Die Entstehungsgeschichte des Mann ohne Eigenschaften von R. Musil

Contribution to Publishing Costs D 3245 The Development of the Narration of Robert Novel "The Man without Qualities" Walter FANTA 08.05.2000 This volume contains the first monographical description of the whole genetic process of the novel "The Man without Qualities" by the Austrian writer Robert Musil. This text-history, which lasts from 1919 to 1942, is very closely connected to questions of general importance, concerning the study of the writing process, literary psychology and cultural history. The book includes all the criticism and research on Musils`s writing process that has been published up to now. Nevertheless it is based on systematical research and new interpretation of Musil`s literary bequest, which was published in 1992 on CD-ROM (with the support of the Austrian FWF). The first part of the book deals with questions of text-status and classification of manuscripts. This is followed by the main part, a detailed reconstruction of the genesis in cronological steps; Musil`s work on the novel can be divided into ten periods. The focus lies on: a) the set up of the plot of the novel and the main characters (beginning on 1898, until 1923); b) the process of elaboration and modification of the plot due to different versions of the novel (till 1928); c) a sort of self-dissolution of the plot by the instance of an "antidestinateur" (using one of Greimas`s terms); the process of self-dissolution can be traced back to changing political and biographical working conditions after 1933. In order to make the book attractive not only for a small circle of the academic Musil-community, but for a larger readership among the the readers of the novel, it is concentrated on the development, of the narration, added by graphical illustrations and facsimiles of some manuscripts. But for the needs of further research, one may find lists, which for the first time show Musil`s drafts and notes of a certain period in strict chronological and thematical order. Besides that, the author is just now preparing another volume, which deals with the different endings of the novel that Musil had prepared. There are also plans for a third volume, containing reflections on Musil`s writing- process.