Robert Walser

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R.I.P
Robert

Robert Walser (Swiss Standard German: [ˈvalzər]; 15 April 1878 – 25 December 1956) was a German language Swiss writer. He additionally worked as a copyist, an inventor's assistant, a butler, and in various other low-paying trades. Despite marginal early success in his literary career, the popularity of his work gradually diminished over the second and third decades of the 20th century, making it increasingly difficult for him to support himself through writing. He eventually had a nervous breakdown and spent the remainder of his life in sanatoria.

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1878–1897 Born Robert Otto Walser, he was the second-youngest of eight children of Adolf Walser (1833–1914), a trained bookbinder who owned a workshop producing stationery goods and picture frames, and his wife Elisabeth (Elisa) Walser (1839–1894). His brother Karl Walser became a well-known stage designer and painter; his elder sister Lisa worked as a teacher and was the family's principal caregiver, while his younger sister Fanny (Fani) Hegi-Walser would later, in 1967, transfer Walser's literary estate to the Carl Seelig Foundation. Walser grew up in Biel, Switzerland, on the language border between the German- and French-speaking regions of Switzerland, and grew up speaking both languages. He attended primary school and progymnasium, which he had to leave before the final exam when his family could no longer bear the cost. From his early years on, he was an enthusiastic theatre-goer; his favourite play was The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller. There is a watercolor painting that shows Walser as Karl Moor, the protagonist of that play. From 1892 to 1895, Walser served an apprenticeship at the Bernischer Kantonalbank in Biel. Afterwards he worked for a short time in Basel.Walser's mother Elisabeth (1839–1894), described in contemporary terms as gemütskrank — a designation roughly…Citește mai mult

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1913–1929 In 1913, Walser returned to Switzerland. He lived for a short time with his sister Lisa in the mental home in Bellelay, where she worked as a teacher. There, he got to know Frieda Mermet, a washer-woman with whom he developed a close friendship. After a short stay with his father in Biel, he went to live in a mansard in the Biel hotel Blaues Kreuz. In 1914, his father died. In Biel, Walser wrote a number of shorter stories that appeared in newspapers and magazines in Germany and Switzerland and selections of which were published in Der Spaziergang (1917), Prosastücke (1917), Poetenleben (1918), Seeland (1919) and Die Rose (1925). Walser, who had always been an enthusiastic wanderer, began to take extended walks, often by night. In his stories from that period, texts written from the point of view of a wanderer walking through unfamiliar neighborhoods alternate with playful essays on writers and artists. During World War I, Walser repeatedly had to go into military service. At the end of 1916, his brother Ernst died after a time of mental illness in the Waldau mental home. In 1919, Walser's brother Hermann, geography professor in Bern, committed suicide. Walser himself…Citește mai mult

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1898–1912 In 1898, the influential critic Joseph Victor Widmann published a series of poems by Walser in the Bernese newspaper Der Bund. This came to the attention of Franz Blei, and he introduced Walser to the circle of Art Nouveau figures centered on the magazine Die Insel, including Frank Wedekind, Max Dauthendey and Otto Julius Bierbaum. Numerous short stories and poems by Walser appeared in Die Insel. Until 1905, Walser lived mainly in Zürich, though he often changed lodgings and also lived for a time in Thun, Solothurn, Winterthur and Munich. In 1903, he fulfilled his military service obligation and, beginning that summer, was the "aide" of an engineer and inventor in Wädenswil near Zürich. This episode became the basis of his 1908 novel Der Gehülfe (The Assistant). In 1904, his first book, Fritz Kochers Aufsätze (Fritz Kocher's Essays), appeared in the Insel Verlag, with eleven illustrations by his brother Karl.

