Books: Mixed Fiction, Oct. 3, 1955

YOUNG TÖRLESS, by Robert Musil (217 pp.; Pantheon; $2.95), helps explain one of history's more interesting paradoxes: how a civilization outwardly, as gay and waltzy as 19th century Austria could produce the stark theories and dark case histories of Vienna's Dr. Sigmund Freud. Austria's late Novelist Robert Musil, known in the U.S. for his ponderously brilliant masterpiece, The Man Without Qualities (TIME, June 8, 1953; Nov. 15, 1954), had a sharp eye for the moral decay behind Vienna's comfy façades. His first novel, brought out in 1906 and now published in the U.S....

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