Fairy Tales

by Robert Walser, Daniele Pantano (Translator), James Reidel (Translator)

Fairy Tales gathers the unconventional verse dramolettes of the Swiss writer Robert Walser. Narrated in Walser's inimitable, playful language, these theatrical pieces overturn traditional notions of the fairy tale, transforming the Brothers Grimm into metatheater, even metareflections.


Snow White forgives the evil queen for trying to kill her, Cinderella doubts her prince and enjoys being hated by her evil stepsisters; the Fairy Tale itself is a character who encourages her to stay within the confines of the story. Sleeping Beauty, the royal family, and its retainers are not happy about being woken from their sleep by an absurd, unpretentious, Walser-like hero. Mary and Joseph are taken aback by what lies in store for their baby Jesus.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Literature, Poetry, Drama, Fairy Tales

108 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Robert Walser, a German-Swiss prose writer and novelist, enjoyed high repute among a select group of authors and critics in Berlin early in his career, only to become nearly forgotten by the time he committed himself to the Waldau mental clinic in Bern in January 1929. Since his death in 1956, however, Walser has been recognized as German Switzerland’s leading author of the first half of the twentieth century, perhaps Switzerland’s single significant modernist. In his homeland he has served as an emboldening exemplar and a national classic during the unparalleled expansion of German-Swiss literature of the last two generations.

Walser’s writing is characterized by its linguistic sophistication and animation. His work exhibits several sets of tensions or contrasts: between a classic modernist devotion to art and a ceaseless questioning of the moral legitimacy and practical utility of art; between a spirited exuberance in style and texture and recurrent reflective melancholy; between the disparate claims of nature and culture; and between democratic respect for divergence in individuals and elitist reaction to the values of the mass culture and standardization of the industrial age.

Reviews

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went looking for a Walser because I hadn’t read him yet and found this: four mini-dramas not written for the stage, though a couple have been performed. I’m not sure how to rate my enjoyment of them. The words flow like poetry and meaning seems straightforward, though I know it isn’t, and I’m not sure I captured it all.

I thought the fairy-tale tropes would be turned upside down in these works, but if anything they are reinforced to the extreme. For the most part, the tales aren't reworked, though they aren’t told ‘straight’ either. I suppose it isn’t wrong to say that they’re told ‘slant.’

My favorite was “Cinderella,” because of how hilariously voluble the title character is, even though some of her words are alarmingly masochistic -- yet, maybe, some of them are progressive in their regressiveness. The fairy-godmother character is called Fairy Tale and some of her speech, not surprisingly, is ‘meta’.

Some of Cinderella’s words that spoke to me:

Let us seek out the trail that leads to empathy, the one that we lost in our vulgar passions. It will not be easy to find this sweetness. It requires infinite patience, like a sense rarely achieved.

Hush, don’t disturb me in this thought…it will never leave its cell, this sense of being forsaken, which I feel rising up in my heart. It will fade away like a sound, faint, guilty; and the memory will never die.

When we hang on to a scruple for much too long—something stupid—yet that provides us with no end, since a beginning, middle, end are all but shifting things…

[Steven R. Kraaijeveld · Rating 5 out of 5]

"No, it's not that kind of party,
not what you think, needing people,
one that is framed by their shouting.
We'll have a party with ourselves,
a totally silent party,
where the public voice gets nothing
to trumpet and the world nothing
to concern itself." (77-78)

This collection of Fairy Tales (including Snow White, Thorn Rose, the Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and The Christ Child) by Robert Walser is one of the most special and beautiful things I have read in quite some time. It is not simply a retelling of fairy tales; it's more like meta-theater, plays about the plays, poetry about those well-known, well-worn stories. As Walser has Snow White say:

"Ah, yes, I know the story well,
about the apple, the coffin.
Be so kind as to tell me more.
Why does nothing else come to mind?
Must you hang on to these details?
Must you forever draw on them?" (20)

[jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

reimagining the stories and characters of cinderella, snow white, and sleeping beauty, robert walser's fairy tales forms a triptych of playful, poetic pieces that were not necessarily ever destined for the stage (despite the swiss writer's love of theater). these short, lyrical pieces, often barbed and quite amusing, find the familiar characters re-cast in more animated roles: snow white offering a merciful reprieve, sleeping beauty miffed at having been roused from her slumber, and a masochistic cinderella that revels in her stepsisterly abuse. a fourth piece, about mary & joseph (and their reluctance upon learning the fate of their progeny) rounds out the collection.

walser, gifted, imaginative, and however enigmatic, was adept writing in many forms. these dramolettes, far from disposable, are charming and entertaining as standalone pieces, but work quite well when read in sequence. despite having been written over a century ago, they remain melodically modern. short yet fanciful, they'll appeal most of all to walser completists or fanatics of all things fairy tale.

(from "thorn rose, the sleeping beauty")

court poet:

if i were alseep, no verses
would have to be labored over.
i'd still be lying on my ear
and dreaming of nothing but fame.
now i'll wrestle around for rhymes,
earning nothing but ingratitude.
i would rather he had kept to
his cuckoo nest or somewhere else
that suited him and let us sleep.
this was no masterpiece on his part.

*rendered from the german by poets/translators danielle pantano and james reidel

[Ivone · Rating 4 out of 5]

As primeiras linhas de "A Bela Adormecida", o último dos 3 contos reimaginados ou desafiados por Robert Walser são eloquentes. Diz a Bela Adormecida: "Vós, que aqui estais em redor, por favor, olhai com atenção para este homem; acordou-me de um profundo sono secular e agora quer-me para esposa." [Responde o Rei]: "Não ousará tal atrevimento. Que fez ele de importante?". [De novo, a Bela Adormecida, que está já bem acordada]: "Veio até aqui e beijou-me, e com o beijo acordei". [Comentário da Dama de Honor]: "Qualquer outro o poderia."

Esta introdução mostra como esta versão será muito pouco tradicional. E é realmente uma divagação pelo conto que tudo questiona, a começar pelo próprio conto que é como que uma personagem, como já acontecera nos 2 contos anteriores. Dos 3, este foi o meu favorito e é sobretudo divertido, rebelde. Branca de Neve também é rebelde mas torna-se triste, talvez porque envolve a maternidade. Ao questionar livremente os pressupostos da história, e até o próprio questionar, numa deliciosa anarquia, revela o quanto a educação pode ser condicionada por histórias tradicionais baseadas em estereótipos, ou criadoras elas próprias desses estereótipos, ao serem repetidas, ao longo dos séculos, intocadas, sem "contraditório", com uma autoridade que, se não é formal, tem o peso difícil de calcular da tradição. É isso que Robert Walser faz, com grande criatividade: questiona, põe tudo de pernas para o ar.

[Charlie Kruse · Rating 3 out of 5]

lovely.

[Madalena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gata Borralheira - 4/5
Branca de Neve - 3,5/5
A Bela Adormecida - 3/5

[K K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the perspective of the author in these stories. It was very interesting, the right length, and easier to read than I expected with it being an older work.

[Adriana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A diferencia de lo que ocurre en los textos de los hermanos Grimm, de los que Walser parte para escribir los dramolettes, estos personajes saben que no tienen libertad y que están bajo el yugo del cuento. Además, son personajes que, por tener una conciencia moderna, no pertenecen al contexto anticuado u obsoleto en el que están inmersos. Es importante recordar que los dramolettes fueron escritos cuando el género de los fairy tales se encontraba ya institucionalizado tanto en Europa como en Estados Unidos, lo que significó una regularización en su estilo y discurso. Walser, como muchos otros escritores, retomó los textos de los hermanos Grimm para jugar con las normas, valores y poderes conservadores que el género promulgó durante siglos. Cenicienta, Blancanieves, la Bella Durmiente son aquí, como lo describe Reto Sorg en el prefacio de la edición: “messengers of a poetic existence who bear witness to the human longing for being without boundaries while rooted in a center”.

Reseña completa:
http://www.criticismo.com/fairy-tales/