ROBERT WALSER: VILLA UNDER THE EVENING STAR [1972].

Description

We present the first Polish edition of the novel by Robert Walser (1878-1956) – Swiss novelist and playwright, one of the most original stylists of the twentieth century, whose work remained in the shadows for many years, to be hailed by critics years later as a “masterpiece of modernity” . The publication was published in 1972 in Warsaw by the State Publishing Institute (PIW) in the prestigious series “Novels of the 20th Century” . It was translated from German by Teresa Jętkiewicz, a well-known translator of German-language literature .

“Villa under the Evening Star” (original title Der Gehülfe, or “The Helper” or “The Assistant”) is a novel based on the writer’s authentic experiences . In 1903-1904 Walser worked as an assistant to technician Karl Tobler in a villa in the village of Wädenswil on Lake Zurich . The protagonist of the book is Joseph Marti – an unspecified associate, employed by Mr. Tobler, an inventor and man of great ambition, who notoriously succumbs to illusions and whose inventive mania and business ineptitude will lead to disaster .

The novel, set in the reality of a villa located in the suburbs, among the lakes and hills, is not only a chronicle of the decline of a bourgeois home, but also an extremely insightful psychological study of an “outsider” – a servant, a helper, who constantly judges who he is, who he could be, who he would be capable of being . This is a story of dependence, loneliness, loyalty and disillusionment. However, as with Walser: it is not the subject that is crucial, but the incredible ability to combine the realism of observation with the flair of imagination, the aphoristic grasp of the essence of human relationships, the play of irony with lyricism .

Robert Walser was an extremely mysterious figure. After a period of intense creativity in the early 20th century, in 1929 he voluntarily underwent isolation in a mental institution in Bern, where he spent 27 years until his death . His late manuscripts (about 500 sheets) were written in fine, hardly recognizable handwriting (so-called “micrographs”), and it took many decades for researchers to read and publish them. Walser had a huge influence on writers such as Franz Kafka (who was an admirer of his), Hermann Hesse, and later on the artists of the post-war generation.

This is the first Polish edition – the absolute first printing of this novel in Polish, belonging to the sought-after series of PIW “Novels of the 20th Century” by collectors. On the antiquarian market, copies in good condition appear sporadically. The presented copy is clean and preserved in very good condition, a rarity for a popular library series. This is a must-have for the collector of world literature, the lover of German-language prose and the bibliophile looking for a representative edition of one of Robert Walser’s most important works.

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