Robert Walser - Berlin Stories BOOK REVIEW

BUY HERE:
amzn.to/3ME7cAj
Walser Biography - "Clairvoyant of the Small" by Susan Bernofsky
amzn.to/3MFJuny
Susan Bernofsky and Eileen Myles on Walser
• Clairvoyant of the Sma...
SUPPORT / PATREON:
/ booksarebetterthanfood
INSTAGRAM: @booksarebetterthanfood
/ booksarebetterthanfood
MUG:
www.zazzle.com/better_than_fo...
-----------------------
PATREON INFO:
For $5+ per video Patrons you'll receive (in addition to all below):
Entered in the Book & Coffee Jar
For $1+ per video Patrons you'll get access to:
Patron-Only Reviews
All Reviews Ad-Free
Discord Channel
Better Than Friday Newsletter (5 things I'm interested in sent to you every Friday)
-------------------------------
PATRON ONLY REVIEWS:
The Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus
/ myth-of-sisyphus-80534135
H.P. Lovecraft - The Call of Cthulhu (Halloween Special)
/ call-of-cthulhu-74055549
Hamlet: Poem Unlimited by Harold Bloom
/ 66203438
10 Books to Be Read 2022:
/ 63010254
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
/ 60574022
The Necrophiliac by Gabrielle Wittkop - Halloween 2021
/ 58073911
Death in Midsummer by Yukio Mishima
/ 55759685
Holy the Firm by Annie Dillard
/ 53139833
The Key by Junichiro Tanizaki
/ 51134117
Platforms by Nina Power
/ 48914140
Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk
/ 45465524
Bookshelf Tour 2020:
Part 1: / 41287302
Part 2: / 42817306
Part 3: / 43783138
The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat
/ 38823138
Margery Kempe by Robert Glück
/ 38645694
Transparent Things by Vladimir Nabokov
/ 37527267
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
/ 35574016
11 Books to be read in 2020:
/ 33921584
Atomic Habits by James Clear
/ 32697977
Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal
/ 30969884
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
/ 29515320
Reading is Expensive (A Rant)
/ 29065141
White by Bret Easton Ellis
/ 26771749
A Room on the Garden Side by Ernest Hemingway
/ 21573550
The Return by Roberto Bolaño
/ 21019229
Darkness Visible by William Styron
/ 20276630
"Blindness", an essay by Jorge Luis Borges
/ 19529985
The Alligators by John Updike
/ 18428537
The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain
/ 17281418
Animal Crackers in My Soup by Charles Bukowski
/ 16924023
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
/ 16133547

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

To the very kind commenter from Zurich who left recommendations and the offer to show me around, I sincerely apologize. As I was trying to edit a typo in response to your comment, on my phone, I somehow managed to delete both response and comment entirely. Please comment again if you see this, as youtube doesn't allow me to Undo it.

[@someobserver844]

Walser is brilliant. His short, borderline fantastical diary novel "Jakob von Gunten" is one of my favorite books; it was inspired by his time at the servant school. The complex mixture of childlike joy and profound sadness that his writing exhibits is unique in literature.

[@madalenapires21]

I loved this review. Walser is one of my favourite writers. I think you really understood him and his writing.

[@timkjazz]

Very cool choice, discovered Walser about 5 years ago after reading an article about him, very unique writer, thanks for the great review, as always.

[@lorenzomizushal3980]

Kafka collapsed so hard he had troubling finishing his novels

[@ajithpr4909]

Good one

[@Crowborn]

This is one of my favourite reviews of yours. Somehow extremely sad and heartwarming at once. Thanks for what you do!

[@orsino88]

I’m delighted you found Walser-one of the greats.

[@willwilder622]

I got into Walser through the Quay Brothers’ adaptation of Jakob von Gunten. Anything by Walser is a must read.

[@sturlasigurarson6510]

Having been reading Walser lately I decided to look him up on KZbin, and how nice it was to find that you had just released a video essay on him. Things just really tend to line up like this, don´t they. Small world.

[@hihi6666hihittt]

Walser's death in the snow is referenced on the first page of Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy

[@Pinksnow80]

Ah yes, the Berlin Stories! And what a great review. I am not in Zurich but I can take you around Berlin anytime.

