Letters 1-3
Works. Bern Edition.
With many illustrations: letters, postcards and photographs
Letters 1-3 / Werke. Berner Ausgabe
Works. Bern Edition.
With many illustrations: letters, postcards and photographs
»I owe you a letter in which the little word ‘dear’ appears about a hundred times, in a multitude of guises, so that you will not find yourself bored. But I think that little word will always be dear to you. There it is again and perhaps in our exchange of letters it will yet often be pronounced.« Robert Walser to Frieda Mermet, 17th December 1918
Robert Walser as a letter-writer is yet to be discovered. His letters are not merely the private backboard to his work, but an integral part of it. Therefore, the Bern Edition of Walser’s Works opens with a new, comprehensive edition of his letters. They provide insight to the existential conditions of Walser’s »life as a poet« between Zurich, Berlin, Biel, Bern and Herisau.
In these letters, we get to know Walser through the various branches of his network, which range from his...
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Robert Walser as a letter-writer is yet to be discovered. His letters are not merely the private backboard to his work, but an integral part of it. Therefore, the Bern Edition of Walser’s Works opens with a new, comprehensive edition of his letters. They provide insight to the existential conditions of Walser’s »life as a poet« between Zurich, Berlin, Biel, Bern and Herisau.
In these letters, we get to know Walser through the various branches of his network, which range from his closest siblings to Hesse and Hofmannsthal. We bear witness to how elegantly and resolutely he stands up for his literary survival when facing his publishers and editors. In the fight for fees per line and in a critical commentary of his present-day, we hear the highly alert, urbane Walser. By contrast, his private letters have the voice of the playful, witty Walser. In particular, the letters to his long-time friend, Frieda Mermet, document a long-distance love of the most delicate sort.
Robert Walser (1878-1956), through his novels, short dramas, and poems, and above all through his feuilleton-like short prose, is regarded as one of the most important authors of twentieth-century German-language literature. Since 1978, his work has been published by Suhrkamp Verlag. The Bern Edition, published in association with the Robert Walser Foundation in Bern, provides a new way into Walser’s work, with meticulously edited texts, afterwords and notes. The edition opens with three volumes of letters. These include, as compared to earlier editions, 336 additional letters by Walser, as well as all the letters received in return. The commentary volume also contains third person letters, illustrations, a rich table of personages and a chronology.
- Letters 1: 1897-1920
- Letters 2: 1921-1956
- Letters – Afterword and Appendices
»Time and again the mysterious Rober Walser has to be discovered anew.« Roman Bucheli, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
»A collection for fans on the one hand, but also for newcomers on the other, because Walser’s letters resemble his texts for the feuilleton. They prance and chat, digress and pose.« Marc Reichwein, Die Literarische Welt
»Never before has this exceptional writer been editted so opulently.« Klaus Bellin, neues deutschland
»The new collected works edition published by Suhrkamp begins with 765 of Robert Walser’s letters. In them, the author presents himself in many forms: suggestive and aggressive, desperate and as a great chess player.« Martin Ebel, Basler Zeitung
»Time and again the mysterious Rober Walser has to be discovered anew.« Roman Bucheli, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
»A collection for fans on the one hand, but also for newcomers on the other, because Walser’s letters resemble his texts for the feuilleton. They prance and chat, digress and pose.« Marc Reichwein, Die Literarische Welt
»Never before has this exceptional writer been editted so opulently.« Klaus...
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2018, 1523 pages
Persons
Robert Walser
Author
Robert Walser was born in Biel/Bienne in Switzerland in 1878 and died on a solitary walk in the snow on Christmas Day 1956, near the Herisau sanitarium.
Robert Walser
Author
Robert Walser was born in Biel/Bienne in Switzerland in 1878 and died on a solitary walk in the snow on Christmas Day 1956, near the Herisau...
