The latest addition to my website is Peter Stamm‘s Agnes (Agnes). Our unnamed narrator is a Swiss author temporarily lviing in Chicago, where he is writing a book on US luxury trains. He had written fiction but felt he might not be good enough. He meets Agnes, a scientist, in the library and they eventually … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Peter Stamm‘s Das Archiv der Gefühle (The Archive of Feelings). Our unnamed narrator was an archivist for a newspaper but a paper archive was no longer needed in the age of the Internet, so he was made redundant. However he was not going to let go and persuades … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Hermann Bürger‘s Brenner Part 1 Brunsleben (Brenner), This is the semi-autobiographical story of Hermann Arbogast Brenner, a man who has failed at most things but is now writing a diary as he is dying of cancer. Bürger himself took his own life three days after the book was … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Peter Stamm‘s Die sanfte Gleichgültigkeit der Welt (The Sweet Indifference of the World). The novel tells the story of a former writer, Chris, who meets an actress called Magdalena while in Stockholm, whose life seemingly mirrors his own life and that of his ex-girlfriend, also an actress called … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Patrick Boltshauser‘s . This book is so far the only one to appear in Dalkey Archive Press’s Liechtensteinian Literature Series, though the author was born in Switzerland and currently lives in Switzerland, but he did grow up in Liechtenstein. It tells the story of an unnamed narrator, a … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Erhard von Büren‘s Ein langer blauer Montag (A Long Blue Monday). This is the third novel von Büren has written and I have read of his and it is another excellent work. The story is narrated by Paul Ganter, a young Swiss man from the wrong side of … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Robert Walser‘s Der Spaziergang (The Walk). This simply tells the story of a writer out for a walk in a provincial Swiss town. However, as the writer is based on Walser, he is not averse to giving his opinion on all and sundry, 1000 lashes for those cutting … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Robert Walser‘s Der Gehülfe (The Assistant). This is the second book published by Walser (the third he wrote) and is based on his own experiences. The story involves Joseph Marti, a self-critical, somewhat absent-minded young man, who goes to work for Carl Tobler, an inventor. He lives in … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Robert Walser‘s Geschwister Tanner (The Tanners). This was Walser’s first novel and a strange one it is, clearly based on himself and his family. The main character is Simon Tanner, a young man who drifts around from job to job, from town to town, from relationship to to … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Robert Walser‘s Jakob von Gunten (Jakob von Gunten). This was an unusual novel for the time, as it is told inside the head of the protagonist, a young man who fantasises, has strange dreams, is full of contradictions and may be an unreliable narrator. Like Walser himself, Jakob … Read more