Robert Walser (15 April 1878 - 25 December 1956) was a German-speaking Swiss writer. Walser is understood to be the missing link between Kleist and Kafka. "Indeed," writes Susan Sontag, "At the time [of Walser's writing], it was more likely to be Kafka [who was understood by posterity] through the prism of Walser. Robert Musil, another admirer among Walser's contemporaries, when he first read Kafka pronounced [Kafka's work] as, 'a peculiar case of the Walser type.'
1898-1912
In 1898, the influential critic Joseph Victor Widmann published a series of poems by Walser in the Bernese newspaper Der Bund. This came to the attention of Franz Blei, and he introduced Walser to the Art Nouveau people around the magazine Die Insel, including Frank Wedekind, Max Dauthendey and Otto Julius Bierbaum. Numerous short stories and poems by Walser appeared in Die Insel.  Until 1905, Walser lived mainly in Zurich, though he often changed lodgings and also lived for a time in Thun, Solothurn, Winterthur and Munich. In 1903, he fulfilled his military service obligation and, beginning that summer, was the "aide" of an engineer and inventor in Wadenswil near Zurich. This episode became the basis of his 1908 novel Der Gehulfe (The Assistant). In 1904, his first book, Fritz Kochers Aufsatze, appeared in the Insel Verlag.  At the end of 1905 he attended a course in order to become a servant at the castle of Dambrau in Upper Silesia. The theme of serving would characterize his work in the following years, especially in the novel Jakob von Gunten (1909). In 1905, he went to live in Berlin, where his brother Karl Walser, who was working as a theater painter, introduced him to other figures in literature, publishing, and the theater. Occasionally, Walser worked as secretary for the artists' corporation Berliner Secession.  In Berlin, Walser wrote the novels Geschwister Tanner, Der Gehulfe and Jakob von Gunten. They were issued by the publishing house of Bruno Cassirer, where Christian Morgenstern worked as editor. Apart from the novels, he wrote many short stories, sketching popular bars from the point of view of a poor "flaneur" in a very playful and subjective language. There was a very positive echo to his writings. Robert Musil and Kurt Tucholsky, among others, stated their admiration for Walser's prose, and authors like Hermann Hesse and Franz Kafka counted him among their favorite writers.  Walser published numerous short stories in newspapers and magazines, many for instance in the Schaubuhne. They became his trademark. The larger part of his work is composed of short stories - literary sketches that elude a ready categorization. Selections of these short stories were published in the volumes Aufsatze (1913) and Geschichten (1914).

Q: What was he doing in 1898?
A: the influential critic Joseph Victor Widmann published a series of poems by Walser in the Bernese newspaper Der Bund.

Q: Was that his first published work?
A: In 1904, his first book, Fritz Kochers Aufsatze,

Q: How was that book received?
A: poor
Did he have any non-writing jobs during this time period?
In 1903, he fulfilled his military service
In 1903, he fulfilled his military service