
The Man Without Qualities
Austrian novelist, 1880–1942.
The Man Without Qualities is a 1930 novel by Robert Musil, translated from German.
On 3 of the 11 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Robert Musil
- First published
- 1930
- Length
- 1152 pages (UK paperback)
- Original language
- Translated from German
- Genre
- Literary fiction, Philosophical, Modernist, Satire
Is The Man Without Qualities worth reading?
3 of the 11 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them 100 books of the century (Le Monde) and Bokklubben World Library (Norwegian Book Clubs).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 books of the century (Le Monde, 1999) | No. 86 | See the list |
| Bokklubben World Library (Norwegian Book Clubs, 2002) | Listed | See the list |
| The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 67 | See the list |
Best edition of The Man Without Qualities
The edition we link to is the Picador paperback (2017), 1152 pages, translated by Sophie Wilkins.
- Publisher
- Picador (paperback, 2017)
- Pages
- 1152
- Translator
- Sophie Wilkins
- ISBN
- 9781447289432
How critics and readers rate The Man Without Qualities
Critics rate it most highly: it earned 48% of the points available on critics' lists, against 0% on readers' and booksellers' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like The Man Without Qualities
If you liked The Man Without Qualities, try The Grapes of Wrath, Catch-22 or Heart of Darkness.



