'They no longer hold themselves up with all their might, but sink a little and at that moment appear totally human'. Of the very first rank of prose stylists, Robert Musil captures a scene's every telling detail and symbolic aspect with a precise and remarkable beauty. In these nine stories and essays, he considers holidaymakers and stone monuments, tales of war and blackbirds, and the great pathos of a tiny death: a fly's impossible fight against the grip of flypaper. This book includes "Flypaper", "Monkey Island", "Fisherman on the Baltic", "Sheep", "As Seen in Another Light", "Sarcophagus Cover", "Monuments", "The Paint Spreader", "It's Lovely Here" and "The Blackbird".