Description
Temporarily out of stock
Title: Schoolboy’s Diary & Other Stories, A: New York Review of Books Classics
Author: WALSER ROBERT
Illustrator: INTRO: BEN LERNER
Format: PAPERBACK
Publication date: 01/08/2013
Imprint: NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
Price: $24.00
Publishing status: Active
This new collection of more than seventy stories by the iconic modern writer Robert Walser, includes stories that have appeared in Harperandamp;rsquo;s Magazine, n+1 online, Vice, and elsewhere. Also included is the complete andamp;ldquo;Fritz Kocherandamp;rsquo;s Essays,andamp;rdquo; the andamp;ldquo;collected works,andamp;rdquo; so to speak, of a boy who died young, consisting entirely of classroom writing assignments on themes such as andamp;ldquo;Music,andamp;rdquo; andamp;ldquo;Christmas,andamp;rdquo; and andamp;ldquo;The Fatherland.andamp;rdquo; As the opening title sequence of Walserandamp;rsquo;s first book, this was a brilliant way to frame and introduce his unique voice, oscillating wildly as it does between naandamp;iuml;vetandamp;eacute; (the ludicrous teacher wearing andamp;ldquo;high boots, as though just returning from the Battle of Austerlitzandamp;rdquo;), faux-naandamp;iuml;vetandamp;eacute;, and faux-faux-naandamp;iuml;vetandamp;eacute; (andamp;ldquo;Factories and the areas around them do not look nice. I donandamp;rsquo;t understand how anyone can be around such unclean things. All the poor people work in the factories, maybe to punish them for being so poorandamp;rdquo;). andamp;#160;A Schoolboyand#39;s Diary and Other Stories is centered around schoolboy lifeandamp;mdash;the subject of his greatest novel, Jakob von Guntenandamp;mdash;and dispatches from the edge of the writerandamp;rsquo;s life, as Walserandamp;rsquo;s modest, extravagant, careening narrators lash out at uncomprehending editors, overly solicitous publishers, and disdainers of Odol mouthwash. There are vignettes that swoon over the innocent beauties of the Swiss landscape, but from sexual adventures on a train, to dissecting an adulterous love triangle by andamp;ldquo;wading knee-deep into what is generally called the Danish or psychological novel,andamp;rdquo; to three stories about Walserandamp;rsquo;s service in the Swiss military during World War I, the collection has an unexpected range of subject matter. andamp;#160; Because Walserandamp;rsquo;s stories have been translated into English in the form of selected volumes, and because of his reputation as a quasiandamp;ndash;outsider artist, it has been all but impossible for English-language readers to appreciate that he was a professional writer publishing ten books of stories during his active career. By giving tables of contents for all ten books and indexing the storiesandamp;rsquo; appearances in the various English collections, the afterword provides a valuable resource for Walserandamp;rsquo;s many English-language readers.
ISBN: 9781590176726