Microscripts

Description:

Translated from the German with an introduction by S. Bernofsky. Afterword by W. Benjamin. First edition. A remarkable literary artifact and one of the most haunting documents of modernism. Microscripts gathers 25 of Swiss writer Robert Walser’s late, miniature prose pieces - written in a near-illegible 'microscript' hand on scraps of paper, envelopes, and receipts during his years of self-imposed obscurity. These brief narratives, parables, and observations - often no longer than a page - glitter with Walser’s signature irony, humility, and whimsical precision.

Themes of anonymity, the beauty of the everyday, and the dignity of smallness run throughout. Beneath their light tone lies an extraordinary psychological and artistic compression: Walser turns the fragmentary into the universal.

This Illustrated edition reproduces the original handwritten scraps alongside English translations, inviting readers to experience both the text and its fragile material form. Includes transcriptions of the original German texts.

Condition

8vo, original boards with inset microscript illustration to front board. Fine in d/w (in removable protective sleeve).