Genese Grill
@genesegrill.bsky.social
2K followers 1.6K following 260 posts
Essayist, Translator, Bibliophile, Working on the First English-Language Biography of Robert Musil for Yale University Press. https://genesegrill.wixsite.com/website https://www.thisissplice.co.uk/essays/portals/
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genesegrill.bsky.social
Full reading and meeting schedule for our year-long exploration of Musil's The Man Without Qualities.
genesegrill.bsky.social
Sorry, have not been here for awhile.Every other Monday night at 5 pm EDT but with breaks in January and August, a chat board and some text and videos in between meetings.
genesegrill.bsky.social
There are always different elements that a given translator has to choose from. One can't always do everything at once. One can rarely ever do everything at once. So, I am sure there are very good reasons to favor either one, except that the earlier one lacks the vital Nachlass portions!
genesegrill.bsky.social
Thank you for sharing. That the person said that his or her opinion was a "fact" that could be verified on the internet makes me wonder. Evaluations of different translations can rarely be based on facts. Another thing about the Pike-Wilkins translation: Pike was very focused on tempo and rhythm.
genesegrill.bsky.social
3. They normalize not only his morality but his syntax, making him more traditional than he was.
4. Perhaps this tendency to normalization is why they did not touch the Nachlass: its language is particularly open and experimental, & it contains some scenes of which they would've dissapproved.
genesegrill.bsky.social
I totally forgot mastadon. Sure there are some witty word choices in Kaiser-Wilkins--I've looked at passages of it that are excellent. But 1) they don't include the Nachlass pages (about 600 in the later edition) & 2) they tend to moralize Musil, making word choices that diminish his nuance.
1/2
genesegrill.bsky.social
In English, Pike and Wilkins translation, but I think some people might read along auf Deutsch!
genesegrill.bsky.social
11 PM your time, I think? 5 pm EDT, every other Monday, with breaks for holidays, etc.
genesegrill.bsky.social
Grand! Sorry the time will be so late for you, but maybe that works best with your busy schedule!?
genesegrill.bsky.social
Oh, Suat! That would be wonderful, to get to hear your insights and spend time with you regularly!
genesegrill.bsky.social
I am co-leading a year-long Man Without Qualities Reading Group with @samantharhill.bsky.social , starting on Monday, October 13th. Join us! Details can be found here:
genesegrill.substack.com/p/man-withou...
Man Without Qualities Reading Group
Starting October 13th
genesegrill.substack.com
genesegrill.bsky.social
Aristotle and Plato are One!
Aesthetics and Ethics are One!
open.substack.com/pub/genesegr...
open.substack.com
genesegrill.bsky.social
Danke für die schöne Übersetzung!
genesegrill.bsky.social
Happy Bloomsday to you then! As you may know, I think the latter parts of Musil's book, the so-called Nachlass, the most wonderful of all (and so did he).
genesegrill.bsky.social
Danke! I did see it recently, finally! And enjoyed it quite a bit.
genesegrill.bsky.social
"What M[usil] is always about, why he haunts: looking for a place the individual can fit in in a deadened, shallow world. .. cf. Rilke, the goal of art is to produce in reader a moral imperative to change his life."

genesegrill.substack.com/p/excerpts-f...
Excerpts from Burton Pike's Musil Notes
"...looking for a place the individual can fit in in a deadened, shallow world."
genesegrill.substack.com
genesegrill.bsky.social
Yes, such a beautiful, rich, wide-ranging and important essay. Thank you, Gabe.