© Suhrkamp Verlag
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Latest first
Year of Publication: 2019
Robert WalserYear of Publication: 2019
A Slap in the Face and Other Matters
Robert Walser has always inspired visual artists all around the world, including Thomas Hirschhorn, one of the most provocative and innovative contemporary artists, to whom Robert Walser is a...
Rights sold to:
Spanish world rights (Siruela)
Year of Publication: 2011
Robert WalserYear of Publication: 2011
Microscripts
It is well known that Robert Walser jotted down prose texts, poems and dramatic scenes on more than 500 pieces of paper between 1924 and 1933 in a script that, for decades, was considered...
Rights sold to:
Selections from the Microscripts have been published in several languages. For further information regarding the rights status of individual texts in your territory please contact the respective Rights Manager
Year of Publication: 2011
Robert WalserYear of Publication: 2011
In the Office
Like the office satires of Melville, Gogol, or Kafka, Robert Walser’s short stories about office clerks, collected here for the first time, offer a similarly illuminating and exhilarating light...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (New Directions), Spanish world rights (Siruela), Italy (Adelphi), Bulgaria (Funtasy), Turkey (Profil)
Domestic rights sales: German Audiobook (Diogenes)
Year of Publication: 1972
Robert WalserYear of Publication: 1972
The Robber
»The Robber, Robert Walser’s last novel, tells the story of a dreamer on a journey of self-discovery. It is a hybrid of love story, tragedy, and farce, with a protagonist who sweet-talks...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (University of Nebraska Press), Spanish world rights (Siruela), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Netherlands (Koppernik), Sweden (Faethon), Poland (PIW), Czech Republic (Opus), Latvia (Orbita), Turkey (Can), Ukraine (Zhupansky), Azerbaijan (Alatoran)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Portuguese rights (Relogio d'Agua), Denmark (Basilisk), Norway (Bokvennen), Slovenia (Nova Revija)
Year of Publication: 1925
Robert WalserYear of Publication: 1925
The Rose
In The Rose (1925), a collection of short stories, travelogues, fairy tales, dialogues and monologues, literary and humorous observations, the last of the fifteen books that Robert Walser...
Rights sold to:
Spanish world rights (Siruela), Portuguese rights (Relogio d’Agua), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Sweden (selection; Ariel – pp), Hungary (Napkut)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Slovenia (Serpa)
Year of Publication: 1917
Robert WalserYear of Publication: 1917
The Walk
A pseudo-biographical »stroll« through town and countryside rife with philosophic musings, The Walk has been hailed as the masterpiece of Walser's short prose. Walking features heavily in...
Rights sold to:
USA (New Directions), UK (Serpent’s Tail), Spanish world rights (Siruela), Catalan rights (El Flâneur), Galician rights (Laiovento), Russia (Ad Marginem), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Editora 34), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Netherlands (Lebowski/Dutch Media Group), Denmark (Batzer), Sweden (Faethon), Finland (Teos), Czech Republic (Opus), Slovakia (Premedia), Bulgaria (Critique & Humanism), Croatia (Fraktura / Bodoni), Greece (Gavrilidis), Kosovo / Albanian rights (Pa), Ukraine (Meridian Czernowitz Literature Foundation), Georgia (Ibis), Armenia (Antares), Azerbaijan (Alatoran), Iran (Dastan)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Chinese simplex rights (Shanghai Translation), Norway (Bokvennen), Hungary (Magvetö), Romania (Univers), Estonia (Tänapäev), Belorussia (Logvinau)
Domestic Rights Sales: Audiobook rights (Universal Music / Deutsche Grammophon)
Year of Publication: 1914
Robert WalserYear of Publication: 1914
Short Prose
This volume of short prose, published as Kleine Dichtungen in 1914, was written in the years Robert Walser spent in Berlin and Biel; the collection of prose miniatures shows a broad cross...
