The Man Without Qualities and the Problem of Multiple Realities: Alfred Schutz and Robert Musil Revisited

Abstract

Providing a relecture of Peter L. Berger’s classical analysis of Robert Musil’s epochal novel The Man without Qualities, an alternative way of using Alfred Schutz’s concept of “multiple realities” will be introduced to emphasize some of the most important aspects of Musil’s work from a sociological point of view. Revisiting the seminal distinction between the world of everyday life and the life-world the paper stresses the importance of multiple levels of reflexivity in Musil’s novel and their analytical kinship to Schutz’s idea of “cognitive styles.”.