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.'
1913-1929
In 1913, Walser returned to Switzerland. He lived for a short time with his sister Lisa in the mental home in Bellelay, where she worked as a teacher. There, he got to know Lisa Mermet, a washer-woman with whom he developed a close friendship. After a short stay with his father in Biel, he went to live in a mansard in the Biel hotel Blaues Kreuz. In 1914, his father died.  In Biel, Walser wrote a number of shorter stories that appeared in newspapers and magazines in Germany and Switzerland and selections of which were published in Der Spaziergang (1917), Prosastucke (1917), Poetenleben (1918), Seeland (1919) and Die Rose (1925). Walser, who had always been an enthusiastic wanderer, began to take extended walks, often by night. In his stories from that period, texts written from the point of view of a wanderer walking through unfamiliar neighborhoods alternate with playful essays on writers and artists.  During World War I, Walser repeatedly had to go into military service. At the end of 1916, his brother Ernst died after a time of mental illness in the Waldau mental home. In 1919, Walser's brother Hermann, geography professor in Bern, committed suicide. Walser himself became isolated in that time, when there was almost no communication with Germany because of the war. Even though he worked hard, he could barely support himself as a freelance writer. At the beginning of 1921, he moved to Bern in order to work at the public record office. He often changed lodgings and lived a very solitary life.  During his time in Bern, Walser's style became more radical. In a more and more condensed form, he wrote "micrograms" ("Mikrogramme"), called thus because of his minuscule pencil hand that is very difficult to decipher. He wrote poems, prose, dramolets and novels, including The Robber (Der Rauber). In these texts, his playful, subjective style moved toward a higher abstraction. Many texts of that time work on multiple levels - they can be read as naive-playful Feuilleton or as highly complex montages full of allusions. Walser absorbed influences from serious literature as well as from formula fiction and retold, for example, the plot of a pulp novel in a way that the original (the title of which he never revealed) was unrecognizable. Much of his work was written during these very productive years in Bern.

Q: Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
A: In Biel, Walser wrote a number of shorter stories that appeared in newspapers and magazines in Germany and Switzerland

Q: When was his first article published?
A: selections of which were published in Der Spaziergang (1917),

Q: Did his writing cause controversy?
A: During his time in Bern, Walser's style became more radical.

Q: what was published during this time?
A: he wrote "micrograms" ("Mikrogramme"), called thus because of his minuscule pencil hand that is very difficult to decipher.
was it re writeen in better font?
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