Robert Musil and Vineland

[David Simpson]

George Henson wrote:

I've a question for our Austrian or German-reading brethren.

In Vineland Pynchon has a movie titled The Robert Musil Story starring
PeeWee Herman.
This Robert Musil, he's the author of Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften and
others, yes? How, if at all, is he connected to either Pynchon's world
view or Vineland?

I'm not Austrian or German, but here's an answer. Yes. Musil was indeed
the author of *The Man without Qualities.*  As far as his connection to
Pynchon goes, he was a novelist of big ideas with a penetrating view of
the modern condition and so obviously a Pynchon precursor in many ways.
However, in *Vineland* his appearance seems mostly ironic and comical.
Throughout the novel P. keeps inventing - and casting  - fictitious
films (all part of his satirical examination of American popular
culture). One of these films is the highly improbable "Robert Musil
Story," conceived, it would seem, simply because P.was struck by a
far-fetched (yet undeniable) physical resemblance between the pensive
European novelist and the off-beat American TV and film actor Pee Wee
Herman. In short, it's a joke, and to my mind a very funny one. HTH

--
"For every journey there's a point beyond which it makes no sense to
turn back. That point is your destination." -- Kafka.
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homepage: http://www.depaul.edu/~dsimpson