Do you think being Bohemian in sexual and intellectual mores while being conventional in social mores (i.e. - disinviting someone who doesn't dress properly for an occasion) is a reflection of European class traditions, when you compared with his American counterparts?
Well, when you put it that way it makes me think of my grandparents, the German Jewish ones, who were very free-thinking about sex and affairs and such but would have a fit if someone brought the wrong hostess gift or something. They weren't even bohemian, just European!
Yes, he liked Hemingway! The main important American for Musil was Emerson! One of his triumverate of greats with Dostoevsky and Nietzsche. As to contemporaries, I haven’t seen too many names mentioned, though there are a few (I will have to check). He was trying rather desperately to get his own work translated in America duing the years of exile, but only vert small bits were translated during his lifetime.
Do you think being Bohemian in sexual and intellectual mores while being conventional in social mores (i.e. - disinviting someone who doesn't dress properly for an occasion) is a reflection of European class traditions, when you compared with his American counterparts?
Well, when you put it that way it makes me think of my grandparents, the German Jewish ones, who were very free-thinking about sex and affairs and such but would have a fit if someone brought the wrong hostess gift or something. They weren't even bohemian, just European!
So perhaps Musil's social norms weren't that contradictory, for a European...
I know it's a bit off-topic, but I wonder if Musil had any contact with American counterparts. I notice that he admired Hemingway's writing.
Yes, he liked Hemingway! The main important American for Musil was Emerson! One of his triumverate of greats with Dostoevsky and Nietzsche. As to contemporaries, I haven’t seen too many names mentioned, though there are a few (I will have to check). He was trying rather desperately to get his own work translated in America duing the years of exile, but only vert small bits were translated during his lifetime.
Ach ja the vanished Kakanien