Werke. Berner Ausgabe

The individual volumes of the Bern edition are being published continuously. They contain not only reliably edited texts but also an afterword, information on transmission, creation, and reception, as well as commentary on specific passages. "The Assistant" (1908) is Robert Walser's most-read novel. It is also considered a key text of European employee literature from the Fin de Siècle. In the model city of Bärenswil, the more or less modern descendants of Gottfried Keller's "People of Seldwyla" live. The main character, an office clerk seeking work, encounters an inventor who fails as an entrepreneur. While the subordinate assistant is aware of his replaceability from the very beginning, his "principal" still struggles to maintain his reputation, which is based on a household and a free profession.