Rights sold to:
France (Éditions Zoé), Poland (selection; Officyna)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Einaudi), Slovak Republic (Hronka), Hungary (Napkut)
Year of Publication: 1909
Robert WalserYear of Publication: 1909
Jakob von Gunten
»The Swiss writer Robert Walser is one of the quiet geniuses of twentieth-century literature. Largely self-taught and altogether indifferent to worldly success, Walser wrote a range of short stories,...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Serpent’s Tail / NYRB), Spanish world rights (Siruela), Catalan rights (Quaderns Crema), Basque rights (Erein), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Companhia das Letras), Portuguese rights (Relogio d’Agua), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Netherlands (Lebowski), Denmark (Virkelig), Sweden (Faethon), Norway (Bokvennen), Finland (Teos), Iceland (Translation Centre at the University of Iceland), Japan (Choeisha), Thailand (Lighthouse Publishing), Poland (PIW), Czech Republic (Opus), Hungary (Scolar), Bulgaria (Nike Publishing), Estonia (Tänapäev), Latvia (Mansards), Lithuania (Vaga), Croatia (Naprijed), Serbia (Ultimatum.rs), Slovenia (Beletrina), Bosnia (Gong), Turkey (Dogan), Greece (Printa), Macedonia (Templum), Albania (Pika pa sipërfaqe), Georgia (Ibis)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (DAV)
Year of Publication: 1908
Robert WalserYear of Publication: 1908
The Assistant
Robert Walser is an overwhelmingly original author with many ardent fans: J.M. Coetzee (»dazzling«), Guy Davenport (»a very special kind of whimsical-serious-deep writer«), and Hermann Hesse (»If...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (New Directions), Spanish world rights (Siruela, Paperback Sublicense: Debolsillo, Latin American Sublicense: El Hilo de Ariadna), Catalan rights (Ed. 1984), Portuguese rights (Relogio d’Agua), France (Gallimard; French paperback sublicence: Éditions Zoë), Italy (Einaudi), Netherlands (Koppernik), Sweden (Modernista), Norway (Bokvennen), Finland (Teos), Japan (Choeisha), Poland (PIW), Czech Republic (Opus), Hungary (Scolar), Bulgaria (Nike Publishing), Estonia (Perioodika), Lithuania (Pradai), Slovenia (Mihelač), Turkey (Can), Albania (Asdreni), Georgia (Ibis), Azerbaijan (Alatoran)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Brazilian Portuguese rights (Siciliano de Livros)
Year of Publication: 1907
Robert WalserYear of Publication: 1907
The Tanners
»The Tanners, Robert Walser’s amazing 1907 novel of twenty chapters, is now presented in English for the very first time, by the award-winning translator Susan Bernofsky. Three...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (New Directions), Spanish world rights (Siruela, Paperback Sublicense: Debolsillo), Catalan rights (Proa), Russia (Text), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Companhia das Letras), Portuguese rights (Relogio d’Agua), France (Gallimard), Italy (Adelphi), Netherlands (Koppernik), Sweden (Faethon), Norway (Bokvennen), Japan (Choeisha), Poland (PIW), Czech Republic (Opus), Slovakia (Smena), Hungary (Scolar), Bulgaria (Nike Publishing), Estonia (Loomingu Raamatukogu), Slovenia (Pan), Bosnia (Connectum), Turkey (Can), Greece (Printa), Georgia (Ibis), India (Hindi), Israel (Am Oved)
Year of Publication: 1904
Robert WalserYear of Publication: 1904
Fritz Kocher’s Essays
These essays, allegedly published from the estate of a deceased schoolboy, mark the beginning of Robert Walser’s literary career.
Rights sold to:
English world rights (NYRB), Russia (Libra), Portuguese rights (Bazarov Edições), France (Gallimard; French paperback sublicence: Éditions Zoë), Italy (Adelphi), Poland (PIW), Hungary (Napkut), Greece (Kritiki), Israel (Hakibbutz Hameuchad)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spain (Pre-Textos), Latin America (Editorial Universitario), Catalan rights (Acantilado), Netherlands (De Arbeiderspers), Denmark (Arena), Korea (EU), Japan (Choeisha), Slovenia (Serpa)
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