false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172284265m/160314.jpg 160314 2 <div>The Swiss writer of whom Hermann Hesse famously declared, &#8220;If he had a hundred thousand readers, the world would be a better place,&#8221; Robert Walser (1878&#8211;1956) is only now finding an audience among English-speaking readers commensurate with his merits&#8212;if not with his self-image. After a wandering, precarious life during which he produced poems, essays, stories, and novels, Walser entered an insane asylum, saying, &#8220;I am not here to write, but to be mad.&#8221; Many of the unpublished works he left were in fact written in an idiosyncratically abbreviated script that was for years dismissed as an impenetrable private cipher. Fourteen texts from these so-called pencil manuscripts are included in this volume&#8212;rich evidence that Walser&#8217;s microscripts, rather than the work of incipient madness, were in actuality the product of desperate genius building a last reserve, and as such, a treasure in modern literature.</div><div> </div><div>With a brisk preface and a chronology of Walser&#8217;s life and work, this collection of fifty translations of short prose pieces covers the middle to later years of the writer&#8217;s oeuvre. It provides unparalleled insight into Walser&#8217;s creative process, along with a unique opportunity to experience the unfolding of his rare and eccentric gift. His novels <i>The Robber</i> (Nebraska 2000) and <i>Jakob von Gunten</i> are also available in English translation.</div> 154735 1 9 2005 Speaking to the Rose: Writings, 1912-1932 total:32|5:13|4:15|3:4|2:0|1:0| 32 137 60 1 4 0 true false Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Thu Nov 08 07:30:56 -0800 2007 Thu Nov 08 07:32:46 -0800 2007 4 0 false false Thu Nov 19 14:55:19 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 14:55:19 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Nov 19 14:13:30 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 14:13:30 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Tue Nov 24 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 12 06:38:16 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 24 15:41:17 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Sat Oct 24 00:55:45 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 00:55:45 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Oct 22 09:50:52 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 09:50:52 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Oct 01 18:19:58 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 18:19:58 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Sep 21 20:59:49 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 21 20:59:49 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Sep 08 18:52:14 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 18:52:14 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Aug 17 10:45:18 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 17 10:45:18 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Aug 06 14:10:04 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 06 14:10:04 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 14:08:45 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 14:08:45 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jun 25 07:52:53 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 07:52:53 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Jun 23 19:43:58 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 19:43:58 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Jun 17 12:29:50 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 12:30:01 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Jun 16 10:28:52 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 16 10:28:52 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu May 21 06:54:26 -0700 2009 Wed May 27 05:57:11 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon May 11 06:57:59 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 06:57:59 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Apr 14 17:42:24 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 14 17:42:24 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sun Apr 12 09:32:06 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 12 09:32:06 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=160314