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Today Robert Walser, who lived from 1878 until 1956, is said to be one of the most original and productive authors to come out of the 20th century, translated into more than thirty languages and admired all over the world, contrary to the fact that during his lifetime he had hardly met with any recognition at all. Walser grew up in Biel, a small town in midland Switzerland, and made his mark before the First World War with the publication of three early novels. But although well-known artists such as Hermann Hesse, Franz Kafka, Robert Musil, Stefan Zweig or Walter Benjamin held him in highest esteem, the reading public largely ignored him. As WW I wore on it became more and more difficult for Walser keep himself up, and although he was a regular contributor to literary journals and newspapers’ arts section he never experienced success. In 1929, exhausted and, in his own words, “unsuccessful to the last degree”, he suffered a mental break-down and spent his last years – the best part of thirty – in psychiatric ospitals in Switzerland. Robert Walser is buried in Herisau, Switzerland, in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden. The present selection of pictures comprises two early photographs of Walser when he was living in Biel and Berlin, respectively, as well as two photographs taken by journalist and friend Carl Seelig (1894–1962) during one of the walks they would sometimes take in each other’s company, long after Walser’s literary activites. The 1894 watercolour by Karl Walser (1877–1943), Robert’s brother, shows Robert Walser as a boy keenly enthusiastic about play acting, posing as Karl Moor, one of the protagonist of Friedrich Schiller’s play “Die Räuber”. Furthermore, we opted for two of the most impressive examples of the socalled ‘micrograms’, Walser’s legendary drafts written with pencil in a microscopically small hand, to be reproduced here.
For further information see www.robertwalser.ch. Reto Sorg