Pomutnje gojenca Torlessa

The protagonist, a sensitive adolescent Törless from a noble family, arrives at this closed institution full of homesickness and inner turmoil. Surrounded by strict rules and a male collective, he faces pubescent confusion, sexual awakening and moral dilemmas.

Törless befriends two fellow students: the ambitious and cruel Reiting and the mystical, occult Beineberg. Together they discover that their colleague Basini is stealing money. Instead of reporting it to the adults, they decide to punish him themselves – starting with blackmail and bullying, which escalates into sadistic torture, physical violence and homosexual abuse in the school attic. Basini, weak and passive, endures everything, becoming a victim of their experiments with power and lust.

Törless, unlike his active friends, remains an observer – deeply introspective, but paralyzed. He is fascinated by Basini’s vulnerability and his own attraction to him, but at the same time repelled by his weakness. He tries to rationalize the violence through philosophical speculations about the difference between reason and irrationality, light and shadow in the soul. Experiences with a local prostitute, Božena, and conversations with a mathematics professor further intensify his "confusions" - a feeling of alienation from the world.

When the violence becomes unbearable, Törless secretly advises Basini to report to the director. An investigation follows: Basini is punished and expelled, while Törless, in a stunning speech about existential emptiness ("things just happen"), impresses the adults with his intellectual depth. They declare him too sensitive for boarding school and send him home for private education. The novel ends with Törless's return, but without a complete solution – only with a deeper knowledge of the hypocrisy of society, suppressed urges and the impossibility of absolute ethics.