Walk (An Extraordinary Classic) (Paperback)

~ Robert Walser (Author), Christopher Middleton (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

'For me the sketches I produce now and then are shortish or longish chapters of a novel. The novel I am constantly writing is always the same one, and it might be described as a variously sliced-up or torn-apart book of myself. One of the great writers of the twentieth century - and an important influence on Kafka - comes to light in this selection of the best of his short fictions. Through his protagonists - young men of modest means, famous artists, society women, animals endowed with the gift of speech - Robert Walser captures the dislocated unease of life in early twentieth-century Europe.

About the Author

Robert Walser was born in Switzerland in 1878 and worked as a bank clerk before becoming a writer. In 1929 he was diagnosed as 'schizophrenic' and lived the last twenty years of his life in hospital. His novels include Jakob von Gunten and The Assistant. Robert Walser died in 1956.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail (January 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852422769
• ISBN-13: 978-1852422769
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #860,518 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good book for lovers of Kafka, February 22, 1999

By A Customer

This is a collection of some great sad stories. They're not for everyone, however. I've noticed I have to be in the right mood to read them; otherwise I might reread a story I really liked and not understand the point in it at all. They're mostly stories about alienated characters, like the stork who is in love with the hedgehog and pines away like a hunger artist, while the hedgehog, lowly as it feels itself to be, refuses to feel anything but contempt. Or the man with the pumpkin head who wanted to be number one, and ends up with a broken heart and a burned out candle stump in his head. I'm not doing justice to these stories in this review, and unfortunately I don't have a copy with me right now to make myself clearer. The situations in the stories are absurd, and they're told with such strong, clear emotion and sympathy for the characters! You find yourself understanding and sympathizing with the characters, and for the writer who found such a unique way to express himself. The best of these stories are heartbreaking and you will relate perfectly to them, assuming you're in that lonely and nihilistic mood. (Kafka was supposedly heavily influenced by the writings of Walser.)