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The Man Without Qualities
novel by Musil
Also known as: āDer Mann ohne Eigenschaftenā
The Man Without Qualities, unfinished novel by Austrian writer Robert Musil, published as Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften in three installments in 1930, 1933, and 1943.
Musilās sprawling masterpiece was his lifeās work. On the surface a witty, urbane portrait of life in the last days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the novel is also a tragic farce that gives an account of the slow collapse of a society into anarchy and chaos and an indictment of a society that embraced fascism.
The book, considered one of the masterpieces of the age, ironically dissects modern uncertainty, sham values, and political folly.
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