Description
For nearly twenty years, the great Swiss writer Robert Walser lived in silence — and one man walked beside him. Beginning in 1936, Walser lived in the sanatorium at Herisau, having given up writing altogether. His closest companion in those quiet final decades was Carl Seelig: journalist, friend, legal guardian, and walking partner.
Walks with Walser gathers Seelig’s tender, observant records of their long rambles through the Swiss countryside — conversations about literature, life, and the mysteries of a genius who chose silence. It is one of the great literary friendships, beautifully documented.
For lovers of Walser, of literary biography, and of walking — a quiet masterpiece. Seelig’s records — spare, precise, deeply affectionate — preserve not just Walser’s words but his presence: the humor, the melancholy, the genius that chose silence. For anyone who walks, reads, or wonders about the mystery of creativity. For walkers, readers, and wonderers everywhere.
For nearly twenty years, beginning in 1936, the great Swiss writer Robert Walser lived in the sanatorium at Herisau, having given up writing altogether. His closest companion in those quiet final decades was Carl Seelig, the journalist who became his friend, legal guardian, and walking partner.
Walks with Walser gathers Seelig’s tender, observant records of their long rambles through the Appenzell countryside. As the two men talk of literature, food, money, and the weather, a truly vivid portrait emerges of Walser in his last years: witty, stubborn, melancholy, and still startlingly wise. Translated by Anne Posten, these conversations offer an intimate glimpse of one of modern literature’s most mysterious figures.
A small, luminous book — perfect for admirers of Walser, lovers of literary biography, and anyone who believes the best conversations happen on foot. Seelig’s gentle chronicle reminds us that even in silence and solitude, a great mind keeps quietly shining, and that friendship can be its own form of literature.
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