Books like Girlfriends, ghosts, and other stories by Robert Walser

’Girlfriends, Ghosts, and Other Stories’ assembles 81 brief pieces from Robert Walser’s career, from early triumphant writings to later works composed in a Bern psychiatric clinic. Many originated in newspaper feuilletons; others were scrawled on slips of paper and largely forgotten. The collection spans childhood delights such as carousels and trendy hairstyles to contemplations of nature, art, and love, all rendered with tenderness and a wry, wistful humor. Walser’s understated narrators reveal intimate consciousness, observing everyday scenes with acute sensitivity and a gentle irony that balances lightness with an underlying anxiety. The stories capture the quiet music of existence, portraying characters that oscillate between exhilaration and paralysis, offering readers a window into the ineffable and the fragile boundary between sanity and madness.

First publish date: 2016