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The Wanderer as Soldier: Robert Walser's Der Spaziergang, Switzerland in World War I, and Digression as Occupation

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The Wanderer as Soldier: Robert Walser's Der Spaziergang, Switzerland in World War I, and Digression as Occupation. / Kagen, Melissa.
In: German Quarterly, Vol. 89, No. 1, 23.02.2016, p. 36–50.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

HarvardHarvard

Kagen, M 2016, 'The Wanderer as Soldier: Robert Walser's Der Spaziergang, Switzerland in World War I, and Digression as Occupation', German Quarterly, vol. 89, no. 1, pp. 36–50. https://doi.org/10.1111/gequ.10254

APA

Kagen, M. (2016). The Wanderer as Soldier: Robert Walser's Der Spaziergang, Switzerland in World War I, and Digression as Occupation. German Quarterly, 89(1), 36–50. https://doi.org/10.1111/gequ.10254

CBE

Kagen M. 2016. The Wanderer as Soldier: Robert Walser's Der Spaziergang, Switzerland in World War I, and Digression as Occupation. German Quarterly. 89(1):36–50. https://doi.org/10.1111/gequ.10254

MLA

Kagen, Melissa. "The Wanderer as Soldier: Robert Walser's Der Spaziergang, Switzerland in World War I, and Digression as Occupation". German Quarterly. 2016, 89(1). 36–50. https://doi.org/10.1111/gequ.10254

VancouverVancouver

Kagen M. The Wanderer as Soldier: Robert Walser's Der Spaziergang, Switzerland in World War I, and Digression as Occupation. German Quarterly. 2016 Feb 23;89(1):36–50. doi: 10.1111/gequ.10254

Author

Kagen, Melissa. / The Wanderer as Soldier : Robert Walser's Der Spaziergang, Switzerland in World War I, and Digression as Occupation. In: German Quarterly. 2016 ; Vol. 89, No. 1. pp. 36–50.

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Wanderer as Soldier

T2 - Robert Walser's Der Spaziergang, Switzerland in World War I, and Digression as Occupation

AU - Kagen, Melissa

PY - 2016/2/23

Y1 - 2016/2/23

N2 - This paper reads the concept of walking in Robert Walser's Der Spaziergang as an aggressive, militant act, analogous to the Swiss armies concurrently marching through the country. Written in Switzerland during World War I, by an author actively serving in the Swiss military, Der Spaziergang is not only pervaded with the wartime allusions that one would expect, but also reimagines everyday activities that take up space as acts of belligerent aggression. First I trace how Walser's narrator anxiously performs his usefulness through walking and show how this conception of usefulness is tied to military activities in which Walser participated. Then I illustrate how this mentality is reflected by the narrator's verbal aggression. Using de Certeau's comparison of the speech act to the act of walking, I argue that the narrator speaks to take up page space in the same way he (and the Swiss military) walk to control physical space.

AB - This paper reads the concept of walking in Robert Walser's Der Spaziergang as an aggressive, militant act, analogous to the Swiss armies concurrently marching through the country. Written in Switzerland during World War I, by an author actively serving in the Swiss military, Der Spaziergang is not only pervaded with the wartime allusions that one would expect, but also reimagines everyday activities that take up space as acts of belligerent aggression. First I trace how Walser's narrator anxiously performs his usefulness through walking and show how this conception of usefulness is tied to military activities in which Walser participated. Then I illustrate how this mentality is reflected by the narrator's verbal aggression. Using de Certeau's comparison of the speech act to the act of walking, I argue that the narrator speaks to take up page space in the same way he (and the Swiss military) walk to control physical space.

KW - Walking

KW - World War I

KW - Robert Walser

U2 - 10.1111/gequ.10254

DO - 10.1111/gequ.10254

M3 - Article

VL - 89

SP - 36

EP - 50

JO - German Quarterly

JF - German Quarterly

SN - 0016-8831

IS - 1

ER -