Provocation from the Periphery

The Swiss writer Robert Walser spent much of his career on the fringes of what was considered acceptable by the literary establishment. This analysis focuses on how Walser's writing bears the imprint of his marginal existence. It uses Feminist and Postcolonial approaches to marginality to highlight the battle between conformity and resistance that drives this writer's work. It focuses on the enigmatic Mikrogramme, the first drafts of Walser's texts, which have only recently been deciphered and published. By comparing the Mikrogramme with the published texts, it attempts to expose the battle between central and marginal, established and revolutionary that permeates all of Walser's work.
This study of Robert Walser's writing demonstrates how current trends in literary theory can be used to offer new insights into the work of an important writer of the early twentieth century.