≫ Descargar Gratis Berlin Stories New York Review Books Classics Robert Walser Jochen Greven Susan Bernofsky Books

Berlin Stories New York Review Books Classics Robert Walser Jochen Greven Susan Bernofsky Books

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Berlin Stories New York Review Books Classics Robert Walser Jochen Greven Susan Bernofsky Books

Fans of Robert Walser can rejoice in another translation that brings more of his work to light. Berlin Stories has numerous terrific moments, the unique context of his time spent in Berlin is fascinating and like all of his writing, it resonates fully across the generations. My favorite quote from the first essay sums up Walser's beautiful insight into humanity: "What has become of us as a people that we can possess the beautiful only in dreams." It's a book worth reading over and over and worth sharing amongst friends.


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Berlin Stories New York Review Books Classics Robert Walser Jochen Greven Susan Bernofsky Books Reviews

Most of these "stories" are actually very short newspaper columns written by Walser. Unfortunately, the book doesn't make clear where or in what form each piece was originally published. Many of the pieces here do not translate well to a modern reader; Kafka may have laughed his head off reading "Mountain Halls" but without any context it's impossible for me to see why.

There are gems hidden within this collection "Fire," "Frau Wilke," and "Frau Scheer" are all well worth your time. Sadly, there are many more stories that should have remained in the scholarly archive, and offer nothing to a casual reader, including most of the "Theater" section. Bizarrely, right after "Frau Scheer" we are given "The Millionairess" which is simply a short outline (rough draft?) of the preceding story.

It is fascinating to watch the almost comically hyperbolic optimism of the early newspaper pieces collapse into the black hole of the two late stories, "Frau Wilke" and "Frau Scheer," which are both excellent and unrelentingly bleak. However, despite some worthwhile stories, this is definitely not the best introduction to Walser.
I feel like I stumbled across a journal someone’s accidentally dropped on Friedrichstrasse, and rather than leave it on the sidewalk to be tripped over and stomped on, I picked it up, thought, why not? could be amusing, and took it home.
The thing is, a journal in its natural state is a rambling, self involved, unedited, scraggly little creature that more often than not would do better to stay latent in the boxy confines of one’s top night table drawer than parade about in the open, flailing its arms and declaring insistently, “Lookee here! Aren’t I clever?”

Berlin Stories is predominantly short observations of Walser’s surroundings. It’s reflective and doesn’t so much tell a story as park itself on a bench and gaze off eager and misty-eyed into the world, hoping to capture a place and people’s essence in a brisk vignette. Calling this a collection of “stories” seems like a glaring misnomer.

Many of these 1-2 page “stories” are bland and trivial, in spite of the author’s exuberance. Yet again, the comparison stands Journal writing begins with the fantasy that every string of thought that passes through the writer’s mind in the course of a day is not only interesting but deserving of inscription (I’ll attest It takes the sobering experience of reading one’s own journal perhaps 3 or 4 years gone to realize this is emphatically not the case...).

I had never heard of Walser before reading this, but I suspect I am not reading his best here. A better, more sensitive and eloquent writer showed up to pen the last 4 stories, and I was equal parts annoyed and impressed. “Frau Wilke” is moving; “Frau Scheer” is a perceptive and intimate portrait of a lonely woman; and the last, “A Homecoming in the Snow” seemed like the only truly personal and sincere account of the writer himself. If those stories are an indication of Walser’s other work, I’d be happy to read more. I mean, this is beautiful

“There I saw on the bed the things which the poor lady had till recently worn, her dress, her hat, her sunshade, and her umbrella, and, on the floor, her small delicate boots. The strange sight of them made me unspeakably sad, and my peculiar state of mind made it seem to me almost that I had died myself, and life in all its fullness, which had often appeared so huge and beautiful, was thin and poor to the point of breaking. All things past, all things vanishing away, were more close to me than ever. For a long time I looked at Frau Wilke’s possessions, which now had lost their mistress and lost all purpose, and at the golden room, glorified by the smile of the evening sun, while I stood there motionless, not understanding anything anymore.”
I expected to be hypnotized by this book, as I was by Jakob von Gunten, but alas it did not happen. The stories are disappointingly conventional, compared to the vast imagination found in the novel.
a+
A+
Fans of Robert Walser can rejoice in another translation that brings more of his work to light. Berlin Stories has numerous terrific moments, the unique context of his time spent in Berlin is fascinating and like all of his writing, it resonates fully across the generations. My favorite quote from the first essay sums up Walser's beautiful insight into humanity "What has become of us as a people that we can possess the beautiful only in dreams." It's a book worth reading over and over and worth sharing amongst friends.