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The case of Robert Walser (1878-1956)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Viktoria Lyons  and
Michael Fitzgerald
Viktoria Lyons
Affiliation:
129 Newtownpark Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, Ireland
Michael Fitzgerald
Affiliation:
Trinity College Dublin, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Ballyfermot Child Guidance Clinic, Ballyfermot Road, Dublin 10, Ireland
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Extract

Robert Walser (1878-1956), one of the great literary geniuses of 20th century German literature, was also one of the most mysterious writers of his time. Born in Switzerland in 1878 he was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 50 and spent the remaining two and a half decades of his life in Swiss psychiatric hospitals until his death in 1956. His literary legacy consists of four novels, numerous pieces of short prose (essays and stories) as well as 526 pages of pencil notes written in minuscule script, the famous ‘micro-gramms’.

Although highly unsuccessful during his lifetime and leading the life of an artist on the margins of society, his writings have been linked to Kleist, Kafka, Joyce and Beckett. The silencing of Walser's unique voice by mental illness and his disappearance behind the walls of psychiatric hospitals has been considered a tragedy and over the years doubts were raised about the true nature of his illness.

Type
Historical
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , December 2004 , pp. 138 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

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