Again, very interesting, and here you do begin to articulate the energy in openness! Again, again, I really don't think Ulrich ultimately thinks NOTHING, not Whatever, but possibly many things, with distinct strong opinions and some limits.... Think of it like relativity science, or Emergence. That reality is not to be understood using the old measurements of cause and effect or simple equations, but will need to be approached through more complex means, each element in a shifting relation to each other element, always shifting, but by no means anything or nothing//and not even everything. Just more than usually taken into consideration, and seen from more angles, in different new ways. Also...I have to tell you that Musil disdained Broch's Sleepwalkers and felt he was not up to the philosophizing he tried to do.
Perhaps my sentence, ‘He is nothing, and thinks nothing, with any consistency’ is poorly phrased, but I didn’t mean to suggest that ‘Ulrich is nothing’ or that he ‘thinks nothing’ – just that his being and thinking are not consistent, because of that ‘always shifting’ dynamic you refer to. But I think you are disputing this as well and pointing out that Ulrich’s philosophy does have some consistent elements, some limits; I’m sure you’re right about that. I loved reading The Man Without Qualities but responded to it more on an emotional level than an intellectual one – I’m frankly not equipped to keep track of the latter.
As in other posts, I’m probably biased by approaching this from an ‘Antonioni’ mindset, and your comment reminds me of his famous remark to Rothko, ‘You paint nothing, I film nothing,’ or alternatively, ‘Your paintings are like my films – they are about nothing, with precision.’ Some have argued that this was a misunderstanding of Rothko, who was by no means as nihilistic as Antonioni suggested. Then again, works of art are open to different responses, and nihilism is as valid (and, I would argue, as generative) a response as any.
That’s so interesting about Musil’s disdain for Broch. The Sleepwalkers makes a significant appearance in another Antonioni film, La notte, and I think it’s clear that he was influenced by that novel and The Death of Virgil as well. I found these fascinating, especially (again) viewing them through an Antonioni-shaped lens, but they were a bit of a slog to get through. The Man Without Qualities, even at its most dense and challenging, was an undiluted pleasure, and I think a far richer source text for Antonioni. (I'm ashamed to say I haven’t read Musil’s other works yet, or even the un-published sections of The Man Without Qualities, but I look forward to finding time for them one of these days…)
Again, very interesting, and here you do begin to articulate the energy in openness! Again, again, I really don't think Ulrich ultimately thinks NOTHING, not Whatever, but possibly many things, with distinct strong opinions and some limits.... Think of it like relativity science, or Emergence. That reality is not to be understood using the old measurements of cause and effect or simple equations, but will need to be approached through more complex means, each element in a shifting relation to each other element, always shifting, but by no means anything or nothing//and not even everything. Just more than usually taken into consideration, and seen from more angles, in different new ways. Also...I have to tell you that Musil disdained Broch's Sleepwalkers and felt he was not up to the philosophizing he tried to do.
Perhaps my sentence, ‘He is nothing, and thinks nothing, with any consistency’ is poorly phrased, but I didn’t mean to suggest that ‘Ulrich is nothing’ or that he ‘thinks nothing’ – just that his being and thinking are not consistent, because of that ‘always shifting’ dynamic you refer to. But I think you are disputing this as well and pointing out that Ulrich’s philosophy does have some consistent elements, some limits; I’m sure you’re right about that. I loved reading The Man Without Qualities but responded to it more on an emotional level than an intellectual one – I’m frankly not equipped to keep track of the latter.
As in other posts, I’m probably biased by approaching this from an ‘Antonioni’ mindset, and your comment reminds me of his famous remark to Rothko, ‘You paint nothing, I film nothing,’ or alternatively, ‘Your paintings are like my films – they are about nothing, with precision.’ Some have argued that this was a misunderstanding of Rothko, who was by no means as nihilistic as Antonioni suggested. Then again, works of art are open to different responses, and nihilism is as valid (and, I would argue, as generative) a response as any.
That’s so interesting about Musil’s disdain for Broch. The Sleepwalkers makes a significant appearance in another Antonioni film, La notte, and I think it’s clear that he was influenced by that novel and The Death of Virgil as well. I found these fascinating, especially (again) viewing them through an Antonioni-shaped lens, but they were a bit of a slog to get through. The Man Without Qualities, even at its most dense and challenging, was an undiluted pleasure, and I think a far richer source text for Antonioni. (I'm ashamed to say I haven’t read Musil’s other works yet, or even the un-published sections of The Man Without Qualities, but I look forward to finding time for them one of these days…)
The unpublished parts of the novel may reveal the most some of the ecstatic Musil! Thanks for this discussion. Very illuminating!
Sometimes , indeed, he feels like nothing, feels nothing, but then there are the other times….not to be ignored!