Walks with Walser Format: Paperback

A unique and personal portrait of the beloved, legendary Swiss writer, finally in English

After a nervous breakdown in 1929, Robert Walser spent the remaining twenty-seven years of his life in mental asylums, closed off from the rest of the world in almost complete anonymity. While at the Herisau sanitarium, instead of writing, Walser practiced another favorite activity: walking. Starting in 1936, Carl Seelig, Walser’s friend and literary executor, visited and accompanied him on these walks, meticulously recording their conversations. As they strolled, Walser told stories, shared his daily experiences of the sanatorium, and expressed his opinions about books and art, writing and history. When Seelig asked why he no longer wrote, Walser famously replied: “I’m not here to write, I’m here to be mad.” Filled with lively anecdotes and details, Walks with Walser offers the fullest available account of this wonderful writer’s inner and outer life.

Carl Seelig (1894–1962) was a Swiss editor and writer and Robert Walser’s friend, guardian, and literary executor. He was a selfless supporter of countless other writers, and was also Albert Einstein’s first biographer.

Anne Posten is a literary translator based in Berlin. Her translations include: High as the Waters Rise by Anja Kampmann (shortlisted for the National Book Award); Walks with Walser by Carl Seelig (published by New Directions); Transfigured Night by Libuše Moníková; and This Place Holds No Fear by Monika Held.