The book is a young mans inquisitive and irreverent account of life in what turns out. The book is about a young man, joseph marti, who secures a position as live in personal assistant to an inventor and entrepeneur, carl tobler, who lives with his wife and four children in an. July 27, 2007 the mixed pleasures of introspection and tensions between solitude and society are wryly considered in the great, eccentric swiss authors previously untranslated 1908 novel. Robert walser was born in switzerland in 1878 and worked as a bank clerk before becoming a writer.
Born in switzerland in 1878, robert walser worked as a bank clerk, a butler in a castle and an inventors assistant while beginning what was to become a prodigious literary career. With susan bernofsky, translator of the assistant new directions, deborah eisenberg and wayne koestenbaum the great and virtually unknown swiss writer robert walser influenced kafka and inspired hermann hesse. Free shipping and pickup in store on eligible orders. Coetzee dazzling, guy davenport a very special kind of whimsicalseriousdeep writer, and hermann hesse if he. I came to this teutonic scribner by way of a jackass professor i had in graduate school. As a reader of robert walser for almost 30 years, im pleased to host this discussion of the latest addition to the walser corpus in english. Four never before published stories by robert walser. Robert walser 1 robert walser 1 primary author only robert walser disambiguation author division robert walser is composed of at least 2 distinct authors, divided by their works. Apr 11, 2020 robert walser, swiss poet and novelist hailed after his death as a genius. The assistant i was wondering recently about the difficulty publishers have in getting their books noticed. Feb 11, 2008 books blog fiction a brief survey of the short story part 8.
Robert walser wrote the assistant in 1908,soon after attending a course in becoming a servant, and while occasionally working as a secretary in berlin. The theme seems to be about the inability of conformity to make us happy. Go to the disambiguation page to edit author name combination and separation. The assistant, which was written in berlin a hundred years ago, in a sixweek sprint, and appeared in 1908, is only walsers second published novel, and here his innocence seems more truly. Susan bernofsky who has translated numerous works of walsers including the tanners, the assistant, and the famous. He is most at home in the mode of short fiction, according to j. In this tribute, three writers read, discuss and worship walser, a writer who is like a mouse that roaredsmall and fragile but outofthisworld outrageous. Sebaldis now presented in english for the very first time. He left school at fourteen and led a wandering, precarious existence while writing his poems, novels, and vast numbers of the prose pieces that became his hallmark. Books by walser, robert sorted by popularity project.
Its purpose is to promulgate walsers life and work as well as to facilitate scholarly research. Mar 06, 2008 robert walser wrote the assistant in 1908,soon after attending a course in becoming a servant, and while occasionally working as a secretary in berlin. Thirty poems robert walser hardcover books online raru. The assistant by robert walserwho was admired greatly by kafka, musil, walter benjamin, and w.
Indeed, writes susan sontag, at the time of walsers writing, it was more likely to be kafka who was understood by posterity through the prism of walser. The current chair of the pen translation committee, she teaches in the mfa program in creative writing and literary translation at queens college cuny and is at work on a biography of. Best sellers todays deals new releases books electronics gift ideas customer service home computers sell books best sellers new releases childrens books textbooks australian authors kindle books audiobooks. Robert walser books list of books by author robert walser.
Stendhals the red and the black and robert walsers the assistant. Click and collect from your local waterstones or get free uk delivery on orders over. In 2006 he launched wandering with robert walser as a tribute on the 50th anniversary of walsers death. The swiss writer robert walser is one of the quiet geniuses of twentiethcentury literature. Sebaldand selected stories gives the fullest display of his talent. Sebaldis now presented in english for the very first time robert walser is an overwhelmingly original author with many ardent fans. He took up various humble occupationsbutler, clerk, assistant librarian, and bookseller. Shop amongst our popular books, including 92, comedies, the walk and more from robert walser. Robert walser a tortured life provided the material for a very bleak, sometimes very funny master of the form. A tribute to the great and virtually unknown swiss writer robert walser, who influenced kafka and inspired hermann hesse. So i have recently read two books from two different time periods which were strikingly similar in subject. The tanners has a wonderful lightness of tone that is vivid and delivers rich insights.
