GDANSK, Poland – In his novel “The Man Without Qualities,” Robert Musil gives the Habsburg world another name: Kakania. It is not a primitive country. It has ministries, laws, newspapers, officers, judges, aristocrats, experts, committees, salons, manners and a large supply of official languages. What it lacks is the ability to say what it is.
At the center of the novel is the Parallel Campaign, a patriotic project preparing a celebration in 1918 for the 70th anniversary of Emperor Franz Joseph’s reign. Important people gather. They draft memoranda, propose symbols, organize meetings and look for a great idea. They know there must be greatness. They cannot say what it consists of.
A state can continue to function after it has lost the ability to describe itself. Offices still work. The language remains. The purpose is missing.
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