ROBERT MUSIL - INTIMATE TIES

Image: author photo

The man was a surgeon with a simile. Much of his prose outclassed Mann, Zweig, and Kafka. He gets called a pure stylist. It’s true. The two novellas in this collection read as formal experimentation. Interesting, but lacking the traditional pleasures of plot and character (unlike his first novel, The Confusions of Young Törless, where he applies his prose chops to a gripping narrative). Read, August 2019.