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At the end of 1905 he attended a course in order to become a servant at the castle of Dambrau in Upper Silesia. The theme of serving would characterize his work in the following years, especially in the novel Jakob von Gunten (1909). In 1905, he went to live in Berlin, where his brother Karl Walser, who was working as a theater painter, introduced him to other figures in literature, publishing, and the theater. Occasionally, Walser worked as secretary for the artists' corporation Berliner Secession. In Berlin, Walser wrote the novels The Tanners (Geschwister Tanner), The Assistant (Der Gehülfe) and Jakob von Gunten. They were issued by the publishing house of Bruno Cassirer, where Christian Morgenstern worked as editor. Apart from the novels, he wrote many short stories, sketching popular bars from the point of view of a poor "flaneur" in a very playful and subjective language. There was a very positive echo to his writings. Robert Musil and Kurt Tucholsky, among others, stated their admiration for Walser's prose, and authors like Hermann Hesse and Franz Kafka counted him among their favorite writers. Walser published numerous short stories in newspapers and magazines, many for instance in the Schaubühne. They became…Citește mai mult

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1929–1956 In the beginning of 1929, Walser, who had had anxieties and hallucinations for quite some time, went to the Bernese mental home Waldau, after a mental breakdown, at his sister Lisa's urging. In his medical records it says: "The patient confessed hearing voices." Therefore, this can hardly be called a voluntary commitment. He was eventually diagnosed with catatonic schizophrenia. While he was in the mental home, his state of mind quickly returned to normal, and he went on writing and publishing. Walser made increasing use of what he called his "pencil method" (Bleistiftmethode), a two-stage compositional process he had reportedly developed as early as 1917. Working drafts of poems, prose pieces, dramatic scenes and even an entire novel (The Robber) were first written in pencil in a minuscule Kurrent hand — the so-called "microscripts" (Mikrogramme) — whose letters measured barely more than a millimetre in height by the end of this phase. In a second working stage, Walser selected from these drafts and copied them out in ink as fair copies, often editing in the process, before submitting them to editors for publication. Only a portion of the microscript drafts were ever transferred into fair copies; comparatively few drafts…Citește mai mult

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Writings and reception Today, Walser's texts, completely re-edited since the 1970s, are regarded as among the most important writings of literary modernism. In his writing, he made use of elements of Swiss German in a charming and original manner, while very personal observations are interwoven with texts about texts; that is, with contemplations and variations of other literary works, in which Walser often mixes pulp fiction with high literature. Walser has been regarded as the missing link between Heinrich von Kleist and Franz Kafka. As Susan Sontag writes, "at the time [of Walser's writing], it was more likely to be Kafka [who was understood] through the prism of Walser." For example, Robert Musil once referred to Kafka's work as "a peculiar case of the Walser type." Walser was admired early on by Kafka and writers such as Hermann Hesse, Stefan Zweig, and Walter Benjamin, and was in fact better known during his lifetime than Kafka or Benjamin were known in theirs. He never belonged to a literary school or group, perhaps with the exception of the circle around the magazine Die Insel in his youth, but was a notable and often published writer before World War I and into the…Citește mai mult

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The Robert Walser Center, which was officially established in Bern, Switzerland, in 2009, is dedicated to Robert Walser and the first patron of Walser's work and legacy, Carl Seelig. Its purpose is to promulgate Walser's life and work as well as to facilitate scholarly research. The center is open to both experts and the general public and includes an extensive archive, a research library, temporary exhibition space, and two rooms with several workstations are also available. The Center furthermore develops and organizes exhibitions, events, conferences, workshops, publications, and special editions. The translation of Robert Walser's works, which the Center both encourages and supports, also represents a key focus. In order to fully meet its objectives and responsibilities as a center of excellence, it often collaborates on certain projects with local, national, and international partners as well as universities, schools, theaters, museums, archives, translators, editors, and publishers.

