Breaking Free: Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities
William Boyd, Margaret Drabble and Philipp Blom join Matthew Sweet to discuss one of the masterpieces of 20th-century European fiction, Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities.
Novelists Margaret Drabble and William Boyd, the cultural historian Philipp Blom, German literature expert Andrew Webber and the actor, Peter Marinker take part in a Landmark discussion about Robert Musil's The Man without Qualities chaired by Matthew Sweet.
One of the acknowledged masterpieces of European fiction - it has been compared to Ford Madox Ford's Parade's End, Proust's In Search of Lost Time and Joyce's Ulysses. Left unfinished by the Austrian author at his death in 1942, The Man Without Qualities is one of the first comprehensive accounts of a truly modern sensibility and examines a world perched on the brink of catastrophe - about to fall headlong into the turmoil and anguish of the Great War.
The programme is being repeated as part of Radio 3's Breaking Free season of programmes.
Producer: Zahid Warley.
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Podcast: Free Thinking - Robert Musil
Download this episode as an Arts & Ideas podcast.
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Credits
| Role | Contributor |
|---|---|
| Presenter | Matthew Sweet |
| Interviewed Guest | Margaret Drabble |
| Interviewed Guest | William Boyd |
| Interviewed Guest | Philipp Blom |
| Interviewed Guest | Andrew Webber |
| Reader | Peter Marinker |
| Producer | Zahid Warley |
Broadcasts
- Wed 8 Jan 201422:00BBC Radio 3
- Fri 6 Jan 201722:00BBC Radio 3
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