Walser loved to walk, or it might be more accurate to say he walked a lot, like mr. So many times, as i rode through the streets of berlin and berlin life in the quaint, lumbering and yet buoyantly. He argues that protestants and catholics lived in different worlds, separated by an invisible boundary of culture, defined as a community of meaning. Berlin stories, the most recent offering from nyrb, contains mostly new translations of early storiesselected and organized by jochen greven. Robert walser, who had a major influence on kafkas fiction, was fascinated with comic characters who many would find pitiable but charming. These walser short stories collect alternately celebratory, droll, and satirical observations on every aspect of the bustling german capital. Feb 11, 2008 it was by way of enrique vilamatass novel montano, in which he offers a fascinating biographical sketch, that my interest in the swissgerman writer robert walser began. Walser, robert, whalen, tom, kongeter, nicole, wiesner.
Louis armstrong, allain locke, jelly roll morton, james reese europe, leroi jones, norman mailer, andre hodier, ralph. Tonya read a novel that tells the story of a homeless child. Dec 25, 2011 6 books you should resolve to read in 2012. Coetzee dazzling, guy davenport a very special kind of whimsicalseriousdeep writer, and hermann hesse if he had a hundred thousand readers, the world would be a better place. Robert walser was born in switzerland in 1878 and worked as a bank clerk before becoming a writer. It was by way of enrique vilamatass novel montano, in which he offers a fascinating biographical sketch, that my interest in the swissgerman. Readings in jazz history, second edition, brings to life the controversies and critical issues that have accompanied more than 100 years of jazz history. Robert walser was born in switzerland in 1878 to a germanspeaking family. The novel starts at the beginning of the main characters life and proceeds in time order to the middle and then the end. Bookslut berlin stories by robert walser, translated by. After trying unsuccessfully to become an actor, he took up various other professions throughout his life, including. I think it was herman hesse who said that if you can stomach robert walsers prose, you cant help but fall in love with it, and i fell in love with.
The german empire of 1871, although unified politically, remained deeply divided along religious lines. The eightyone brief texts in this volume span robert walsers career and are strung together like consciousness, idiosyncratic and vulnerable, genuine in their irony, wistful in their humor. There are plenty of good authors who cant seem to do more than offer a nicely rendered snapshot or line drawing of a city. Saturday shorts week 10 welcome to our weekend series for 2014. Journey to a small town and a sort of cleopatra stories by robert walser, open city 29, summer 2010, 14753. He was also a mysterious and solitary man who lived at the margins of society. Walser specialises in descriptions of his oversensitive state of mind and delights in writing about banal, trivial events but with a level of descriptive writing. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Robert walser 18781956 was born into a germanspeaking family in biel, switzerland. They present another body of comedy which, to be sure, differs significantly from nietzsches body of comedy. German nationalism and religious conflict by helmut walser. This collection gathers fortytwo of walser s stories. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg.
Essays on jazz history, divided by decade of when the article was written or what decade the article referred to, by a host of fine contributors. In 2006 he launched wandering with robert walser as a tribute on the 50th anniversary of walsers death. Readings in jazz history, second edition, brings to life the controversies and critical issues. Mar 28, 2012 the description applies to the present volume as well, as it does to a great deal of walsers work. Secretly, i love art, declares the young fritz kocher in a schoolboys diary and other stories, a new collection translated by damion searls to. The book is a young mans inquisitive and irreverent account of life in what turns out to be the most. In german nationalism and religious conflict, helmut walser smith offers the first social, cultural, and political history of this division. The blossoming and resplendence were too sensuous for me. 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. Everyday low prices on a huge range of new releases and classic fiction. Walsers selected stories is a very satisfying little volume containing some very short stories and a a smaller number of longer ones. Robert walser on everything and nothing the new yorker. Robert walser 18781956 is an important but unknown european writer of the twentieth century. Tonya read a novel that tells the story of a homeless child in the nineteenth century.