[@yoyoioana16]

You always manage to get me interested in every author you talk about, even though it's not my kind of thing

[@beans3549]

Thank you kind sir, I love hearing your thoughts; I didn't know about this author, one for me to check out, plus susan sontag, thank you! You are the kind of reader an author dreams of, who takes it to heart, and knows it.

[@carolinj7398]

Hello, I saw your review of "Michael Kohlhaas" by Heinrich von Kleist and I absolutely loved it. I just have two remarks to make: -A noticed that almost all English-speakers pronounce "von" as in "Heinrich von Kleist" as if the sound is a w. In reality in German if the v is at the front, most of the time it is pronounced as an f (think the sound of "feather"). -If you like Swiss authors then I recommend the works of Friedrich Duerrenmatt. I especially recommend the novel "The judge and his hangman" and the play "The visit". Keep up the good work :)

[@Eudaimonia88]

@CarolinJ The pronunciation is the least of this man's problems. He does not understand German and Swiss authors. Period.

[@johnniebarker7629]

Beautiful soul, beautiful summary as always

[@rathodkaran6190]

Will you do a review on don quixote? Or even Monsignor Quixote?

[@DUFMAN123]

Wonderful review sir!

[@ostrich__]

A short NYRB. Gotta get it now. Thanks!

[@snoopenny]

The Castle by Kafka had me marvel at the funny sections-ironic, an Ashkenazic Jewish sarcastic humor based on suffering. Many Jews of the past laughed at misery. Chekhov called his plays comedies. The Russians had a similar outlook on life. It’s better to laugh than suffer.

[@reaganwiles_art]

Hell yeah, Malaprops! Have not been there in over a decade. Glad to hear they're still there! And a friend is moving back there soon, hmm...Yeah. Thanks for this. Lots of good food and coffee in A-ville too. You'll find no trouble finding help getting around in Geneva, Bern is more insular.

[@RasmusKarlJensen]

Do you have any interest in non-fiction that aren’t (auto)biographies? I’d be curious about your thoughts on Bowling Alone if you’ve ever read it.

[@anveshvashi-sc7pw]

Please review the Rivethead by Ben Hamper

[@v.cackerman8749]

“That was written in 1914”. I wonder if Robert Walser wrote this while he was doing military service.

[@10.6.12.]

The perrenial neutral Switzerland is also a major world arms dealer. Just say'n ...

[@dagerman7032]

"The vast majority of Kafka's work was lost" WTF are you talking about?

[@Eudaimonia88]

"Imagine someone as sad and shaken, as oppressed by life as Kafka... ". Hm... really? "As oppressed by life..." Kafka would collapse in a fit of laughter if he was listening to you. You don't know much about Kafka, my friend! You are hosting a channel that requires you to be well read, yet you consistently ascribe to authors, especially European ones, qualities they don't possess. You don't speak German, and on the basis of your non-existing language skills, you are not making much sense. You are uttering non-sequiturs as a rule, and to be honest, you don't have a clue about Robert Walser. Your commentary shows that you have not read the author in the original language and, tragically, you have greatly misrepresented Kafka in this video, too.

[@13tuyuti]

You are right about Kafka but unfortunately he would collapse into laughter about your comments on readers who read books in translation. Kafka himself knew many authors, such as Shakespeare and Dostoyevski, only from translation as well.

[@Eudaimonia88]

@13tuyuti Kafka's familiarity with Dostoevsky and Shakespeare in translation has nothing to do with my comment about the uploader of this video. Kafka did not have a mediocre book review channel, nor was he struggling to understand and analyse other people's writings. It is evident from this review alone that Mr. Sargent is struggling to correctly reflect the autobiographical details, intentions, and personalities of the European writers he discusses. The level of disconnect is significant. I therefore suggest that acquainting himself with the German language or at least with better material written about the writers and books he discusses may lead to a more nuanced discussion. I dare say that Kafka would agree. He would abhor being depicted in clichés like those presented by Mr. Sargent. A ghastly review. This is cliché-ridden word salad that makes zero sense to those who know the authors being discussed here.

[@xriz1211]

​@CirceEnchants think what you may of his reviews, I'm just glad he introduces authors I've never heard of.