On Robert Musil's Essayism

Abstract

Robert Musil's essayism concept is more than a formal principle: in his work this concept becomes at the same time a "utopia" and an attitude towards reality. This double aspect allows the art to preserve its critical and episthemological power in a European crisis context at the beginning of the 20th century. This paper deals with Musil's essayism in his critical essays and in his novel, Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften, pointing out how the essayistic ideas are outlined in the poetical representation, showing how one of the aspects of Musils "utopia" takes effect through the foundation of a new relation between reason and feeling, science and art, objectivity and subjectivity.