
Comedies
Seagull Books London Ltd (Publisher)
Published on 23. September 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
294 pages
978-1-80309-049-8 (ISBN)
Description
This book brings English-language readers works by Walser in a rare form: dramolette.
Few writers have ever experienced such a steady rise in their reputation and public profile as Swiss writer Robert Walser (1878-1956) has seen in recent years. As more of his previously little-known work has been translated into English, readers have discovered a unique writer whose off-kilter sensibility and innovations in form are perfectly suited to our fragmented, distracted, bewildering era.
The short plays presented here, inspired by the German theater Walser enjoyed in his youth, while never meant to be performed, present scenes, characters, and situations that comment on the brutality of fairy tales, the impossibilities of love, the dark fate of the Christ child (and Walser himself), and more. At the same time, like all of Walser's work they are shot through with a humor that is wholly genuine despite its shades of darkness. Gathering all of Walser's plays, as well as his later, fragmentary dramatic writings, Comedies will be celebrated by the many devoted fans of this lately rediscovered master.
Few writers have ever experienced such a steady rise in their reputation and public profile as Swiss writer Robert Walser (1878-1956) has seen in recent years. As more of his previously little-known work has been translated into English, readers have discovered a unique writer whose off-kilter sensibility and innovations in form are perfectly suited to our fragmented, distracted, bewildering era.
The short plays presented here, inspired by the German theater Walser enjoyed in his youth, while never meant to be performed, present scenes, characters, and situations that comment on the brutality of fairy tales, the impossibilities of love, the dark fate of the Christ child (and Walser himself), and more. At the same time, like all of Walser's work they are shot through with a humor that is wholly genuine despite its shades of darkness. Gathering all of Walser's plays, as well as his later, fragmentary dramatic writings, Comedies will be celebrated by the many devoted fans of this lately rediscovered master.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Greenford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 202 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
320 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80309-049-8 (9781803090498)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Robert Walser (1878-1956) was a German-speaking Swiss writer who produced as many as seven novels and more than a thousand short stories and prose pieces. Daniele Pantano is a Swiss poet who writes in English and has published a selection of Walser's verse translated from German. James Reidel is a poet, biographer, and translator who has also translated the works by Thomas Bernhard, Georg Trakl, and Franz Werfel.
Content
Translator's Note
Part I- The Pond
The Pond (1898)
Part II- Early Dramolettes
The Boys (1900)
Poets (1901)
Part III- Fairy Tales
Cinderella (1901)
Snow White (1901)
Thorn Rose, or the Sleeping Beauty (1920)
Part IV- Later Dramolettes
The Christ Child (1920)
The Lovers (1921)
The Good-for-Nothing (1922)
Part V- Felix
The 'Felix' Scenes (1925)
Afterword
No Standing Room:
Robert Walser's Theatre of Poetry and Fairy Tale
Reto Sorg
Part I- The Pond
The Pond (1898)
Part II- Early Dramolettes
The Boys (1900)
Poets (1901)
Part III- Fairy Tales
Cinderella (1901)
Snow White (1901)
Thorn Rose, or the Sleeping Beauty (1920)
Part IV- Later Dramolettes
The Christ Child (1920)
The Lovers (1921)
The Good-for-Nothing (1922)
Part V- Felix
The 'Felix' Scenes (1925)
Afterword
No Standing Room:
Robert Walser's Theatre of Poetry and Fairy Tale
Reto Sorg