The Man Without Qualities: Volume I

“The Man Without Qualities” is Musil's main novel. The writer worked on it for more than twenty years but never finished it. Despite this, “The Man Without Qualities” became one of the greatest works of German literature, which without exaggeration... can be called the greatest exploration of the human soul. 1913. The government of the Austro-Hungarian Empire establishes a committee that is supposed to develop a special plan of activities for the upcoming celebration of the seventieth anniversary of Emperor Franz Joseph's reign in five years. The committee consists of industrialists, bankers, aristocrats, military personnel, and politicians. By chance, a young officer, engineer, and mathematician Ulrich finds himself among them – a “man without qualities,” a cynic, devoid of the meaning of life, and indifferent to moral norms…