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German Der Teich, 1902, verse drama Schneewittchen, 1901, verse drama Fritz Kochers Aufsätze, 1904 ISBN 3-518-37601-2 Geschwister Tanner, 1907 ISBN 3-518-39982-9 Der Gehülfe, 1908 ISBN 3-518-37610-1 Poetenleben, 1908 ISBN 3-518-01986-4 Jakob von Gunten, 1909 ISBN 3-518-37611-X Gedichte, 1909 Aufsätze, 1913 Geschichten, 1914 Kleine Dichtungen, 1915 ISBN 3-518-37604-7 Prosastücke, 1917 Der Spaziergang, 1917 ISBN 3-518-37605-5 Kleine Prosa, 1917 Poetenleben, 1917 ISBN 3-518-01986-4 Tobold-Roman, 1918 Komödie, 1919 Seeland, 1920 ISBN 3-518-37607-1 Theodor-Roman, 1921 Die Rose, 1925 ISBN 3-518-37608-X Der Räuber, 1925 (published 1978) ISBN 3-518-37612-8 Felix-Szenen, 1925 Große Welt, kleine Welt, 1937 Dichterbildnisse, 1947 Dichtungen in Prosa, 1953 Robert Walser – Briefe, 1979 Sämtliche Werke in Einzelausgaben. 20 Bde. Hg. v. Jochen Greven. Zürich, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag 1985-1986 Geschichten, 1985 ISBN 3-518-37602-0 Der Spaziergang. Prosastücke und Kleine Prosa., 1985 ISBN 3-518-37605-5 Aufsätze, 1985 ISBN 3-518-37603-9 Bedenkliche Geschichten. Prosa aus der Berliner Zeit 1906–1912, 1985 ISBN 3-518-37615-2 Träumen. Prosa aus der Bieler Zeit 1913–1920, 1985 ISBN 3-518-37616-0 Die Gedichte, 1986 ISBN 3-518-37613-6 Komödie. Märchenspiele und szenische Dichtung, 1986 ISBN 3-518-37614-4 Wenn Schwache sich für stark halten. Prosa aus der Berner Zeit 1921–1925, 1986 ISBN 3-518-37617-9 Zarte Zeilen. Prosa aus der Berner Zeit 1926, 1986 ISBN 3-518-37618-7 Es war einmal. Prosa aus…Citește mai mult

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English translations Jakob von Gunten (University of Texas Press, 1970; New York Review Books Classics, 1999), translated by Christopher Middleton, ISBN 0-940322-21-8 Selected Stories (Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1982; New York Review Books Classics, 2002), translated by Christopher Middleton, ISBN 0-940322-98-6 Robert Walser Rediscovered: Stories, Fairy-Tale Plays, & Critical Response Including the Anti-Fairy Tales, Cinderella & Snow White (University Press of New England, 1985) ISBN 0-87451-334-0 Masquerade and Other Stories (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990), translated by Susan Bernofsky, ISBN 0-8018-3977-7 The Robber (University of Nebraska Press, 2000), translated by Susan Bernofsky, ISBN 0-8032-9809-9 Speaking to the Rose: Writings, 1912–1932 (University of Nebraska Press, 2005), translated by Christopher Middleton, ISBN 0-8032-9833-1 The Assistant (New Directions, 2007), translated by Susan Bernofsky, ISBN 978-0-8112-1590-9 The Tanners (New Directions, 2009), translated by Susan Bernofsky, ISBN 978-0-8112-1589-3 Microscripts (New Directions, 2010), translated by Susan Bernofsky, ISBN 978-0-8112-1880-1 Answer to an Inquiry (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2010), translated by Paul North, with drawings by Friese Undine, ISBN 978-1933254746 Berlin Stories (New York Review Books Classics, 2012), translated by Susan Bernofsky, ISBN 978-1-59017-454-8 The Walk (New Directions, 2012), translated by Christopher Middleton with Susan Bernofsky, ISBN 9780811219921 Thirty Poems (New Directions, 2012), translated by Christopher Middleton, ISBN…Citește mai mult

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Plays Robert Walser – mikrogramme – das kleine welttheater, director: Christian Bertram, stage: Max Dudler, music: Hans Peter Kuhn, début performance 14 April 2005 Berlin; readings, films and podium discussion with corollary program www.mikrogramme.de Institute Benjamenta, director: Gökçen Ergene Fairy Tales: Dramolettes (New Directions, 2015), translated by James Reidel and Daniele Pantano, with a preface by Reto Sorg, ISBN 978-0-8112-2398-0 Comedies (Seagull Books, 2018), translated by Daniele Pantano and James Reidel, with a preface by Reto Sorg, ISBN 978-0857424693

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Movies Jakob von Gunten, director: Peter Lilienthal, script: Ror Wolf and Peter Lilienthal, 1971 Der Gehülfe, director: Thomas Koerfer, 1975 Der Vormund und sein Dichter, direction and script: Percy Adlon, 1978 (free picturization of Seelig's Wanderungen mit Robert Walser) Robert Walser (1974–1978), direction and script: HHK Schoenherr Waldi, direction and script: Reinhard Kahn, Michael Leiner (after the story Der Wald), 1980 The Comb, directors: Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay (i.e. Brothers Quay), 1990 Brentano, director: Romeo Castellucci, with Paolo Tonti as Brentano, 1995 Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life, directors: Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay (i.e. Brothers Quay) with Mark Rylance as Jakob von Gunten, 1995 Blanche Neige, directed by Rudolph Straub, music by Giovanna Marini, 1999 Branca de Neve, director: João César Monteiro, 2000 All This Can Happen, directors: Siobhan Davies, David Hinton, 2012

