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), 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), Bulgaria (G. Danov)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 he had a hundred thousand readers, the world would be a better place«). Charged with compassion, and an utterly unique radiance of vision, Walser is as Susan Sontag exclaimed »a truly wonderful, heart-breaking writer.«
The Assistant is his breathtaking 1908 novel, translated by award-winning translator Susan Bernofsky. Joseph, hired to become an inventor's new assistant, arrives one rainy Monday morning at Technical Engineer Karl Tobler's splendid hilltop villa: he is at once pleased and terribly worried, a state soon followed by even stickier psychological complexities. He enjoys the beautiful view over Lake Zurich, in the company of the proud wife, Frau Tobler, and the delicious savory meals. But does he deserve any of these pleasures? The Assistant chronicles Joseph's inner life of cascading emotions as he attempts, both frantically and light-heartedly, to help the Tobler household, even as it slides toward financial ruin. Tobler demands of Joseph, »Do you have your wits about you?!«And Joseph's wits are in fact all around him, trembling like leaves in the breeze – he is full of exuberance and despair, all the raptures and panics of a person »drowning in obedience.« (book description from the English edition by New Directions)
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 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...
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...
Spanish world rights (Siruela)
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...
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...
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
English world rights (New Directions), Spanish world rights (Siruela), Italy (Adelphi), Bulgaria (Funtasy), Turkey (Profil)
Domestic rights sales: German Audiobook (Diogenes)
»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...
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)
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)
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...
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)
France (Éditions Zoé), Poland (selection; Officyna)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (Einaudi), Slovak Republic (Hronka), Hungary (Napkut)
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), 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)
Previously published in the respective language/territory; rights available again: Bulgaria (Narodna Kultura),
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), Estonia (Loomingu Raamatukogu), Slovenia (Pan), Bosnia (Connectum), Turkey (Can), Greece (Printa), Georgia (Ibis), India (Hindi), Israel (Am Oved)
Previously published in the respective language/territory; rights available again: Bulgaria (Colibri)
These essays, allegedly published from the estate of a deceased schoolboy, mark the beginning of Robert Walser’s literary career.
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)