A man matters, his experiences matter, but in a city, where experiences come by the thousands, we can no longer relate them to ourselves, and this is of course the beginning of life's notorious turning into abstraction.
In 1913 the Viennese aristocracy are gathering to celebrate the seventieth jubilee of the accession of Emperor Franz Josef, even as the Austro-Hungarian Empire is collapsing and the rest of Vienna is showing signs of rebellion. At the centre of this social labyrinth is Ulrich: a veteran, a seducer and a scientist, yet also a man 'without qualities' and therefore a brilliant and detached observer of his changing world.
A classic of the twentieth century, Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities is endlessly thought-provoking, insightful and stimulating. Part satire, part visionary epic, part intellectual tour de force, it is a work of immeasurable importance.
'One of the towering achievements of the European novel' Observer
'Immensely rich and therapeutic, bristling with wit and a sly humour' Sunday Telegraph
