Robert Musil was born in Klagenfurt, Austria, in 1880 and died in 1942 in Switzerland, after living in exile upon the Nazi invasion, since his wife was Jewish. Musil grew up to an engineer father, in a conservative educational atmosphere. His mother suffered from mental instability. In 1906, he published his first novel, The Confusions of Young Törless (Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless), based on his experience in military boarding school (the same school which Rainer Maria Rilke was sent to; and on which he too has written about). In the following years, Musil has published novellas, including the 1924 collection Three Women (Drei Frauen), play, and essays. Musil’s magnum opus, The Man Without Qualities (Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften), was published in parts between 1913 and 1942 (the first two parts of his life, while the third part appeared after Musil’s death, by his widow).