The Assistant () is a 1908 novel by the Swiss writer Robert Walser. It is about an aimless man who becomes the assistant of an eccentric Swiss inventor. The story is loosely autobiographical and based on Walser's experience as assistant to the engineer Carl Dubler in Wädenswil from the end of July 1903 to the beginning of January 1904.
The novel was adapted into the 1976 film directed by Thomas Koerfer. In 2025, Polish artists Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal released a new feature-length adaptation of the novel.
Background As scholar Simon Wortham explains, "The Assistant (1908) [...] reflects Walser’s experiences working at the Villa of the Evening Star in Wädenswil as an assistant to the engineer and inventor Carl Dubler-Grässle." The book was written while Walser lived in Berlin.
Reception Christopher Byrd at The Believer wrote that the plot won't surprise readers but that the sentences will. Byrd also wrote, "Walser satirizes [the] quintessential predicament of the bourgeoisie, [but] there is a delicacy to his activity. One gathers that the author’s reproof against the foibles of keeping up appearances is offset by his awareness that a reprieve from struggle is [temporary]. [...] His characters [...] retain their humanity, even when their actions are unjust [...]."
John McCormick in the Sewanee Review said, "Freudian psychology has made no mark on Walser's characters," and also wondered if the text reflected John Locke's or Heinrich Von Kleist's philosophies. McCormick said Walser has "none of the features of the genuine philosphical novel, that of Cervantes or Fielding or Tolstoy", thought that passages were conveyed by the pathetic fallacy, and claimed that Walser has an "amateurish grasp" of ambiguity.
Translator Mark Harman called Bernofsky's translation excellent.
Publication History Note: this list is not complete 1908 - First edition published by Cassierer Verlag in Berlin 1936 - A re-print in a collected works edition organized by Carl Seelig 1969 - English translation by Michael Bullock, published by Calder and Boyars 2007 - English translation by Susan Bernofsky, New York, New Directions Press
References
External links New Directions