Encompassing everything from journal entries, notes on literature, and biographical sketches to anecdotes, fables, and visions, it is an ideal introduction to this fascinating writer of whom hermann hesse famously declared, if he had a hundred thousand readers, the world would be a better. Coetzee dazzling, guy davenport a very special kind of whimsicalseriousdeep writer, and hermann hesse if he had a hundred thousand readers. This must be a particular problem for those who are reissuing old titles. Tobler has a number of inventions he is trying to peddle, with limited success, the most noteworthy being the advertising clock, containing. Between 1899 and his forced hospitalization in 1933 with a now muchdisputed diagnosis of schizophrenia, walser produced as many as seven novels and more than a. Tobler has a number of inventions he is trying to peddle, with limited success, the most noteworthy being the advertising clock, containing popout promotional banners, space. Coetzee dazzling, guy davenport a very special kind of whimsicalseriousdeep writer, and hermann hesse if he had a. Jovanovic published a book of prose named story for robert walser inspired by the life and work of robert walser. Stendhals the red and the black and robert walser s the assistant. In the spirit of robert walser 10, a series of artistic responses to walser s work was published, including work by moyra davey, thomas schutte, tacita dean and. Robert walsers the tanners tells the story of a man wandering the countryside and doing menial tasks, all the while looking for meaning in his life. The book is about a young man, joseph marti, who secures a position as livein personal assistant to an inventor and entrepeneur, carl tobler, who lives with his wife and four children in an. Walser is understood to be the missing link between kleist and kafka. Sep 16, 2016 robert walser robert walser 18781956 was born into a germanspeaking family in biel, switzerland.
Selected stories ebook by robert walser rakuten kobo. After abandoning his studies at age 14, walser took accounting lessons and attempted unsuccessfully to become an actor. The assistant by robert walser translated by susan bernofsky new directions, 301 pp. A truly wonderful, heartbreaking writer susan sontag. Discover book depositorys huge selection of robert walser books online. Robert walser, swiss poet and novelist hailed after his death as a genius.
Oct 19, 2009 robert walser s the tanners tells the story of a man wandering the countryside and doing menial tasks, all the while looking for meaning in his life. An introduction to robert walser words without borders. Robert walsers the assistant tells of joseph marti, a young rambler who commences employment in the titular position for welltodo inventor carl tobler in the presumed swiss town of barenswil. Strange to think that this delightful, centuryold book is now finding englishlanguage readers for the very first time. The robert walser center, which was officially established in bern, switzerland, in 2009, is dedicated to robert walser and the first patron of walsers work and legacy, carl seelig. Robert walser has 159 books on goodreads with 40357 ratings. In 1929 he was diagnosed as schizophrenic and lived the last twenty years of his life in hospital. Explore books by robert walser with our selection at. Apparently robert musil referred to kafkas work as a peculiar case of the walser type walser was admired early on by kafka and writers such as. The book is a young mans inquisitive and irreverent. By now the snapshot of the dead robert walser has become one of german literatures most often. Buy microscripts book online at low prices in india. Writers susan bernofsky, deborah eisenberg and wayne koestenbaum read, discuss and worship walser, a writer who is like a mouse that roaredsmall and fragile but outofthisworld outrageous. Robert walser robert walser 18781956 was born into a germanspeaking family in biel, switzerland.
See all books authored by robert walser, including the haunted looking glass. See more ideas about writer, beach reading and august sander. The novel moves quickly along delighting the reader. Robert walser is an overwhelmingly original author with many ardent fans. Books blog fiction a brief survey of the short story part 8. Both books revolve around the experiences of young vassals who take on positions in aristocratic houses and focus on their respective integration into the paternal arms. In 1929 he was diagnosed as \\schizophrenic\\ and lived the last twenty years of his life in hospital. Since 2002, sam jones has provided chicago readers with news on local literary events and occasional observations on books new and old through his literary blog, golden rule jones. He left school at fourteen and led a wandering and precarious existence working as a bank clerk, a butler in a castle, and an inventors assistant while producing essays, stories, and novels.