In the following chapters, we get more acquainted with Mr & Mrs Tuzzi. Mrs Tuzzi, Diotima, is a sensitive soul, "intuitive", "sensibility" and "soul" are recurring words here. Diotima is depicted as a woman whose most serious enemy is her own "sensitivity". She is married to Mr Tuzzi, a conscientious official who goes about his business in an orderly, efficient way (whose concerns are limited to power, duty & status), and for whom love is a mundane activity on a par with chess games and meetings, a duty to be executed in the same "reasonable" way as anything else.
Unsurprisingly, Diotima is unhappy. Tuzzi despises her; her silly salon & her intellectual endevours. What Tuzzi wants is, to quote Valerie Solanas, a hot water bottle with tits. R suggested he might be gay. But what would it mean to say that? That he prefers "the other sex" and that he would reach perfect bliss were he only to allow himself a proper affair with a man? No, I'm not confortable with that; it might, perhaps, be more to the point to say that Tuzzi is stuck with being a Man, and that that may mean a lot of things. But, then again, if Musil will allow Tuzzi to fall into the arms of count Leinsdorf, and if this turns him into another type of person - that would lack the sexual metaphysics often inherent in the idea of being gay/being straight in terms of finding bliss in as a potential course of life (the point I'm making is that happiness is found with another person, not with a Representative of a form of an idea of a Body - inconvenience of writing intended).
But I'm digressing. It is not easy for Diotima to face her situation. At one point it is conceded that she is "enslaved" by Tuzzi, but she prefers to think of herself as trapped in an unhappy age, characterized by atheism, positivism, socialism and other nasty things. In these sections, Musil seems very critical of overblown talk of "civilization" and "culture"; he gives many examples of how people talk about themselves as having fallen prey to the "spirit of the modern age" so as to direct attention away from the problems they have with themselves.
Diotima's "platonic" idealism attracts men, which her ever flourishing salon is proof of. Her idealism excites them and it is clear that this interest is of a sexual nature. But for Diotima, the attention from distinguished men is flattering, and what could be more flattering than having the rich Dr. Arnheim as one's visitor? Arnheim is quick to praise Diotima's intellect and that makes her happy, of course. Their common interest is the parallel campaign. As we saw before, it lacks a bearing idea. Diotima suddenly comes to think of one. I had to read the chapter twice to realize that the "grand idea" is simply to let Arnheim lead the campaign. Arnheim, you see, is gifted in how he combines Soul with Economy, he poses an alternative to traditional politics and diplomacy (why, because he is rich? German?). Relieved, Diotima observes that Arnheim "did not look in the least Jewish" and she is very impressed by his little companion, a black slave, what a splendid way to regain a "picturesque aspect of high society"!
Arnheim & Diotima engage in moronic chit-chat about the Soul. "There is such blithe soulfulness in this city." "We know too much these days, reason tyrannizes our lives." "Nevertheless, a beautiful woman understands far more than a man, who, for all his logic and psychology, knows nothing at all of life." Arnheim is critical of her idea of a "democratic" system of committees that would represent the campaign in all sections of society; no, the campaign should be tended to by strong, individual personalities. Diotima goes along with that; she was never a democrat anyway.
No wonder there was such a thing as The Vienna Circle. Hanging out with types like these, if they are successful parodies of the "spirit of the age", must've been one heck of a drag. Thankfully, Musil delivers just as harsh descriptions of the blabbering of "soulful" intellectuals as he does of the elevation of a scientific conception of the world. But let's see.
In the last few chapters, Musil has been musing quite a lot about having a strong feeling that something is meaningful. In his brutal way, he highlights the distinction between the appearance of meaning ("everything feels true", "it seems to fit together") - "a vague, thrilling feeling of joy and expectancy" - and true insight. In short: the feeling of meaning in itself amounts to nothing. "Meaning" and "truth" are not psychological states. The idea of "a parallel campaign" rouses much emotion and plenty of inspiration, but it rests on lofty half-thought ideas (the crude essence of which are still, Musil cuts short, jealousy of Prussia). Musil depicts people who do not want to think, but who nonetheless constantly praise the virtues of thinking, intellect, and soul. This is also the theme of the following chapter, "A chapter that may be skipped by anyone not particularly impressed by thinking as an occupation", in which Ulrich reflects on personal and the impersonal dimensions of thought.
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