Editing Robert Musil (section)

==Youth and studies==
After graduation Musil studied at a military academy in Vienna during the fall of 1897, but then switched to mechanical engineering, joining his father's department at the [[Brno University of Technology]]. During his university studies, he studied [[engineering]] by day, and at night, read [[literature]] and [[philosophy]] and went to the theatre and art exhibitions. [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]], [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], and [[Ernst Mach]] were particular interests of his university years.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thiher |first=Allen |title=Understanding Robert Musil |publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press |year=2009 |isbn= |pages=2–3}}</ref> Musil finished his studies in three years and, in 1902–1903, served as an unpaid assistant to Professor of Mechanical Engineering {{Interlanguage link|Carl von Bach|de}}, in [[Stuttgart]]. During that time, he began work on ''[[The Confusions of Young Törless|Young Törless]]''.

He also invented {{Interlanguage link|Musilscher Farbkreisel|de|3=Musilscher Farbkreisel}}, the Musil [[Color triangle|color top]], a motorised device for producing mixed colours by additive colour-mixing with two differently colored, sectored, rotating discs. This was an improvement over earlier models, allowing a user to vary the proportions of the two colors during rotation and to read off those proportions precisely.<ref>Rupp, H. (1908). Spindler & Hoyer Werkstätte für Wissenschaftliche Präcisionsinstrumente, Göttingen. Apparate für psychologische Untersuchungen. Preisliste XXI [Spindler & Hoyer Workshop for Scientific Precision Instruments, Göttingen. Apparatus for psychological research. Price list 21]. Göttingen: Spindler & Hoyer. Retrieved from [http://vlp.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/library/data/lit24062/index_html?pn=57&ws=1.5. vlp.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de]
Translation available at [https://sites.google.com/site/oshearobertp/publications/translations/spindler-hoyer-1908 sites.google.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401143218/https://sites.google.com/site/oshearobertp/publications/translations/spindler-hoyer-1908 |date=1 April 2019 }}</ref>

Musil's sexual life around the turn of the century, according to his own records, was mainly with a prostitute, which he treated partly as an experimental self-experience.<ref>Corino S. 2003, 151–154.</ref> But he also was infatuated with the pianist and mountaineer Valerie Hilpert, who assumed mystical features.<ref>Pfohlmann 2012, S. 32–34; Corino 2003, S. 156–167. Pekar comments: "Sigmund Freud's observation of the splitting of the love life in Eros and Sexus, the distant, pure lover and the whore find their clear confirmation here." (Pekar 1997, S. 13)</ref> 
In March 1902, Musil underwent treatment for syphilis with mercury ointment. During this time, his several years of relationship began with Hermine Dietz, the 'Tonka' of his own novel, published in 1923. Hermine's syphilitic miscarriage in 1906 and her death in 1907 may have been due to infection from Musil.<ref>Pfohlmann 2012, S. 34; Corino 2003, S. 190–194 und S. 1882 f.</ref>

Musil grew tired of engineering and what he perceived as the limited world-view of the engineer. He launched himself into a new round of doctoral studies (1903–1908) in psychology and philosophy at the [[University of Berlin]] under Professor [[Carl Stumpf]]. In 1905, Musil met his future wife, Martha Marcovaldi (née Heimann, 21 January 1874 – 6 November 1949). She had been widowed and remarried, with two children, and was seven years older than Musil. His first novel, ''Young Törless'', was published in 1906.