέα μια τυχαία επιλογή, μιας και (πάλι σύμφωνα με τον ίδιο) θα μπορούσε να υπάρχει και γυναίκα ηρωίδα και η πλοκή να περιλαμβάνει άλλα "ταμπού" θέματα, όπως σαδισμός, μαζοχισμός φετιχισμός κλπ.
Έτσι,καταλαβαίνω γιατί ενόχλησε πολλούς στην εποχή του (και σίγουρα ενοχλεί πολλούς και σήμερα).
Ένα βιβλίο που χάρη στη γραφή του συγγραφέα και την υπόθεσή του διαβάζεται αβίαστα και μονορούφι.
Το μυθιστόρημα έχει 3 διακριτές ενότητες: η πρώτη είναι εισαγωγική με πολλές αναδρομές στο παρελθόν του Ταίρλες, η δεύτερη αποτελεί την κύρια υπόθεση και η τρίτη αποτελεί την κορύφωση της υπόθεσης με τελικό αποτέλεσμα τη φυγή του Ταίρλες από το οικοτροφείο.
Η ομοφυλοφιλία , ένα από τα θέματα που θίγονται, είναι σύμφωνα με τα λεγόμενα του συγγραφέα μια τυχαία επιλογή, μιας και (πάλι σύμφωνα με τον ίδιο) θα μπορούσε να υπάρχει και γυναίκα ηρωίδα και η πλοκή να περιλαμβάνει άλλα "ταμπού" θέματα, όπως σαδισμός, μαζοχισμός φετιχισμός κλπ.
Έτσι,καταλαβαίνω γιατί ενόχλησε πολλούς στην εποχή του (και σίγουρα ενοχλεί πολλούς και σήμερα).
Ένα βιβλίο που χάρη στη γραφή του συγγραφέα και την υπόθεσή του διαβάζεται αβίαστα και μονορούφι.
April 8, 2024
Törless si autopsicanalizza e psicanalizza gli altri e il mondo (è pure un pochetto parac¥£o alla fine, lasciatemelo scherzosamente affermare).
Törless contiene moltitudini di emozioni, pensieri, idee, anime e qualità (vuoi vedere che è una versione di Ulrich de L'uomo senza qualità? Lo appurerò a breve); le contiene tutte come embrioni di possibilità o non possibilità.
Törless sa cogliere la piccolezza, la solitudine, la pochezza, l'inadeguatezza dell'uomo di fronte all'universo tutto e sa dire perfettamente, come mai ho letto prima, quanto metamorfica, mostruosa, esaltante, devastante, triste e gioiosa sia l'età che non è più fanciulla ma neppure è adulta.
"[...]sentiva di essere tutto solo sotto quella volta immota e silente, gli sembrava di essere un piccolo punto vivo sotto quell'immane cadavere trasparente."
Musil esordisce con questo gioiello, con questo saggio filosofico sull'adolescenza, con questa prosa lucida e cristallina. Aveva solo 26 anni.
Törless contiene moltitudini di emozioni, pensieri, idee, anime e qualità (vuoi vedere che è una versione di Ulrich de L'uomo senza qualità? Lo appurerò a breve); le contiene tutte come embrioni di possibilità o non possibilità.
Törless sa cogliere la piccolezza, la solitudine, la pochezza, l'inadeguatezza dell'uomo di fronte all'universo tutto e sa dire perfettamente, come mai ho letto prima, quanto metamorfica, mostruosa, esaltante, devastante, triste e gioiosa sia l'età che non è più fanciulla ma neppure è adulta.
"[...]sentiva di essere tutto solo sotto quella volta immota e silente, gli sembrava di essere un piccolo punto vivo sotto quell'immane cadavere trasparente."
Musil esordisce con questo gioiello, con questo saggio filosofico sull'adolescenza, con questa prosa lucida e cristallina. Aveva solo 26 anni.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 781 reviews