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Loring Wirbel

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The Man Without Qualities: Volume I

by Robert Musil

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in October 2012

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Loring Wirbel said: " Perhaps it isn't fair to review this work at the end of Vol. 1, but since Goodreads separates the two volumes, I'll give a midway assessment of the story up to now. Some reviewers rave about Musil as the missing link between Proust and Joyce, or Pro Perhaps it isn't fair to review this work at the end of Vol. 1, but since Goodreads separates the two volumes, I'll give a midway assessment of the story up to now. Some reviewers rave about Musil as the missing link between Proust and Joyce, or Proust and Pynchon. I'm not so sure he's engaging enough to be considered Pynchon-on-the-Danube, but he's certainly more fun to read than Proust. In fact, this book seems very modernist for something written in the 1930s.

Our protagonist, Ulrich, 'The Man Without Qualities,' is like a partial scoundrel-scalawag version of Proust's protagonist, but loveable despite his superficiality. If I had rated this book solely on the basis of the first part, 'A Sort of Introduction,' it might have earned an instant five stars, since the writing in the first 75 pages was captivating. Part 2, 'Pseudoreality Prevails,' got bogged down a little bit in its description of The Parallel Campaign, in which Austria tries to justify its existence in the prelude to WW1. The characters are believable, to be sure, but the story line becomes almost too post-modernist, in the sense of emulating the type of Roberto Bolano or David Foster Wallace work where nothing much happens. This is alleviated at the very end of the first volume of the novel, but it took pseudoreality 650 pages to prevail!

Nevertheless, Musil is amazing in places, particularly in his ability to get inside the mind of the serial killer, Moosbrugger. Even given all the fictional works in the second half of the 20th century that attempted to see things from the point of view of the schizophrenic, few authors can do this as well as Musil. By the time I'm done with the final part of the novel and the author's posthumous fragments, I may very well change the ranking to an easy five stars. In any event, it is wonderful to see this long-obscure author get the attention he richly deserves. If you have the patience, and are a fan of the Pynchon-Gaddis-Wallace style of writing, you can't afford not to read Musil's little-known masterpiece. ...more "

Oct 05, 2012 09:48AM · see review

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Punk Hostage Press is a not-for-profit book publishing imprint that also acts as a an outreach program to connect writers and contemporary literature ...more

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Words As Works With this non-profit venture we hope to coordinate with other publishers, authors, editors, promoters, journalists and further our ef Words As Works With this non-profit venture we hope to coordinate with other publishers, authors, editors, promoters, journalists and further our efforts to build a community with those who are also doing similar works. We also want to connect with more programs in schools, juvenile literacy programs, inpatient treatment centers, mental health facilities, detoxification units, homeless/housing shelters & programs, women's shelters, social service providers, city and county jails, state and federal prisons, halfway houses, outpatient programs, librarians, teachers, counselors, case managers, curriculum builders, creative writing programs for at risk youth or adult services. We are aware of many who are already engaged in this work and we want to reach and become connected to many more in order to grow a network for ourselves and for others to use freely in order to expand the reach of contemporary literature and enlarge its usefulness for those who benefit the most from this support. This effort comes from the heart and is founded in our personal experiences with literacy, books and literature being very strong guiding points on the road to recovery and rehabilitation as well as getting a better start in life for at risk youth. We hope to disseminate books from independent publishers and to set up and conduct readings with the authors that wrote these books in order to give not only the gift of the books themselves, but the personal interaction with the writers and publishers who produce the books. A future goal would be to conduct creative writing groups and hopefully allow participants to empower themselves into self-expression and learning their own creative process that is supported by their peers. Also, to encourage publishing opportunities for the works of these participants in chapbooks, anthologies and even support the beginning of publishing concerns that would become the participants own within these programs or outside of the support structure provided by Words As Works. ...more