{"product_id":"the-assistant-robert-walser-9780811215909","title":"The Assistant","description":"Robert Walser is an overwhelmingly original author with many ardent fans: J.M. Coetzee (\"dazzling\"), Guy Davenport (\"a very special kind of whimsical-serious-deep writer\"), and Hermann Hesse (\"If he had a hundred thousand readers, the world would be a better place\"). Charged with compassion, and an utterly unique radiance of vision, Walser is as Susan Sontag exclaimed \"a truly wonderful, heart-breaking writer.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Assistant\u003c\/em\u003e is his breathtaking 1908 novel, translated by award-winning translator Susan Bernofsky. Joseph, hired to become an inventor's new assistant, arrives one rainy Monday morning at Technical Engineer Karl Tobler's splendid hilltop villa: he is at once pleased and terribly worried, a state soon followed by even stickier psychological complexities. He enjoys the beautiful view over Lake Zurich, in the company of the proud wife, Frau Tobler, and the delicious savory meals. But does he deserve any of these pleasures? \u003cem\u003eThe Assistant\u003c\/em\u003e chronicles Joseph's inner life of cascading emotions as he attempts, both frantically and light-heartedly, to help the Tobler household, even as it slides toward financial ruin. Tobler demands of Joseph, \"Do you have your wits about you?!\" And Joseph's wits are in fact all around him, trembling like leaves in the breeze--he is full of exuberance and despair, all the raptures and panics of a person \"drowning in obedience.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Robert Walser\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0811215903\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780811215909\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e New Directions Publishing Corporation\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/01\/2007\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.67lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 6.92h x 5.18w x 0.76d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/01\/2007 pg. 33\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/15\/2007 pg. 693\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/19\/2007 pg. 10\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/08\/2009 pg. 23\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/23\/2007\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/11\/2010 pg. 33","brand":"Robert Walser","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44042823336191,"sku":"9780811215909","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_18e03627-e8f9-46d2-b963-f4a2406bae8a.jpg?v=1684963743","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-assistant-robert-walser-9780811215909","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}