‘You know that myth Plato tells, following some ancient source, that the gods divided the original human beings into halves, male and female?’ She had propped herself up on one elbow and unexpectedly blushed, feeling awkward at having asked Ulrich if he knew so familiar a story then she resolutely charged ahead: ‘Now those two pathetic halves do all kinds of silly things to come together again. One of these most obvious hints is from Agathe herself who summarizes Aristophanes speech from Plato’s Symposium: They, too, have an instant emotional and intellectual connection and Musil hints at an incestuous affair between brother and sister.
The only relationship in Musil’s narrative that comes close to being a success is that developed between Ulrich and his sister, Agathe, with whom, before their father’s funeral, he hadn’t interacted since childhood. In the end, however, all of her newly acquired knowledge still doesn’t make up for the lack of an emotional connection with her now very confused and brooding husband. So she adjusts her strategy, and her library, in order to become a sexual expert and train her husband to become more of a “successful” husband. At the beginning of Volume II, Diotima’s unhappiness due to her lack of fulfillment in the realm of Eros causes her physical symptoms in the form of cramps and migraines. Neither she nor Arnheim can make the first move towards a sexual relationship and both are tormented by it. When Diotima, who is described as a voluptuous beauty with her hair always in a perfect Grecian knot, begins to spend with a Prussian business magnate named Paul Arnheim, her emotional and intellectual connection with him allows her to see the beauty in other things around her.īut Diotima learns that it’s one thing to discuss a higher level of Eros that excludes a physical relationship and quite another issue in real life to be content in such a situation. Diotima and Agathe are both married to taciturn, duty bound and stern men who satisfy them neither physically or intellectually. But none of his characters ever achieve a higher or successful or even contented state of Eros. Musil is interested in the passions that are sparked by physical love, but also the beauty and insight that Eros inspires when felt on a deeper level. Similar to Plato, Musil uses his characters that are sometimes quite serious, and oftentimes ironic or sarcastic to explore the topics of Eros (Love), beauty, goodness and morality. It can’t be a coincidence that Musil chose Diotima and Agathe, names from Plato’s Symopsium, for his prominent female characters. But I thought I would share some final ideas that kept coming to mind as I read Volume II in the Sophie Wilkins translation. It’s impossible to do any kind of a coherent analysis of Musil’s brilliant, enigmatic, philosophical, unfinished magnum opus.
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