Susan Sontag describes Walser as 'a good-humoured, sweet Beckett'. The more common comparison is to 'a comic Kafka'. Both formulations effectively describe the reading experience in these stories: the reader is obviously in the presence of a mind-bending genius, but one characterized by a wry, buoyant voice, as apparently cheerful as it is disturbing.
Read More
Susan Sontag describes Walser as 'a good-humoured, sweet Beckett'. The more common comparison is to 'a comic Kafka'. Both formulations effectively describe the reading experience in these stories: the reader is obviously in the presence of a mind-bending genius, but one characterized by a wry, buoyant voice, as apparently cheerful as it is disturbing.
Read Less