The Man Without Qualities: A sort of introduction. The like of it now happens (I)

"The Man Without Qualities ... is an unfinished modernist novel in three volumes and various drafts ... It is typically considered to be one of the most significant European novels of the twentieth century. The novel is a 'story of ideas', which takes place in the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy's last days, and the plot often veers into allegorical dissections on a wide range of existential themes concerning humanity and feelings. It has a particular concern with the values of truth and opinion and how society organizes ideas about life and society"--