Robert Musil’s Cultural Diagnostics in the Light o

Authors: Stijn De Cauwer

Publish Date: 2012/01/05

Volume: 96, Issue: 3, Pages: 411-425

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Abstract

Nietzsche was one of the first to point out the importance of immunological processes that are at work in any society to maintain its coherence against threats At the same time Nietzsche was aware that these immunological processes can become too rigid ultimately even dangerous and selfdestructive Roberto Esposito has shown that Nietzsche’s work contains at the same time the seeds of such a problematic form of immunology and another way of thinking immunology that could avoid the dangerous consequences Nietzsche knew that a society which rigidly bans out all threats will rob itself of the capacity for revitalizing itself I will show that the Nietzschean writings on immunology are a crucial influence on Robert Musil Due to the complexities with this aspect of Nietzsche’s work this influence is not immediately obvious Exploring this influence will help to clarify certain aspects of Musil’s work such as the prevalence of pathological behavior in Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften Moreover it will make clear why Musil was very critical of Nietzsche’s legacy while at the same time claiming that his work is full of possibilities which nobody takes up To find a way to foreclose the dangerous forms of immunological thinking for which people found inspiration in Nietzsche’s work Musil takes up another way of thinking immunology that also comes out of Nietzsche’s thoughtThis article is published under an open access license Please check the Copyright Information section for details of this license and what reuse is permitted If your intended use exceeds what is permitted by the license or if you are unable to locate the licence and reuse information please contact the Rights and Permissions team

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