Robert Walser (writer)

Robert Walser (1878-1956) was a Swiss modernist author. Born to a poor family, he dreamed of being an actor, however, when he failed to achieve this, he took on a variety of jobs, working in a bank, a library, and even as a servant for a wealthy family. He published his first book in 1904, and continued to write over a dozen books in his career. His unique style won him a handful of admirers, among them Franz Kafka and Robert Musil. Nevertheless, they never achieved the popularity they would garner after Walser died. In 1929 Walser was committed to an asylum, where he died in 1956. It was only two decades later that there was a renewed interest in his work, particularly his novel Jakob von Gunten.