At the beginning of Robert Musil's Man without Qualities a well-dressed couple arrives at the scene of an accident on a busy street in Vienna. The lady is uncomfortable, 'had a disagreeable sensation in the pit of her stomach, which she felt entitled to take for compassion'. The man, after a pause, says: 'These heavy lorries they use here have too long a braking-distance.' The lady is much relieved. 'Though she had doubtless heard the expression many times before, she did not know what a braking-distance was, nor had she any wish to know; it was sufficient for her that by this means the horrible happening could be fitted into some kind of pattern, so becoming a technical problem that no longer directly concerned her.'

LRB 3 October 1985 | PDF Download