Comedies

Name: Comedies
Author: Unknown Author
ISBN: 9781803090498

by Unknown Author

2022Seagull BooksISBN 9781803090498

Drama

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About this book

"Few writers have ever experienced such a steady rise in their reputation and public profile as Swiss writer Robert Walser (1878–1956) has seen in recent years. As more of his previously little known work has been translated into English, readers have discovered a unique writer whose off-kilter sensibility and innovations in form are perfectly suited to our fragmented, distracted, bewildered era. This book brings English-language readers work by Walser in yet another form: dramolette. The short plays presented here, inspired by the German theater Walser enjoyed in his youth, while never meant to be performed, present scenes, characters, and situations that comment on the brutality of fairy tales, the impossibilities of love, the dark fate of the Christ child (and Walser himself), and more. At the same time, like all of Walser’s work they are shot through with a humor that is wholly genuine despite its shades of darkness. Gathering all of Walser’s plays, as well as his later, fragmentary dramatic writings, Comedies will be celebrated by the many devoted fans of this lately rediscovered master."--Publisher's website.

Publication Details

Publisher: Seagull Books
Published: 2022
ISBN: 9781803090498

About Unknown Author

Robert Walser (* 15. April 1878 in Biel, Kanton Bern; † 25. Dezember 1956 nahe Herisau, Kanton Appenzell Ausserrhoden) war ein deutschsprachiger Schweizer Schriftsteller. Walser verfasste vier Romane – *Jakob von Gunten, Geschwister Tanner, Der Gehülfe* und *Der Räuber* –, die längere Erzählung *Der Spaziergang* sowie Kurzgeschichten und Essays. Er gilt als bedeutender Vertreter der literarischen Moderne und der sogenannten Angestelltenliteratur. Seine unkonventionellen, teils rätselhaft wirkenden Werke wurden von Zeitgenossen wie Walter Benjamin, Hermann Hesse, Franz Kafka, Robert Musil und Kurt Tucholsky geschätzt. Trotz Anfangserfolgen blieb Robert Walser der kommerzielle Durchbruch verwehrt. Den grössten Teil seines Lebens verbrachte er in Armut. Nach psychischen Problemen lebte er von 1929 bis zu seinem Tod in Heil- und Pflegeanstalten. Heute gilt er als einer der wichtigsten Schweizer Schriftsteller des 20. Jahrhunderts, und sein Werk wird international rezipiert. ---------- Robert Walser (born April 15, 1878, in Biel, Canton of Bern; died December 25, 1956, near Herisau, Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden) was a German-language Swiss writer. Walser wrote four novels—*Jakob von Gunten, The Tanner Siblings, The Assistant,* and *The Robber*—as well as the novella The Walk, short stories, and essays. He is considered a significant figure in literary modernism and the so-called "white-collar" literature. His unconventional, sometimes enigmatic works were appreciated by contemporaries such as Walter Benjamin, Hermann Hesse, Franz Kafka, Robert Musil, and Kurt Tucholsky. Despite initial success, Robert Walser never achieved commercial success. He spent most of his life in poverty. After suffering from mental health problems, he lived in psychiatric hospitals and nursing homes from 1929 until his death. Today, he is considered one of the most important Swiss writers of the 20th century, and his work is internationally acclaimed.