Robert Walser,
A Schoolboy’s Diary and Other Stories
Introduction by Ben Lerner
NYRB Classics, 2013
Over seventy stories, vignettes, and prose pieces, most of them never before translated, around themes of (schoolboyish) beginnings and (diaristic) writing. The collection includes the entire opening sequence of Walser’s first book, Fritz Kocher’s Essays, framed as the posthumously gathered schoolroom assignments of a young tween--the perfect vehicle for Walser’s dizzying slips between naivete and irony, awkwardness and virtuosity. The book also includes “Hans,” one of Walser’s longest stories: his Magic Mountain.
“There is no one like Walser. Utterly original... Sophisticated stories disguised in simplicity.” —Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian (UK)
“[Walser’s] groundbreaking 1904 Fritz Kocher's Essays ... made me feel for the first time that I understood what all the fuss is about.”
—Lorin Stein, Paris Review Daily
Fritz Kocher in The Paris Review / a story in n+1
Publisher / Amazon / Indie Bound
Related: “Circle Dance,” an uncollected Walser story
Translations of a dozen Walser poems in Thomas Schütte, Watercolors
NYRB Classics and Coffee Club