Dark Math and The Labyrinth: Inner and Outer Chaos in The Confusions of Young Torless Annmicha Blugh College

Robert Musil’s The Confusions of Young Törless stresses the synchronicity between inner and outer chaos. Mystery and enigmatic disorder overshadow the narrative as the young adolescent, Torless, struggles with his identity and the world around him. In symbolism, school and sexuality, other irrational unknowns appear which confound his efforts at clarity.

At school, Torless is bewildered in mathematics class as he grapples with advanced theories such as imaginary numbers, irrational numbers and infinity. “Captivated by the problem of infinity, his interest turns to the mathematics class where he is even more puzzled by the problem of ‘imaginaren Zahlen or imaginary numbers’ (Goldgar 126). Convoluted formulas and riddling concepts plague his mind as he attempts to calculate and solve these coded puzzles. Even when he approaches his mathematics instructor, seeking answers, he obtains none. In his math text, the “parentheses and footnotes (are) incomprehensible to him, ... it was as if some aged, bony hand were twisting and screwing his brain out of his head.” (Musil 50). In the subconscious, his futile strivings in arithmetic run parallel to his personal psychology as he attempts to solve his own identity. Goldgar expresses that...