![]() ![]() Of the second, Vinzenz and the Mistress of Important Men (1923)-a farce that was performed to enthusiastic audiences even before its publication in book form-he reported, “ecause, for once, it just all finally got to be too stupid, I have written a play in 14 days.” Both were written in tandem with his close analysis of contemporary theater and as partial answers to the problems this analysis posed. The Utopians (1921)-which took him approximately ten years to write and which he considered one of his major works-was written, he explained, to “finally, for once, bring some spirit into the controversies surrounding the theater.” It was awarded the prestigious Kleist Prize almost immediately, but was only premiered in 1929, against Musil’s wishes, under the directorship of Jo Lhehrman-a con-man who could almost have come right out of one of Musil’s own plays. In one notebook entry, he writes that “A pathologist would be able to diagnose a great deal about our time through the theater.”Īccording to his own avowal, Musil was spurred on to the writing of his two finished plays, The Utopians and Vinzenz and the Mistress of Important Men, by his negative assessment of the contemporary offerings. He later had plans to collect his writings on theater into a book, which he considered calling Pathology of the Theater or Theater from the Outside. The years 1921 to 1924 constituted the height of Robert Musil’s participation in the world of theater as both critic and dramatist. ![]()
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