Full reading and meeting schedule for our year-long exploration of Musil's The Man Without Qualities.
18.09.2025 17:06
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The Man Without Qualities
apropos of upcoming reading group with Samantha Rose Hill
What is this book, The Man Without Qualities, by Robert Musil? And why might you want to spend a year reading it with me and @samantharhill.bsky.social ?
open.substack.com/pub/genesegr...
15.09.2025 16:42
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Sorry, have not been here for awhile.Every other Monday night at 5 pm EDT but with breaks in January and August, a chat board and some text and videos in between meetings.
11.09.2025 18:23
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There are always different elements that a given translator has to choose from. One can't always do everything at once. One can rarely ever do everything at once. So, I am sure there are very good reasons to favor either one, except that the earlier one lacks the vital Nachlass portions!
03.09.2025 14:48
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Thank you for sharing. That the person said that his or her opinion was a "fact" that could be verified on the internet makes me wonder. Evaluations of different translations can rarely be based on facts. Another thing about the Pike-Wilkins translation: Pike was very focused on tempo and rhythm.
03.09.2025 14:48
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3. They normalize not only his morality but his syntax, making him more traditional than he was.
4. Perhaps this tendency to normalization is why they did not touch the Nachlass: its language is particularly open and experimental, & it contains some scenes of which they would've dissapproved.
02.09.2025 22:33
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I totally forgot mastadon. Sure there are some witty word choices in Kaiser-Wilkins--I've looked at passages of it that are excellent. But 1) they don't include the Nachlass pages (about 600 in the later edition) & 2) they tend to moralize Musil, making word choices that diminish his nuance.
1/2
02.09.2025 22:33
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In English, Pike and Wilkins translation, but I think some people might read along auf Deutsch!
02.09.2025 13:43
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11 AM!? Lunchtime?
01.09.2025 20:15
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11 PM your time, I think? 5 pm EDT, every other Monday, with breaks for holidays, etc.
01.09.2025 20:12
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Grand! Sorry the time will be so late for you, but maybe that works best with your busy schedule!?
01.09.2025 20:11
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Oh, Suat! That would be wonderful, to get to hear your insights and spend time with you regularly!
01.09.2025 18:57
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Man Without Qualities Reading Group
Starting October 13th
I am co-leading a year-long Man Without Qualities Reading Group with @samantharhill.bsky.social , starting on Monday, October 13th. Join us! Details can be found here:
genesegrill.substack.com/p/man-withou...
01.09.2025 16:12
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Aristotle and Plato are One!
Aesthetics and Ethics are One!
open.substack.com/pub/genesegr...
15.07.2025 13:43
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Danke für die schöne Übersetzung!
17.06.2025 19:20
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Happy Bloomsday to you then! As you may know, I think the latter parts of Musil's book, the so-called Nachlass, the most wonderful of all (and so did he).
16.06.2025 17:36
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Danke! I did see it recently, finally! And enjoyed it quite a bit.
16.06.2025 15:12
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Excerpts from Burton Pike's Musil Notes
"...looking for a place the individual can fit in in a deadened, shallow world."
"What M[usil] is always about, why he haunts: looking for a place the individual can fit in in a deadened, shallow world. .. cf. Rilke, the goal of art is to produce in reader a moral imperative to change his life."
genesegrill.substack.com/p/excerpts-f...
16.06.2025 14:16
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Yes, such a beautiful, rich, wide-ranging and important essay. Thank you, Gabe.
30.04.2025 12:46
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21.03.2025 17:58
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The New Human Being?
Activists, Anarchists, Nihilists, Aesthetes: Musil and post WWI dreams of a New World
Sharing a draft I'm struggling to weave in to the biography narrative on Musil's take on the "new human being" and attempts to create a new world after WWI: activism, anarchism, aesthetic edcucation, ethics, socialism, totalitarianisms.
open.substack.com/pub/genesegr...
13.03.2025 14:11
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"Susanna's Letter"
Small Prose from Thought Flights
A podcast of me reading Musil's "Susanna's Letter" from Thought Flights. More to come.
open.substack.com/pub/genesegr...
03.03.2025 14:23
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