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. This collection gathers fortytwo of walsers stories. The walk by robert walser overdrive rakuten overdrive. An introduction to robert walser words without borders. Robert walser 15 april 1878 near bielbienne, switzerland 25 december 1956 near herisau, switzerland, was a germanspeaking swiss writer. Swiss author robert walsers prolific writing career four novels and ten collections of short fiction came to an abrupt end in 1933, the year he was forcibly transferred from the waldau mental. As a graduate student in the 1950s, he recognized that walsers microscripts manuscript pages covered with tiny handwriting discovered after walsers death were not written in secret code but were in. These stories, more than revealing the texture of berlin life. Mar 01, 2002 buy selected stories of robert walser by walser, robert, sontag, susan, middleton, christopher from amazons fiction books store. In 1929 he was diagnosed as schizophrenic and lived the last twenty years of his life in hospital. Walser, robert, sontag, susan, middleton, christopher. These beautifully written vignettes of a youth spent in the berlin of the early 1900s are a must for the.
In 1905 the young swiss writer robert walser arrived in berlin to join his older brother karl, already an important stage set designer, and immediately threw himself into the vibrant social and cultural life of the city. This unique volume gives voice to a wide range of perspectives. Secretly he considers happy alone the man who is inconsolable. The marriage proposal and my subject here is a victor stories by robert walser, the brooklyn rail, may 2010, 80. Robert walser is an overwhelmingly original author with many ardent fans. Every saturday this year one of our staff will suggest a favorite short story from the librarys collection, all of them a great choice for quick weekend reading. Honest, wry and idiosyncratic, his stories are snapshots of the lives great. Swerdlow o tto neugebauer was the most original and productive scholar of the history of the exact sciences, perhaps of the history of science, of our age. Mar 24, 2012 free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. Jochen greven is the author of first germanlanguage phd dissertation on robert walser and the editor of walsers collected works in german. The swiss writer robert walser is one of the quiet geniuses of twentiethcentury literature. 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. Strange to think that this delightful, centuryold book is now finding englishlanguage readers for the very first time. Four never before published stories by robert walser literary hub.
Books by walser, robert sorted by popularity project. Reading robert walsers books are like looking into a room through a piece of glass thats tinted and warped. Gail walsers phone number, email, address, public records. Berlin stories by robert walser, translated by susan bernofsky building a city must surely be easier than writing about one. Robert walser has 159 books on goodreads with 40667 ratings. Carl reiner books list of books by author carl reiner. Berlin stories collects his alternately celebratory, droll, and satirical observations on every aspect of the bustling german capital, from its theaters, cabarets, painters. This collection brings together more than seventy of robert walsers strange and wonderful stories, most never before available in english. People who are refined stories by robert walser, harpers magazine 320. Berlin stories collects his alternately celebratory, droll, and satirical observations on every aspect of the bustling in 1905 the young swiss writer robert walser arrived in berlin to join his older brother karl, already an important stageset designer, and immediately threw himself into the vibrant social and cultural life of the city. The description applies to the present volume as well, as it does to a great deal of walsers work. His brother karl walser was a notable painter and illustrator. Project gutenberg offers 61,922 free ebooks to download. 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.
Keeping time robert walser oxford university press. Problems of poverty, classism, and social injustice are explored throughout the text. We personally assess every books quality and offer rare, outofprint treasures. Im currently making my way through berlin stories, which nyrb recently put out you better get it quick so you can get it into its proper place in your queue he always seems to vibrant, even when hes writing about sad things which seems strange considering the images we have of his later life and id say that picture seems tentative, though his words.
511 759 204 12 66 1248 1061 1410 964 1448 191 1595 367 1153 352 1161 3 465 516 762 1095 1387 704 955 6 1518 1031 894 493 757 609 1599 153 435 646 1135 1131 541 155 1147 1168 603 801 1257 1233 131 995