‘Hier können Sie den Schriftsteller Walser sprechen hören’. Autobiografische Reflexionen in Robert Walsers Prosa

Abstract

Robert Walser's texts are characterised by an extreme reflection. These deal with the problems that autobiographical writing faces in the modern era. From Walser's linguistic skepticism, we show how the author deconstructs the reference of the pronoun "I". We also reveal how the difference between writing and living, the artist and the person and the subsequent - a concept intimately linked to the former - constitute a fundamental aspect of the thematization and poetization of Walser's autobiographical writing. All in all, his portraits of artists show how the distinction between truth and falsity is suspended, how the author-subject is reflected in the described characters. Walser's "theory of reality" evinces the subjective perception and stresses the activity of the imaginary process.