Jakob von Gunten

Synopsis

Presented as the diary of an inquisitive young student, Jakob von Gunten follows its narrator through the strange routines of the Benjamenta Institute, a school dedicated to training boys for lives of service. As Jakob records the peculiar rhythms of the institution, its eccentric teachers, and his own shifting ambitions, the novel gradually transforms into a subtle exploration of authority, freedom, identity, and the pleasures of resisting convention.

Quietly comic, dreamlike, and profoundly original, Jakob von Gunten is one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century literature. With its deceptively simple prose and gentle absurdity, Robert Walser's novel remains an enduring meditation on individuality, imagination, and the beauty of choosing an unconventional life.

About the Author

Robert Walser (1878–1956) was a Swiss novelist, poet, and master of the short prose form whose work profoundly influenced writers including Franz Kafka, W. G. Sebald, and J. M. Coetzee. Though largely overlooked during his lifetime, he is now regarded as one of the great innovators of modern European literature. Jakob von Gunten is translated from the German by Christopher Middleton.

Publisher
New York Review Books Classics

Publication Date
February 28, 1999

Format
Paperback

Pages
176

Subjects
Classics · Literary Fiction · Translated Fiction · Swiss Literature

ISBN
9780940322219