Table Of ContentRobert Wal ser
Robert Wal ser
A Companion
Edited by Samuel Frederick
and Valerie Heffernan
northwestern university press
evanston, illinois
Northwestern University Press
www .nupress .northwestern .edu
Copyright © 2018 by Northwestern University Press.
Published 2018. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Frederick, Samuel, editor. | Heffernan, Valerie, editor.
Title: Robert Wal ser : a companion / edited by Samuel Frederick and Valerie
Heffernan.
Description: Evanston, Illinois : Northwestern University Press, 2018. | “This
book was inspired by a number of panels titled “Reading Robert Wal ser” that
took place at the conference of the German Studies Association in October
2010 and some subsequent conversations on both sides of the Atlantic about the
growing recognition of Wal ser’s work in the English-speaking world.” | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017049797 | ISBN 9780810137127 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN
9780810137134 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780810137141 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Wal ser, Robert, 1878–1956—Criticism and interpretation. |
Modernism (Literature)—Germany.
Classification: LCC PT2647.A64 Z7865 2018 | DDC 838.91209—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017049797
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
A Note on Sources and Abbreviations ix
Introduction. Robert Wal ser: Modernist at the Margins 3
Samuel Frederick and Valerie Heffernan
The Young Poet (1896– 1899) 21
Susan Bernofsky
To Pieces: Robert Wal ser’s Correspondence with Frieda Mermet 47
Elke Siegel
Robert Wal ser as Lyric Poet 65
Samuel Frederick
Antechambers of Life: School and Living- On in Fritz Kocher’s Essays 87
Anette Schwarz
Robert Wal ser’s Jewish Berlin 105
Daniel Medin
Out of a Job: Giving Notice in The Tanners and The Assistant 125
Paul Buchholz
Robert Wal ser’s Jakob von Gunten: A “Zero” Point of
German Literature 143
Peter Utz
Robert Wal ser’s Sceneries: “Kleist in Thun” and “The Walk” 171
Bernhard F. Malkmus
Immersion, Interpolation, Philology: Losing Oneself in Robert Wal ser 191
Jörg Kreienbrock
Parodies of Power: Robert Wal ser’s Dramatic Scenes 211
Valerie Heffernan
Robert Wal ser and Violence: Strange Excursions into the Microscripts 229
Kai Evers
Robert Wal ser’s The Robber: An Exercise in Camp 251
Anne Fuchs
Works Cited 269
Contributors 285
Index 289
Acknowledgments
This book was inspired by a number of panels titled “Reading Robert Wal-
ser” that took place at the conference of the German Studies Association in
October 2010 and some subsequent conversations on both sides of the Atlan-
tic about the growing recognition of Wals er’s work in the English-s peaking
world. Our thanks are due first and foremost to Henry Carrigan Jr., then
acquiring editor of Northwestern University Press, for encouraging Sam and
Rebecca Schuman to pursue this project. Rebecca also deserves recognition
for the pivotal role she played in getting the project off the ground and in
persuading an impressive lineup of Wal ser researchers to contribute their
expertise and their enthusiasm for Wal ser’s work to the volume.
This work could not have been completed without the financial support of
several associations. Publication grants from Penn State’s Max- Kade Institute
for German-A merican Studies, Penn State’s Department of Germanic and
Slavic Languages and Literatures, the National University of Ireland Publica-
tions Scheme, and the Maynooth University Publication Fund allowed us the
additional scope to publish the volume in its most suitable form. Research
funds provided by Penn State’s Center for the Humanities and Information
and by Maynooth University German Studies were used to pay for the trans-
lation of Utz’s essay. We are very grateful to each of these associations for
trusting in the academic merit of this project.
Two of the contributions to this volume are excerpted from publications
that are under copyright with other presses. Susan Bernofsky’s essay, “The
Young Poet (1896– 1899),” is taken from her forthcoming biography, Robert
Wal ser: Clairvoyant of the Small. It is included here with the kind permission
of Yale University Press. Peter Utz’s contribution, “Robert Wal ser’s Jakob von
Gunten: A ‘Zero’ Point of German Literature,” is a translation of the follow-
ing article: Peter Utz, “Robert Wal sers Jakob von Gunten: Eine ‘Null’- Stelle
der deutsche Literatur,” in Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissen-
schaft und Geistesgeschichte 24, no. 3, ed. C. Kiening and A. Koschorke
(2000): 488– 512. Its translation is included here with the kind permission of
J. B. Metzler Verlag, Stuttgart/Springer- Verlag GmbH Germany.
The Suhrkamp/Insel Verlag (Berlin) has also given their permission for the
reprinting of the following texts by Robert Wal ser in this volume:
“Zukunft!,” from Robert Wals er, Sämtliche Werke in Einzelausgaben, edited by
Jochen Greven, vol. 13, p. 48. © Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main.
vii
viii Acknowledgments
“Ein Landschäftchen,” from Robert Wal ser, Sämtliche Werke in Einzelausgaben,
edited by Jochen Greven, vol. 13, p. 20. © Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am
Main.
“Immer am Fenster,” published as “Am Fenster (I),” from Robert Wals er, Säm-
tliche Werke in Einzelausgaben, edited by Jochen Greven, vol. 13, p. 22. ©
Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main.
“Wie immer,” from Robert Wal ser, Sämtliche Werke in Einzelausgaben, edited by
Jochen Greven, vol. 13, p. 14. © Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main.
“Zeit,” from Robert Wal ser, Sämtliche Werke in Einzelausgaben, edited by Jochen
Greven, vol. 13, pp. 31– 32. © Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main.
“Schildkrötelein,” from Robert Wals er, Aus dem Bleistiftgebiet: Mikrogramme
aus den Jahren 1924– 1932, transcribed and edited by Bernhard Echte and
Werner Morlang, vol. 4, p. 277. © Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main.
Letter to Robert Seidel, from Elio Fröhlich, and Robert Mächler, eds., Robert
Wal ser zum Gedenken, p. 14 © Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main.
We would like to thank the committed staff at Northwestern University
Press, particularly Maggie Grossman, Trevor Perri, Nathan MacBrien, and
Liz Hamilton, for the practical, legal, and moral support they offered us as we
prepared the manuscript for submission. We would also like to acknowledge
the two anonymous readers who kindly read the initial manuscript; their very
insightful comments and useful suggestions added greatly to the quality of
the volume. Special thanks go to James Kopf and Chrisann Zuerner for last-
minute help with the index. We are also extremely grateful to Tilo Steireif for
permission to use his marvelous Walser-inspired artwork for the cover.
Finally, we would like to thanks our families and our colleagues for their
steadfast support, their encouragement, and above all, their patience.
A Note on Sources and Abbreviations
The titles of frequently cited works by Robert Wals er are given throughout
the text and notes using abbreviations. A list of these abbreviations and the
editions used can be found on p. 269. Unless a published translation is cited,
all English translations are by the authors.
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