Archive for May, 2007

Bibliography of Walser in English

A kind reader asked me not long ago: has Walser’s piece, “Kennen Sie Meier,” been translated into English? I realized that I could only guess because, although I have almost all of Walser’s works that have been translated into English, I didn’t have a bibliography.

Then I thought, wouldn’t it be cool to be able to see a list of all of Walser’s stories in English in chronological order, by date of composition? Or just the pieces that Walter Arndt has translated? Or just the pieces that came from microscript?

So I created this bibliography. It’s the fruit of several sedentary evenings half-watching the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

I still have a few more pieces to track down, and I probably should also add the novels. (done.) For now, the list includes more than 200 prose pieces, poems and plays available in English.

I also included the first few words of each piece (except in those few cases where I don’t have a copy). Just reading these opening words is kind of fun.

Enjoy!

Sam :: May.19.2007 :: Uncategorized :: 7 Comments »

From the Walser Wire

A few news items hot off the Walser wire:

On Monday, May 21, in New York City, Susan Bernofsky will accept one of the 2007 PEN Translation Fund grants for her translation of The Assistant.

Also in New York, through June 23, 2007, an exhibit called “Art & Language” at the Peter Blum gallery in Chelsea features a Walser-inspired work by artist Helen Mirra. “Mirra continues her subtle play with allusions and referentiality in the painting “Belief, the; that life turns green, smiles, and bleeds, is first and last of all things, and this is connected to the development of buds, 126″ which is based on the novel Der Rauber (The Robber) by the Swiss author Robert Walser.”

Online, Richard Grayson salutes the “undisputed world champion in the heavyweight division of Writers You Should Know About But Don’t.” Namely, Tom Whalen. You and I know his Walser translations, of course.

Finally, also online, Honey-pot (-lamb, -child, -pie) alerts us to the fact that several of the stories from Speaking to the Rose are available viaGoogle Book Search. My favorite of these is “It can so happen that.”

Sam :: May.18.2007 :: Uncategorized :: 4 Comments »

A Bliss in Proof

Microscript has a strange appeal, apparently. My photo on Flickr of a Walser microscript page got boinged last week, resulting in more that 5,000 views and several comments. Thanks to Derek Bridges for remembering Walser when Mark Frauenfelder posted about the history of micrography, and to Mark for posting Derek’s comment.

Sam :: May.16.2007 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

Doctor Pasavento

Amiable John Latta informs us that Enrique Vila-Matas “recently finish’d book of ‘fiction’ — whatever that means — about Robert Walser.” 

Here’s what I’ve learned about it:  The book is Doctor Pasavento. It was published by Anagrama (Barcelona) in November 2005.  It was reviewed by Will H. Corral in the May 2006 issue of World Literature Today, which you can read here.  As Latta notes, it hasn’t been published in English.

Vila-Matas mentioned Walser in Bartleby & Company (as I mentioned on GRJ).  Corral says Walser also appears at the end of the most recent Vila-Matas book translated into English, Montano’s Malady.  According to Amazon, it comes out on June 11.

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