Taking a philosophical epistemological perspective, this work examines Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain (Der Zauberberg), Hermann Broch's trilogy, The Sleepwalkers (Die Schlafwandler), and Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities (Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften). These three texts not only constitute epoch-making novels, but are also novels of their epoch, in the sense that they deal with the significant historical currents of thought of their time in a literary manner. One of the most succinct characteristics of their epoch was a diversity of epistemological positions, never to be attained again afterwards. Using an interpretive approach, this study sheds light on how the three authors dealt with this spectrum in their aesthetic works.

Andreas Dittrich, München.