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Looking at Pictures
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Looking at Pictures
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
This elegant collection is ideal for readers interested in modernist literature, art criticism, and those fascinated by the interplay between visual art and writing. Art lovers and admirers of cerebral, witty prose will find Walser's essays especially rewarding.
A special side of Robert Walser: his essays on art
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Description
A beautiful and elegant collection, with gorgeous full-colour art reproductions, Looking at Pictures presents a little-known side of the eccentric Swiss genius: his great writings on art.
His essays consider Van Gogh, Cezanne, Rembrandt, Cranach, Watteau, Fragonard, Brueghel and his own brother Karl. They also discuss general topics such as the character of the artist and of the dilettante, as well as the differences between painters and poets.
Every piece is marked by Walser's unique eye, his delicate sensitivity, and his very particular sensibilities—and all are touched by his magic screwball wit.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Critics praise Walser's work for its perfect blend of assurance and ambiguity, calling it "bold and idiosyncratic" and celebrating his singular genius. Descriptions such as "a Paul Klee in prose" and "good-humoured, sweet Beckett" highlight his charm and experimental style. Esteemed voices like Benjamin Kunkel, Nicholas Lazard, Susan Sontag, Lydia Davis, and Ben Lerner commend the book's originality and emotional depth.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780811224246
Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 09 November 2015
Country: United States
Imprint: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Contributors:
- Translated by Christopher Middleton
- Translated by Lydia Davis
- Translated by Susan Bernofsky
- Translated by Susan Bernofsky
- Translated by Christopher Middleton
- Translated by Susan Bernofsky
- Translated by Christopher Middleton
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 20.0mm
Width: 127.0mm
Height: 188.0mm
Weight: 286g
Pages: 144
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About the Author
Robert Walser (1878-1956) was born in Switzerland. He left school at fourteen and led a wandering and precarious existence working as a bank clerk, a butler in a castle, and an inventor's assistant while producing essays, stories, and novels. In 1933 he abandoned writing and entered a sanatorium-where he remained for the rest of his life. "I am not here to write," Walser said, "but to be mad." Susan Bernofsky is the acclaimed translator of Hermann Hesse, Robert Walser, and Jenny Erpenbeck, and the recipient of many awards, including the Helen and Kurt Wolff Prize and the Hermann Hesse Translation Prize. She teaches literary translation at Columbia University and lives in New York. Lydia Davis is currently a finalist for the 2013 Man Booker International Prize. Distinguished poet and translator Christopher Middleton lives in Austin, Texas. His awards include the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and the Schegel-Tieck Translation Prize.
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The first complete publication of Robert Walser’s poems translated into English. Admired by the likes of Kafka, Musil, and Walter Benjamin and acclaimed as “unforgettable, heart-rending” by J. M. Coetzee, Swiss writer Robert Walser (1878–1956) remains one of the most influential authors of modern literature. Walser left school at fourteen and led a wandering and precarious existence while producing poems,...Hardback$6699Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
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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...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
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Robert Walser wrote many of his manuscripts in a highly enigmatic, shrunken-down form. These narrow strips of paper, covered with tiny ant-like pencil markings a millimetre high, came to light only after the author's death in 1956. At first considered random restless pencil markings or a secret code, the microscripts were in time discovered to be a radically miniaturised form...Paperback$4799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
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