Jakob von Gunten (New York Review Books (Paperback))

Irresistible book. This has to be the most charming fictional novel written in the 20th century. Or ever in human history. Am I being overblown? See for yourself!Teachers at the Benjamenta Institute never come around: they're either very late, or sleeping, or "possibly fossilized", or never existed in the first place. Yet, in the classroom one isn't even allowed to blow ones personal nose. (I'm paraphrasing.)What is the book about? The narrator talks about his time at a school for servants. He rambles about the world, criticizes and praises his peers, takes digs at society, talks about his family, goes into soliloquies about the very few, but very strange, adults at the school. Most of it's pretty fun and breezy. Then there's a few pages that will break your heart, if you have a heart to be broken.It's also easy to pick-up and put-down because the whole thing is broken up into short episodic sub-chapter sections. It's anecdotal, off-the-cuff. It also shines with uniqueness and warmth. It is never, ever, ever, a slog.If you like Harry Potter (I don't), you could like it. There's a peculiar and enchanting castle-like institute, a peculiar ensemble of students. If you like Catcher in the Rye, you'll probably like it. The young narrator gives disaffected but endearing commentary on people and places, his brother, his friends, and so forth. If you like Franz Kafka, you'll like it. Robert Walser's style was the springboard off which Franz Kafka plunged into himself. Do you hate Harry Potter, or Catcher in the Rye, or Franz Kafka? Great! This book is nothing like them. I wouldn't be name-dropping these other books and authors if Walser wasn't so obscure. I feel I have to build some bridges here. So folks? Take the bridges.HERE'S an excerpt from near the beginning:"How stupidly I behaved when I arrived here! Mainly I was shocked at the shabbiness of the front steps. Well, all right, they were just the stairs to an ordinary big-city backstreet building. Then I rang the bell and a monkey-like being opened the door. It was Kraus. But at that time I simply thought of him as a monkey, whereas today I have a high opinion of him, because of the very personal quality which adorns him. I asked if I could speak to Her Benjamenta. Kraus said: "Yes, sir!" and bowed to me, deeply and stupidly. This bow infused me with strange terror, for I told myself at once that there must be something wrong the place. And from that moment, I regarded the Benjamenta school as a swindle. I went to the Principal's office. How I laugh when I think back on the scene that followed." [Hilarity ensues.]And from later on:"Heinrich and Schilinsky have left. Shaken hands and said adieu. And gone. Probably forever. How short these leave-takings are! One means to say something, but has forgotten precisely the right thing to say, and so one says nothing, or something silly. To say goodbye, and to have it said to me, is terrible. At such moments something gives human life a a shake, and one feels vividly how nothing one is. Quick goodbyes are loveless, and long ones are unbearable. What can one do? Well, one just says something goofish.--Fraulein Benjamenta said something very peculiar to me recently... [...]"Can you believe that?

I felt that the sensibility being explored in this work was often just out of ordinary focus. Walser is reaching for an existential experience that lies just beyond what conventional narrative can capture. Not so much "out of focus" so much as just at the edge of perception. Kind of like movement perception out of the corner of our eye. We know something moved, drew our attention, but not at the center of vision where it can be brought into focus and subjected to normal perceptual cognition. In this respect I guess that makes Walser a "modernist". (?)I'm reserving judgement on just how impressive this book is, until I've re read it a couple times. But I do highly recommend it for the strong impressions and characterizations it offers. The synopsis is, therefore, almost besides the point. Jakob finds himself "apprenticed" in a school for servants. This is a first person narrative. His fellow students of servitude (servanthood?) and the Her Director and his sister, who run the establishment, make up the cast of characters with whom Jakob interacts, often in strange, even bizarre ways. How much is projection and a reflection of Jakob's state of mind, well that is what we are exploring.This is probably a five star work. The four stars reflect my needing to read it again to feel I have grasped it entirely. Probably an easier read for those with a literary background and experience with this genre. For me this is new territory. Happily so. But at least the jump from Walser to Kafka to Handke to Bernard seems to get shorter each time.

It is popular in some modern reading circles to criticize J.D. Salinger's famous protagonist from THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, Holden Caulfield. He is called a whiner, self-absorbed, and a jerk. He is, in fact, dismissed where once he was almost universally hailed as a literary rebel to be reckoned with.To all those Holden Haters, I can only suggest a trip into Robert Walser's 1909 classic, JAKOB VON GUNTEN. The namesake of this novel makes Holden look like a solid citizen of New York -- someone with only sound, well-grounded things to say. Really. You want whining? You want self-absorbed? Try 50 pp. of Jakob's stream-of-conscious musings on most everything around him (but mostly on himself). It out-Holdens whatever detractors ever said about Holden.What does this mean for prospective readers of JAKOB VON GUNTEN? Know before you go. This is called a predecessor to Kafka's writing, so expect the unexpected. Expect contradiction. And, as Jakob is 17, expect vainglorious self-absorption. Jakob loves to make others miserable. No, just kidding. He loves to tease his classmate Kraus because Kraus is such a do-gooder, but really he loves Kraus -- whom he can't stand. And so forth. It's "experimental" and interesting for that reason, I guess, but what if you don't like the 1st person point-of-view you're stuck in? Then you either give up or suffer through. I suffered through to the end, long enough to see the Principal and his wife (apparently the only teachers at this odd school Jakob attends) fall in love -- no, hate! -- with Jakob. It's contagious, you see.Love Kafka? Love stream of consciousness? Don't mind a little artful nonsense? This may just be your "unfound classic." Alas, it wasn't mine.

The idea behind the book is fantastic but I did not enjoy his style. Not saying the book's bad, just not for me.

Robert Walser's - Jakob Von GuntenRating - 3.5/5Jakob Von Gunten leaves home as a kid and enrols in a questionable school/orphanage to learn and be his own man.He meets other students there, nourishing their own ideologies and philosophies.The school is run by a sister and brother duo, who are no less mysterious than all the other aspects of the institution.Unsure of his life, Jakob Von Gunten is never able to leave the institute and work on his own.It seems that the roots of the institute and its people have been twisted and entangled into an inseparable bond with that of his own....Jakob sees the world the way it is, without any prejudice, and notes down his thoughts in a journal. The book is hence, Jakob's diary.Jakob is a contradictory character - his diary can not be read as Gospel truth; however, he highlights the facade and biasness of society, writing, albeit non contemptuously, of the shallowness of the rich and the artists...The book doesn't have a strong plot and is but a memoir of its protagonist. It is more like the work of a painter depicting the psychology of people and the society they belong to...Robert Walser is a mind man and has a unique subject and writing style. He is known to have inspired Kafka; and the likes of other Kafkaesques, so to speak; however, Jakob Von Gunten does give one the feels of Rilke's The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge....For the love of philosophy and thinkers..!

Es una lectura muy entretenida, no la encontré en español en ninguna librería pero esta edición es barata y muy buena.

great condition, lovely buy