Chapter 4, Chapters 84 - 87 Summary

Chapter 84: This begins with Ulrich facing a pile of mail which he handles as part of his service to Count Leinsdorf. Someone is supporting an orphanage and there are carefully made descriptions of why they are not going to use an interdenominational approach in this case. Musil gives an account of Clarisse as behaving like a sexy intellectual: he writes that she quotes Nietzsche to her husband while dropping her nightdress on their bed. As is often the case, the men Ulrich and his friend Walter are struggling amongst themselves over something entirely different.

Chapter 85: Ulrich gets to visit with a General. General Stumm becomes infatuated with Diotima. He is not like Herr Paul Arnheim about this. Robert Musil writes that Nature creates unity by combining opposites together. Ulrich urges the General to not take thinking so seriously. Ulrich...