How to place the mysterious Swiss writer Robert Walser, a humble genius who possessed one of the most elusive and surprising sensibilities in modern literature? Walser is many things: a Paul Klee in words, maker of droll, whimsical, tender, and heartbreaking verbal artifacts; an inspiration to such very different writers as Kafka and W.G. Sebald; an amalgam, as Susan Sontag suggests in her preface to this volume, of Stevie Smith and Samuel Beckett.

This collection gathers forty-two of Walser's stories. Encompassing everything from journal entries, notes on literature, and biographical sketches to anecdotes, fables, and visions, it is an ideal introduction to this fascinating writer of whom Hermann Hesse famously declared, "If he had a hundred thousand readers, the world would be a better place."

Contents:

• Response to a Request
• Flower Days
• Trousers
• Two Strange Stories
• Balloon Journey
• Kleist in Thum
• The Job Application
• The Boat
• A Little Ramble
• Helbling's Story
• The Little Berliner
• Nervous
• The Walk
• So! "I've Got You"
• Nothing at All
• Kienast
• Poests
• Frau Wilke
• The Street
• Snowdrops
• Winter
• The She-Owl
• Knocking
• Titus
• Vladimir
• Parisian Newspapers
• The Monkey
• Dostoevsky's Idiot
• Am I Dreaming?
• The Little Tree
• Stork and Porcupine
• A Contribution to the Celebration of Conrad
• Ferdinand Meyer
• A Sort of Speech
• A Letter to Therese Breitbach
• A Village Tale
• The Aviator
• The Pimp
• Masters and Workers
• Essay on Freedom
• A Biedermeier Story
• The Honeymoon
• Thoughts on Cezanne