/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.13410111]

Some questions about Austrian and German literature:
>Recently, I saw a woman talking about Musil and saying that he discussed Goethe and others stuff from Germanic culture a lot in The Man Without Qualities. Unfortunately, I've never read Goethe and I fear I will be lost. Is this the case? I'm afraid it'll be like a book from my country that references dozens of writers, historical events, laws, politicians, foods, plants and folklore tales, things that only makes sense if you're a native and can't be fully understood by foreigners.
>I've never read Mann, but I would like to get a book from him. Is Buddenbrooks good for me when you consider what I said above?
>If you could make a list of 4 or 5 Germanic books of fiction and historical/personal accounts for someone like me to read (Erich Maria Remarque as the only exception), which titles would you suggest?

[Anonymous No.13410218]

Another question I forgot to ask:
I saw comment a few days ago saying that Buddenbrooks was Mann copying Tolstoy. I couldn't understand it, what does it mean?

[Kierkegaard No.13411304]

>>13410111
>he wants to read Musil
OH NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
Get strapped in for a whole ton of boredom, fren. You'll have to read 2 thousand pages to get through The Man without Qualities and you'll have learned absolutely nothing by then.

[Anonymous No.13411440]

>>13411304
>You'll have to read 2 thousand pages to get through The Man without Qualities and you'll have learned absolutely nothing by then.
This is exactly what I want.

[Anonymous No.13412139]

Bump.

[Anonymous No.13412729]

>>13410111
I haven't read Musil, but I can imagine that you could feel that way when you read The Man Without Qualities. As far as I know Thomas Mann is much more approachable; after all he's a storyteller first and much more 19th century than Musil. I know a few people that read the Buddenbrooks, but noone who read Musil til the end.
I've never heard that The Man Without Qualities deals explicity with Goethe (and a google search seems to confirm this), so I guess he deals with him just like any other german-language author. At that time, and still today in a way, it's just basic knowledge to have read Goethe, so this isn't something exclusively to Musil.

I'd suggest the following books by Austrian authors: (I don't understand foreigners who want to lump Austrian and German literatur together, they are quite distinguishable from each other)
The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth
It also deals with the demise of the Austro-Hungarian empire, but not so overly intellectual, more in a poetic, melancholic way, trying to show the reasons why the empire collapsed with a aristocratic family that goes down with it.

The Memoirs of Elias Canetti: The Tongue Set Free, the Torch in My Ear, the Play of the Eyes
This is probably one of the greatest autobiographies that was ever written, mainly about his time in Vienna in the 20s and 30s and I don't think there's a better way to learn about the atmosphere and zeitgeist at that time. These are the same themes that Musil deals with in his book, and he's also a prominent figure in the second part (Thomas Mann also appears) until they fall out with each other.

Anything by Arthur Schnitzler
There are quite few more famous books by him, but I honestly think it doesn't really matter what you read. The way he writes about men and women, the relationship between the two genders, society in fin de siecle Vienna is something that feels very real, honest and poetic, almost like a psychologist writing novels about the nature of humans.

[Anonymous No.13412959]

>>13412729
Thank you.
I thought Austria and Germany shared some similarities in literature specially because of the language and culture.

[Anonymous No.13413013]

>>13411304
>>13411440
Start with Young Torless.

[Anonymous No.13413240]

>>13413013
Why?

[Anonymous No.13413257]

>>13410111
The Man Without Qualities has a terrible translation and you definitely won't get much out of it or even get through it if you have no clue about German literature. Do start with Young Törless and Three Women to see if you can at least get into Musils style. Even with natives, it's really common even for most fans of it to not have finished The Man Without Qualities. It's not a comfy epic novel like Anna Karenina, it's dense as hell and has almost no semblance of a plot.