Musil's Principal Works

Summary

Introductory Remarks

In The Course of his Life Musil saw much of his writing in print: in 1906, he published a novel that dealt with his experiences at school, Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß (The Confusions of Young Törless); in 1921 an important play, Die Schwärmer (The Enthusiasts); in 1924 a farce, Vinzenz und die Freundin bedeutender Männer (Vinzenz and the Girlfriend of Important Men); a number of powerful stories — the most significant of these published in 1911 (in the collection Vereinigungen [Unions]) and 1924 (in the collection Drei Frauen [Three Women]); in 1930 and 1932/3 long sections of the unfinished novel Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (The Man without Qualities); in 1936, a collection of short sketches entitled Nachlaß zu Lebzeiten (Posthumous Papers of a Living Author); over the years, short prose pieces appeared in a wide variety of publications and included essays, speeches, and book and theater reviews. But these make up only part of his output. He left behind an extensive literary estate (Nachlass) containing many Hefte (notebooks) that incorporated literary drafts, notes on reading, diary entries, plans for essays, etc. He spent an inordinate amount of time in preparations for Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften, leaving behind at his death many thousands of manuscript pages, organized in Mappen (folders), and including chapter drafts rewritten and refined many times. Musil wrote and received a considerable number of letters, many of which survive. Parts of the Nachlass have appeared at different times; of these the most important are as follows: in 1976, the Tagebücher (Diaries; namely the majority of the Hefte referred to above); in 1981, the Briefe (Letters); in 1992, major portions of the manuscript material in the form of a CD. (For further details, see below.)

The publishing history of his work is further complicated by his switching publishers on several occasions as a young writer. In 1924, the publisher Ernst Rowohlt acquired the rights to all Musil's previous works from other publishers and continued to support the writer with a monthly stipend until 1937 when the Bermann-Fischer publishers of Vienna took over all the works from Rowohlt. In 1938, Ernst Rowohlt was banned from continuing work as a publisher by the National Socialists. In 1945, the American military authorities in Germany restored to Rowohlt the rights to all Musil's published works.