Ernst Kaiser Books

Contains: A Sort of Introduction The Like of it Now Happens (I)"It would be useless to attempt a synopsis of Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften, not only because of its length and complexity, but also because the real action lies not on the surface, in what the characters do (though that is often dramatic enough), but within, in their states of mind, the fluctuations of their emotions, their theories, and the counterpoint between the thoughts and the behaviour of them all, in themselves and in relation to each other, especially to the Man without Qualities himself, who is the nucleus, and in relation to the demands of the indefinable pattern of this world we live in."(From the Foreword by the translators)

With an introduction by Jonathan Lethem. It is 1913, and Viennese high society is determined to find an appropriate way of celebrating the seventieth jubilee of the accession of Emperor Franz Josef. But as the aristocracy tries to salvage something illustrious out of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the ordinary Viennese world is beginning to show signs of more serious rebellion. Caught in the middle of this social labyrinth is Ulrich: youngish, rich, an ex-soldier, seducer and scientist. Unable to deceive himself that the jumble of attributes and values that his world has bestowed on him amounts to anything so innate as a 'character', he is effectively a man 'without qualities', a brilliant, detached observer of the spinning, racing society around him. Part satire, part visionary epic, part intellectual tour de force, The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil is a work of immeasurable importance.

QXP bedeutet im Funkerjargon »erzählen, um es als erledigt abzuhaken«. Ernst Kaiser, der mit siebzehn Jahren zur U-Boot-Waffe kam und Funker wurde, führte während seiner Einsätze auf verschiedenen U-Boot-Typen, etwa im Golf von Mexiko, in den amerikanischen Gewässern und bei der Operation Paukenschlag, Tagebuch. Zwischen den jeweiligen Feindfahrten tat er Dienst in der Funkleitstelle Kernével des Befehlshabers der Unterseeboote. Anhand seiner Aufzeichnungen verfasste er dieses nichts beschönigende und nichts verherrlichende Buch über den Alltag des U-Boot-Krieges. Von etwa 50.000 U-Boot-Fahrern starben 28.748. Ernst Kaiser überlebte und berichtet ... QXP.