How does one begin to write even an on-the-fly review of such a novel, one that should be experienced as a series of deceptively simple vignettes in the young life of the titular character and be relished as Walser carries one along with Jakob's singular voice? Jakob von Gunten is also a difficult novel from which to quote given how the reader manages to catch small glimpses of how the narrative voice will develop and evolve, something that this reviewer would not wish to ruin for any future reader of this very precious book.

Walser really is a master at the microcosmic: the Benjamenta Institute—where Jakob installs himself to learn (or not learn) the ways of the world—truly is the world. Just as The Walk and The Assistant offer microcosmic and often claustrophobic scenes that suggest their application to society and culture at large, so, too, does Jakob von Gunten.

In all of these works—which, to date, are the only works by Walser I've had the chance to read—Walser gives us searing and incisive psychological portraits of his protagonists; at the same time, Walser is superbly nonjudgmental in presenting both their virtues and their vices. His humanism and compassion is evident, as well as an overarching concern with morality, class divisions, the function of dreams and fantasies in forging a creative and cosmopolitan place in society, and the ways in which industrialization and urbanization (always in the background in Walser's work, but a prevalent motif all the same) cause individuals to lose some sense of a shared, common history.

Jakob's voice is that of a child and yet he is also emphatically not a child. Instead, Walser suggests that there is no distinction to be made between childhood and adulthood; in so doing, he also breaks down other dualistic and dichotomous categories, causing Jakob's precarious, playful, perverse, and inquisitive questioning of the world in which he lives to become the questions that we all pose when faced with change of any sort.

(And despite the quick nature of this review, it seems Modern World Lit has decided to feature it. MWL is a great resource: check it out if you don't already know about it.) ( )

The rabbit hole down which the protagonist/narrator Jakob tumbles is a school for training butlers. In an earlier time, a similar youth might have entered a monastery to obey without question the commands of a master, and to love the rules of its book. Jakob is ambivalent about whether he believes in God, so he chooses this option instead. Nonetheless, he is a seeker. Like Siddhartha or Francis of Assisi, he renounces his well-situated family and comfortable home to embark on a life of self-abnegation. So is he a saint or the prodigal son?
The book contains many echoes of the Bible and other spiritual literature, especially when, just like his namesake, Jakob grabs another character by the ankles and vows not to let her loose until his wish is granted (the motif of falling to the feet of another is repeated twice).
Walser’s writing is rich, both in its descriptions of life in the institute and in street scenes and daydreams. His insights into Jakob are sharp. “Alles Verbotene lebt auf hundertfache Art und Weise; also lebt nur lebendiger, was tot sein sollte,” notes Jakob in his diary while musing on the delights of forbidden fruit. A tantalizing glimpse of it comes at the halfway point in the story. Immediately after this, the youth is led by the hand on a phantasmagoric journey that is an evocative sublimation of erotic desire and experience. A masterpiece of writing, and possibly a model for the magic theater passage in Hesse’s Steppenwolf.
The school Jakob enters doesn’t seem entirely on the level, but that doesn’t matter to him. It may even add to its attraction, given the masochistic personality that unfolds in the course of this book. In keeping with his self-abnegation, the resolution of his ambivalent yearnings does not come in the form of an inner decision as much as in an exterior event. A character representing one pole dies, a symbolically rich plot element, and Jakob passively acquiesces to the remaining option. Is Jakob a saint? Perhaps not quite. He fits better in another, closely-related tradition, that of the holy fool.
By the way, this book is available for free as a download since it is out-of-copyright. ( )

I'm sorry, everybody who told me to read this. We tortured each other for about seventy pages and I gave up before it did.

When somebody visited him in the lunatic asylum and asked him how his writing was going, Walser famously replied 'I didn't come here to write, I came here to be mad.'

Fair enough, Robert. But you ain't taking me with you.

I'm sorry, everybody who told me to read this. We tortured each other for about seventy pages and I gave up before it did.

When somebody visited him in the lunatic asylum and asked him how his writing was going, Walser famously replied 'I didn't come here to write, I came here to be mad.'

Fair enough, Robert. But you ain't taking me with you.

I'm sorry, everybody who told me to read this. We tortured each other for about seventy pages and I gave up before it did.

When somebody visited him in the lunatic asylum and asked him how his writing was going, Walser famously replied 'I didn't come here to write, I came here to be mad.'

Fair enough, Robert. But you ain't taking me with you.