Diaries : 1899-1941

Musil was an inveterate diarist; while the German edition of his journals is comprehensive, its translator and English-language editor, Phillip Payne, has chosen to be more selective. Gone are entries that summarize or excerpt the work of other authors; those that are "unintelligible to all but Musil experts"; early drafts of works that are not of particular interest; or entries that add little of significance to our understanding of Musil's life or work. What's left, however, is more than adequate, and provides a fascinating window into the life, times, and creative process of a literary master. There are Musil's working notes to himself ("Set up at least 100 figures, the main human types in existence today: the Expressionist, the Courths-Mahler, the profiteer, the psycho-pedagogue, the disciple of Steiner, etc. Then have these figures crossing each other's paths"); comments about his world ("My generation was anti-moral or amoral because our fathers talked of morality and acted in a philistine and immoral fashion ... children today are moral, but want people to take morality seriously"); and meditations on the most private aspects of his personal life (discussing his wife, Martha, he writes, "She isn't anything that I have gained or achieved; she is something that I have become and that has become "I"). Robert Musil's Diaries are a remarkable portrait of the artist throughout his life and a standing testimony to his genius. --Alix Wilber

Musil's eye is at once poetic and objective. I could only be astounded by the maturity of the young artist. His description of a horse laughing, of sunset on windows, of a waterfall looking like a silver comb, of his emotions when he and his wife Martha argue, show a sensitivity sharpened by training. Musil captures things as they appear to him with a minimum of fussiness. Also, there is often a sharp humour which comes flashing out.

Some people don't like _The Man Without Qualities_ and prefer some of Musil's other writings. Whichever works one prefers, these diaries illuminate Musil and his writings from within.

I'll add two minor complaints about the layout of the book to those already voiced. I object to endnotes, believing footnotes easier to read. Why flip forward and back so often? Some of the endnotes are repetitive, and greater care should have been taken over them. But those are small things, and have more to do with editorial decisions than with Musil, who here steps forth from a kind of shadow (for english readers).

This book can't be recommended highly enough.