Esteemed gentlemen, i am a poor, young, unemployed person in the business field, my name is wenzel, i am seeking a suitable position, and i take the liberty of asking you, nicely and politely, if perhaps in your airy, bright, amiable rooms such a position might be free. Every sensitive person carries in himself old cities. Walsers father was a struggling bookbinder, though it is his mother, elisa, who seems to have loomed larger. The assistant is a longer, studied and beautiful novel, written with a language which can simply be called walserian, a language at once subtle, simple, rich and nuanced, and not at all affected but in consonance with the protagonist, and never shrill. Coetzee dazzling, guy davenport a very special kind of whimsicalseriousdeep writer, and hermann hesse if he had a hundred thousand. I cannot recommend this book enough, both for its exquisite. This acclaimed book by susan bernofsky is available at in several formats for your ereader. Clerk, or however you prefer to be addressed, you are back in the villa tobler, make no mistake, and, in.
Walser made a couple of forays to berlin but didnt feel ready to make a more sustained leap until 1905, at the age of twentyseven, after the publication of his first book, fritz kochers. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. 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 elegant lakeside house beautiful mountainous country. 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. Thomas koerfer filmography the assistant, after a novel. Nonfiction by sam jones 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.
There wouldnt be much to say about thomas koerfers assistant if koerfer had attempted to play walser. 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. Joseph, hired to become an inventors new assistant, arrives one rainy why doesnt everyone know about robert walser. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the assistant new directions paperbook book. Joseph, hired to become an inventors new assistant. The assistant by robert walser, susan bernofsky readings. One can only hope to really understand robert walsers story the walk if one is.
In the spirit of robert walser, a series of artistic responses to walsers work was published, including work by moyra davey, thomas schutte, tacita dean and mark wallinger. An excerpt from the new directions translation of robert walsers the assistant in which joseph reflects on a bad hat. This was walsers most ambitious novel, and published. An introduction to robert walser words without borders.
The assistant by robert walser who was admired greatly by kafka, musil, walter benjamin, and w. I think it was herman hesse who said that if you can stomach robert walsers prose, you cant help. The most recently translated novel, the assistant new directions. He took up various humble occupationsbutler, clerk, assistant librarian, and bookseller. In 1929 he was diagnosed as schizophrenic and lived the last twenty years of his life in hospital. Through all of that, walser continues to develop the remarkable character of the assistant, as if the machinery of financial ruin were somehow necessary to bring out the assistants character. In 1933 he abandoned writing and entered a sanatoriumwhere he remained for the rest of his life. Robert walser, swiss poet and novelist hailed after his death as a genius. See all books authored by robert walser, including the haunted looking glass. The assistant is his breathtaking 1908 novel, translated by awardwinning translator susan bernofsky.
Sebaldis now presented in english for the very first time. And thats odd for robert walser, because his other novels, whatever their connection to the german modernist and expressionist tendencies of their time, stand apart from their contemporaries. Share robert walser quotations about eyes, listening and writing. Penguin have pushed the boat out a little with robert walsers the assistant 1908, newly issued in the modern classics range. Still reading heres the second part of quotes and passages from this wonderful book. At the age of fourteen robert was taken out of school and apprenticed to a bank, where he performed his clerical functions in exemplary fashion.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the assistant new directions paperbook book 1071. Type something to see the thing youre actually looking for. Looking at pictures by robert walser, hardcover barnes. It was by way of enrique vilamatass novel montano, in which he offers a fascinating biographical sketch, that my interest in the swissgerman. The assistant new directions paperbook 9780811215909. Robert walser was born in switzerland in 1878 and worked as a bank clerk before becoming a writer. Jovanovic published a book of prose named story for robert walser inspired by the life and work of robert walser. 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. Walser does not fit into the puzzle in the way that broch, zweig, canetti, doblin, roth. Robert walser is an overwhelmingly original author with many ardent.
When characters in walsers second novel, the assistant 1908, take ill, its apparent that sickness is a portal to enhancement. The assistant fiction by robert walser translated from the german by susan bernofsky robert walser is an overwhelmingly original author with many ardent fans. The cover is one of the most stylish yet of their new look. A truly wonderful, heartbreaking writer susan sontag. Robert walser books list of books by author robert walser. The assistant by robert walser, susan bernofsky kirkus. When i like an author, i find out who they were influenced by and who they.
The assistant new directions paperbook book 1071 kindle edition by walser, robert, bernofsky, susan. The assistant by robert walser book 220 editions published between 1908 and 2019 in 16 languages and held by 1,467 worldcat member libraries worldwide. Swiss writer walser 18781956 wrote this kafkaesque novel in 1908. Robert walser claimed to have written the assistant, a semiautobiographical work, in just six weeks as an entry for a literary competition. The assistant robert walser the quotable paperback. The sheltering sky by paul bowles im still gathering my thoughts on this one and the assistant by the swiss author robert walser. Robert walser was born in 1878 in the canton of bern, the seventh of eight children.
Robert walser s 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. The job application, by robert walser eddie kohler. Susan bernofsky joseph, hired to become an inventors new assistant, arrives one rainy monday morning at technical engineer karl toblers splendid hilltop villa. The assistant by robert walserwho was admired greatly by kafka, musil, walter benjamin, and w. After abandoning his studies at age 14, walser took accounting lessons and attempted unsuccessfully to become an actor. Robert walser is an overwhelmingly original author with many ardent fans. I picked up the assistant thinking i recognised it from the guardian newspapers novels everybody should read list. His father, trained as a bookbinder, ran a store selling stationery and notions.
Joseph, hired to become an inventors new assistant, arrives. How does walking help the narrator in robert walsers the walk therapeutically. Robert walser has 159 books on goodreads with 39994 ratings. Robert walser on everything and nothing the new yorker. But watch out, because when you see it in real life it will be swagged with a vivid removable sleeve, like so. The assistant is walsers longest work but hardly his most perfect. It meanders in a fluid and leisurely way to its conclusion, and must be of importance as a precursor to his later, apparently more radical work, as much as for itself. Walser claims to have written the assistant in six weeks, which doesnt seem implausible. Joseph marti, a 24yearold clerk, comes to work and live in the. Whenever i have read a book, it was you i was reading, not the book, you were the book.
The mixed pleasures of introspection and tensions between solitude and society are wryly considered in the great, eccentric swiss authors previously untranslated 1908 novel. The plot resembles an old hollywood movie or findesiecle pulp fiction, with its stock figures of drunkards, bank managers, and suspicious townspeople. Strange to think that this delightful, centuryold book is now finding englishlanguage readers for the very first time. Still reading i have a little method of moving from author to author. Sebaldis now presented in english for the very first time robert walser is an overwhelmingly original author with many ardent fans. Buy the assistant penguin modern classics by robert walser isbn.
Unsure about what just happened and how i felt about it all, i decided to shake off my shock and try to complete the first task given me by the unpredictable man who was apparently my new boss. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Sebaldis now presented in english for the very first, isbn 9780811215909. Walser, depressed by poor book sales and his relative isolation, ended up living. 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.
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