''The Confusions of Young Törless'' (german: Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß), or ''Young Törless'', is the literary debut of the Austrian philosophical

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and essayist

Robert Musil Robert Musil (; 6 November 1880 – 15 April 1942) was an Austrian philosophical writer. His unfinished novel, ''The Man Without Qualities'' (german: link=no, Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften), is generally considered to be one of the most important ...

, first published in 1906.

Plot introduction

Musil's novel is ostensibly a ''

Bildungsroman In literary criticism, a ''Bildungsroman'' (, plural ''Bildungsromane'', ) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood ( coming of age), in which character change is impo ...

'', a story of a young disoriented man searching for moral values in society and their meaning for him. The

expressionistic Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

novel, based on Musil's personal experiences at a boarding school in Hranice (in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, now in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

) was written according to Musil "because of boredom". In later life, however, Musil denied that the novel was about youthful experiences of his own. Due to its explicit sexual content, the novel at first caused a scandal among the reading public and the authorities of Austria-Hungary. Later, various prefigurings of

Fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

were identified in the text, including the characters of Beineberg and Reiting, who seem to be orderly pupils by day but shamelessly abuse their classmate psychologically, physically and sexually by night. In 1966, the German director

Volker Schlöndorff Volker Schlöndorff (; born 31 March 1939 Friday) is a German film director, screenwriter and producer who has worked in Germany, France and the United States. He was a prominent member of the New German Cinema of the late 1960s and early 1970s, ...

made the film ''

Der junge Törless Der or DER may refer to: Places * Darkənd, Azerbaijan * Dearborn (Amtrak station) (station code), in Michigan, US * Der (Sumer), an ancient city located in modern-day Iraq * d'Entrecasteaux Ridge, an oceanic ridge in the south-west Pacific Ocean ...

'' based on the novel.

Synopsis

Three students of an Austrian boarding school, Reiting, Beineberg and Törless, catch their classmate Basini stealing money from one of the three and decide to punish him themselves instead of turning him in to the school authorities. They start with bullying and abusing him, first physically and then psychologically and sexually, while also blackmailing him by threatening to denounce him. Their abusive treatment of Basini becomes openly sexual and increasingly sadistic; nevertheless, he endures all the torture even when, after being deprived of any dignity, he is discredited by the entire class. Törless' moral and sexual confusion leads him to join Beineberg and Reiting's degradation of Basini; he is both sexually attracted to Basini and Beineberg and repelled by them. He observes and takes part in the torture and rape of Basini while telling himself that he is trying to understand the gap between his rational self and his obscure irrational self; he is a disturbed and despairing observer of his own states of consciousness. Basini professes love for Törless and Törless comes to reciprocate somewhat, but is ultimately repelled by Basini's unwillingness to stand up for himself. This disgust with Basini's passivity ultimately leads him almost off-handedly to stand up to Beineberg and Reiting. When the torment becomes unbearable, Törless covertly advises Basini to turn himself in to the headmaster as a way out of the situation. An investigation is commenced, but the only party to be found guilty is Basini. Törless makes a strange existential speech to the school authorities about the gap between the rational and irrational ("...after all, things just happen"), which puzzles the authorities more than anything else. They decide he is of too refined an intellect for the institute, and suggest to his parents that he be privately educated, a conclusion that he comes to on his own. Other subplots include Törless' experience with the local prostitute Božena, his encounter with his mathematics teacher, and his analysis of his parents' attitudes toward the world.

Editions and translations

* ''Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß''. Wien/Leipzig: Wiener Verlag, 1906. * ''Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß''. München/Leipzig: Georg Müller, 1911. * ''Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß''. 11th.-15th. thousand. Berlin: Ernst Rowohlt, 1931 evised edition; published Dec. 1930 * ''Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß''. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 1998. (rororo 10300.) * ''Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß''. Based on the revised edition 1930; with detailed commentary. Ed. by Werner Bellmann. Epilog: Filippo Smerilli. Stuttgart: Reclam, 2013. *''Young Törless''. Translated by

Eithne Wilkins Eithne Wilkins (born Ethne Una Lilian Wilkins; 12 September 1914 – 13 March 1975) was a Germanic Studies scholar, translator and poet from New Zealand. Life and work She was born in Wellington to Edgar Wilkins, an Irish doctor, and his wife Eve ...

and

Ernst Kaiser Ernst David Kaiser (3 October 1911 – 1 January 1972) was an Austrian writer and translator. Early life Ernst David Kaiser was born in Vienna. His father, a Jewish merchant, came from the Slovak part of Hungary, and his mother from Brno. At bir ...

. Pantheon Books, 1955. *''The Confusions of Young Törless.'' Translated by

Shaun Whiteside Shaun Whiteside (born 1959) is a Northern Irish translator of French, Dutch, German, and Italian literature. He has translated many novels, including '' Manituana'' and ''Altai'' by Wu Ming, ''The Weekend'' by Bernhard Schlink, '' Serotonin'' by M ...

, with an introduction by

J. M. Coetzee John Maxwell Coetzee OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African–Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated authors in ...

. Penguin Classics, 2001. *''The Confusions of Young Master Törless''. Translated by Christopher Moncrieff. Alma Classics, 2013. *''The Confusions of Young Törless''. Translated by Mike Mitchell, with an introduction and notes by Ritchie Robertson. Oxford University Press, 2014.

Bibliography

* Bernhard Grossmann: ''Robert Musil, Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless. Interpretation''. 3. Auflage. Oldenbourg, München 1997. * Klaus Johann: ''Grenze und Halt: Der Einzelne im „Haus der Regeln“. Zur deutschsprachigen Internatsliteratur.'' Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg 2003, (= Beiträge zur neueren Literaturgeschichte. 201.).
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pp. 206–422. ''(The most extensive interpretation of „Törleß“.) * Roland Kroemer: ''Ein endloser Knoten? Robert Musils „Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß“ im Spiegel soziologischer, psychoanalytischer und philosophischer Diskurse.'' Fink, München 2004. (Dissertation

*Carl Niekerk: ''Foucault, Freud, Musil: Macht und Masochismus in den 'Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless. In: Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie 116.4 (1997) pp. 545–566. * Oliver Pfohlmann: ''Robert Musil''. Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2012 (= rowohlts monographien), pp. 19–22 (chapt. ''Als Zögling in Eisenstadt und Mährisch-Weißkirchen'') and pp. 43–49 (chapt. ''Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß''), * Andrea Rota: ''I grovigli del racconto: metafore tessili e disarticolazione narrativa ne «Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless» di Robert Musil.'' In: ''Studia Austriaca.'' 15/2007, pp. 175–192. * Renate Schröder-Werle: ''Robert Musil. "Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß". Erläuterungen und Dokumente''. Reclam, Stuttgart 2001. * Filippo Smerilli: Moderne – Sprache – Körper. Analysen zum Verhältnis von Körpererfahrung und Sprachkritik in erzählenden Texten Robert Musils. V & R Unipress, Göttingen 2009.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Confusions of Young Torless, The 1906 novels Austrian novels adapted into films Novels by Robert Musil Novels with gay themes 1900s LGBT novels Novels set in boarding schools 1906 debut novels German LGBT novels