Selected Stories (FSG Classics) Paperback – October 30, 2012

I'm stunned to discover, especially with new, more colloquial translations, that I am the first then to draw readers' attention to the work (all the small body of work) of the Swiss writer Robert Walser. His work is comparable to no one's being the product of a mind both solipsistic and wry, an ironist, an observer of human nature. A humorist. A naif. It is impossible to theorize whether Walser understood he was profound in the most canny way. His narrators are sharp-eyed, sharp of tongue -- wholly endearing. Perhaps there will appear elsewhere raves about his few existing works. Especially I cite his novel Jakob Von Gunten, and the Selected Stories. But all - I own all - take us on a riveting journey to a highly original mind. Hardly a sentence ends where it begins. They cannot be predicted or emulated. Intellectuals world over cite him now for his deliriously skewed vision of world. I find it more interesting to know he wrote microscopically, principally on 2 x 3 business cards than that he was in and out of asylums most of his adult life ... spent his last two years, electively in an asylum. It could be said, literally and figuratively, he went into snow, died in snow, without knowing his works would be so hard to transcribe, then to translate, that he was not known for some years after. - from The Madding Crowd [:] Sandra Stone, Portland Oregon and elsewhere. [see my few reviews. Find my two books on Amazon if you can. I invite your comments of reviews of Cocktails with Breughel at the Museum Cafe. And (2013) The Inmost House [:] memory making journeying dwelling. Write back in your separate maxims if you're impelled.

I like to escape with short stories from time to time. These stories are real, funny, full of humanity, and the everyday wanderings of the free time of an early 1900's German citizen. Thus, we see common life from a German perspective. I always liked alternate perspectives, their difference and their similarities to our own perspectives.So, as one might suppose, this book is not for everyone. It is an acquired taste. However, if you like fiction, literature, short stories, and a German perspective of early 1900's life, this book my be one for you.

Like nothing you've ever read or will find again. Robert Walser is a craftsman and his tales do not end without their intended effect.

A

Unplug the phone, cancel all your appointments, put the cat out -- okay, you can keep the cat. But Robert Walser's wonderful "Selected Stories" must be read in an atmosphere of silence, with complete attention. You owe it to yourself to have a chance to appreciate this utterly distinctive voice. Others have called him a "comic Kafka," and others have complained that he is not a "comic Kafka," so perhaps we can stipulate that he is "the writer who is not a comic Kafka." He is, indeed a good deal more hospitable and accessible than Kafka, but he is not always comic in "A Little Ramble," (which might be my favorite of these collected short items), he can stop you in your tracks. I haven't read Walser's novel, "Jakob von Gunten," yet (though I certainly plan to) but I wonder if Walser's peculiar talents aren't particularly suited to a form that is ephemeral, almost furtive.Read "The She Owl," which has a gentle charm. Read "Parisian Newspapers," which has an edge. Oh, read them all, listening to catch Walser's extraordinary voice. And aboave all, read "A Little Ramble," which might be the best onc-page story in the language.

There are some parts that gets harder to read. You delve into his observant melancholia. See into his heart. A book that will stay with me.

Surprising and delightful

The work I received is not quality printing. There are mere centimeters (a centimeter) of top and bottom margins. The text is nearly an inch shorter than the measurements that are advertised. Unless the publisher prints better copies, stay away.

A master of short stories.

I would recomend this book to any one interested in the development of the novel quirky sometimes boring engaging poetic