FOREIGN RIGHTS AUTUMN 2013 - Hanser Literaturverlage

L I T E R A RY C R I T I S I S M
L I T E R A RY C R I T I S I S M
Albert Camus‘ writing revolves around the
great existential questions: freedom, guilt,
and responsibility. Martin Meyer marks the
100 th birthday of one of the most important
twentieth century writers and thinkers.
If you were ever looking for the equivalent of
Ireland’s Bloomsday for the German-speaking
world, you could do worse than choosing
Ulrichsday, August 7 th , the date which this year
marks the centenary of the inception of Robert
Musil’s novel The Man Without Qualities.
Born into a poor family near Algiers a century ago, there was nothing to indicate that
Albert Camus would one day shape the attitude of a whole generation. His novels and
dramas, his philosophical essays and political commentaries deal with the large-scale
questions of human existence but steer clear of those radical ideologies to which other
intellectuals of his time succumbed. The Plague and The Outsider, The Myth of Sisyphus
and The Rebel hold an unbroken fascination – and in Martin Meyer’s view Albert Camus
is without doubt one of the most significant 20 th century authors. His book takes an explicatory
stance on Camus’ work, cross-referencing lesser-known texts and casting light on
the author’s works and biographical background. The book provides a broader context for
those already familiar with Camus as well as offering multi-faceted orientation for those
who are not. In this, his anniversary year, Martin Meyer rediscovers Camus as a great
contemporary.
Martin Meyer
Albert Camus
Die Freiheit leben
Albert Camus
Freedom as a Way of Life
372 pages. Hardcover
Publication date:
August 2013
Martin Meyer
was born in Zurich in 1951.
He studied philosophy,
literature and history. In
1974 he became editor of
the features section of the
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and
has been its chief editor
since 1992. Hanser most
recently published Tagebuch
und spätes Leid (on Thomas
Mann, 1999) and Piranesis
Zukunft (Essays on Literature
und the Arts, 2009).
On that day in 1913, Robert Musil opened his workbook and started to draw a map, annotated
with the description of a maze of streets, squares and buildings in Vienna’s Third
District. Seven years later he moved into this neighbourhood, where he could look from
his study window over the Salm Palace, which served as a model for the house of his
protagonist.
Today the shadow of this early modernist novel falls alone and aloof across the landscape
of 20 th century European literature – visible from afar, uniquely outstanding and yet alien
and inaccessible. Inka Mülder-Bach invites us to rediscover The Man Without Qualities
from a different perspective. Unlike previous interpretations, this essay looks beyond the
characters, inner musings and contexts, concentrating instead on the terra incognita of
its structure. Inka Mülder-Bach shows how the novel is built on a micrological structure,
conveying and unravelling a world that has become impenetrable.
»With regard to both the exactness of its textual analyses and the precision of its theoretical
references Inca Mülder-Bach’s Musil study constitutes a singular formation in
the landscape of contemporary literary criticism. Its object of study is novelistic form,
understood in conformity with Musil’s own understanding as an indispensible instrument
of social analysis and ethical reflection. There is no page of Mülder-Bach’s book that
fails to surprise with new insight. Under the guidance of the author’s subtle art of interpretation
even Musil’s most dedicated readers will discover the novel as if for the first
time. Mülder-Bach’s critical intelligence solicits the novel’s intricate structure and thereby
discloses the full complexity of Musil’s account of modernity. Rumors to the effect that
Musil deserves recognition along with Proust and Joyce as one of the supreme modern
novelists receive compelling confirmation in this outstanding study. Readers who only
have access to The Man Without Qualities in English (and this group worldwide outnumbers
Musil’s German readers) deserve an English translation of Inca Mülder-Bach’s
breakthrough study.« David E. Wellbery, University of Chicago
Inka Mülder-Bach
Robert Musil
Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften.
Ein Versuch
über den Roman
Robert Musil and The Man
Without Qualities
An interpretive essay
544 pages with illustrations
and index. Hardcover
Publication date: July 2013
Inka Mülder-Bach
was born in 1953 and is
Professor of Modern German
Literature and Literary
Studies at the University of
Munich. She is the author
of numerous publications
on 18th to 20th century
German literature and the
editor of the collected works
of Siegfried Kracauer.
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F O R E I G N R I G H T S HANSER
F O R E I G N R I G H T S HANSER