Wandering with Robert Walser

A few pieces of news today. First, there’s a new page of Walser info, found at robertwalser.org. The good people at WHOIS.net inform us that the domain was registered on February 12. More good stuff to come there, no doubt.

Second: I’m going to be reviewing The Assistant for the Summer issue of that fine online journal, The Quarterly Conversation.

Third, Smyth (remember him?) is back in touch. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him. So much for those rumors that he’s a figment of my imagination. I’m not that imaginative, frankly.

Sam :: Feb.21.2007 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

So here’s what we know so far about upcoming books in English by or about our man Walser:

Der Gehulfe, or The Assistant, will be published by New Directions in a translation by Susan Bernofsky on July 2, 2007. (Here are some page proofs, which I just discovered tonight.)

Geschwister Tanner, or The Tanner Siblings, will be published by New Directions in a translation by Susan Bernofsky on some future date yet to be determined. We know this because Michael Hofmann told us so in the LRB.

A biography of Walser, written by Susan Bernofsky, is currently underway thanks to a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies. I told you this back in July 2005.

I think that’s it.

Sam :: Feb.13.2007 :: Uncategorized :: 2 Comments »

I’ve neglected to mention this for several months now, I don’t know why: poet and translator Michael Hofmann had a wonderful essay on Walser in the November 2006 issue of the London Review of Books. It’s a review of Speaking to the Rose: Writings, 1912-1932, a collection of Walser stories selected and translated by Christopher Middleton and published by University of Nebraska Press in September 2005. But it’s also a recapitulation of Walser’s career and a consideration of his style and character. Probably the most interesting thing written about Walser in 2006.

And Hofmann gives us something to look forward to:

Both [Walser novels] Der Gehulfe and Geschwister Tanner are to appear in English shortly, published by New Directions, and in translations by the gifted Susan Bernofsky, who has taken on the case of this eccentric author from Christopher Middleton.

Sam :: Feb.13.2007 :: Uncategorized :: 1 Comment »

Dan and James have pointed out that this would be a great page on which to post Walser-related news. So that’s what we’ll try to do.

In the meantime, do you wonder whether you’ll ever see more of that homemade translation of Seelig’s book? You are truly a faithless people. More on that later.

Sam :: Feb.13.2007 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »