SOURCE: "Myth and Fairy Tale in Robert Musil's Grigia," in Turn of the Century: German Literature and Art, 1880-1915, edited by Gerald Chappie and Hans H. Schulte, Bouvier Verlag, 1981, pp. 135-48.

In the following essay, Paulson discusses the mythological elements of Musil's Grigia.

Robert Musil's Grigia is a story with a very simple plot and very little development of characters, yet it continues to be read and discussed nearly sixty years after its first publication. Two reasons for the continuing interest in Grigia suggest themselves. The first is that Musil uses vivid, though enigmatic, imagery and striking metaphors, both of which engage the attention of the reader. Secondly, throughout the story Musil gives indications of a hidden meaning underlying the story. The story opens with the paragraph: "Es gibt im Leben eine Zeit, wo es sich auffallend verlangsamt, als zögerte es weiterzugehen oder wollte seine Richtung ändern...