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In English Davenport, Guy (Spring 1977). "A Field of Snow on a Slope of the Rosenberg". Georgia Review. 21 (1): 5–41. O'Brien, John, ed. (Spring 1992). "Robert Walser Special Issue". The Review of Contemporary Fiction. 12 (1). Benjamin, Walter (1999). "Robert Walser". In Jennings, Michael W.; Eiland, Howard; Smith, Gary (eds.). Selected Writings of Walter Benjamin Volume 2, 1927–1934 (PDF). Translated by Livingstone, Rodney. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 257–261. ISBN 0-674-94586-7. Coetzee, J. M. (2 November 2000). "The Genius of Robert Walser". The New York Review of Books. Mendelssohn, Deidre Foley (26 May 2010). "The Book Bench: Scribe of the Small". The New Yorker. Bernofsky, Susan (2012). Introduction. Microscripts. By Walser, Robert. New Directions. ISBN 978-0-81122-033-0. Frederick, Samuel (2012). Narratives Unsettled: Digression in Robert Walser, Thomas Bernhard, and Adalbert Stifter. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. ISBN 978-0-81012-817-0. Shipley, Gary J. (October 2013). "Smithereens: On Robert Walser's Microscripts". The Black Herald (4): 104–119. Fabri, Ansgar; Brückner, Burkhart (2015). "Biography of Robert Otto Walser". Biographical Archive of Psychiatry. Weitzman, Erica (2015). Irony's Antics: Walser, Kafka, Roth and the German Comic Tradition. Northwestern University Press. ISBN 978-0-81012-983-2. Seelig, Carl (2017). Walks with Walser. Translated by Posten, Anne. New Directions. ISBN 978-0-81122-139-9.…Citește mai mult

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In German Mächler, Robert (1976). Das Leben Robert Walsers. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-39986-1. Hamm, Peter (1980). Robert Walser. Leben und Werk in Daten und Bildern. Insel. ISBN 978-3-45831-964-1. Meier, Andreas; Echte, Bernhard, eds. (1990). Die Brüder Karl und Robert Walser. Maler und Dichter. Rothenhäusler. ISBN 3-907960-37-8. Greven, Jochen (1992). Robert Walser. Figur am Rande, in wechselndem Licht. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag. ISBN 3-596-11378-4. Sauvat, Catherine (1993). Vergessene Welten. Biographie zu Robert Walser. Bruckner & Thünker. ISBN 3-905208-01-6. Echte, Bernhard (2002). Walsers Kindheit und Jugend in Biel. Biographischer Essay. Nimbus. ISBN 3-907142-05-5. Märki, Lukas (2002). Auf den Spuren Robert Walsers. Nimbus. ISBN 3-907142-07-1. Groddeck, Wolfram; Sorg, Rego; Utz, Peter; Wanger, Karl, eds. (2007). Robert Walsers "Ferne Nähe". neue Beiträge zur Forschung. Brill Deutschland. doi:10.30965/9783846745175. ISBN 978-3-7705-4517-9. Gisi, Lucas Mario (2012). "Das Schweigen des Schriftstellers. Robert Walser und das Macht-Wissen der Psychiatrie". In Wernli, Martina (ed.). Wissen und Nicht-Wissen in der Klinik. Dynamiken der Psychiatrie um 1900. Bielefield. pp. 231–259. ISBN 978-3-8376-1934-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Gisi, Lucas Marco, ed. (2015). Robert Walser-Handbuch. Leben – Werk – Wirkung. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler. doi:10.1007/978-3-476-05303-9. ISBN 978-3-476-02418-3. Bernofsky, Susan (2025). »Hellseher im Kleinen«. Das Leben Robert Walsers. Translated by Adrian, Michael. Suhrkamp. ISBN…Citește mai mult