The Tanners by Robert Walser Read Free Book Online Page A

mind, with its one determination to be helped only
     by yourself in every way possible, perhaps I’d have done more to offend than
     to
     genuinely convince you. What are you now doing with your days? Do tell me about
     them. Given all the worries I’ve endured on your behalf, I might now perhaps
     deserve your being somewhat more loquacious and communicative. As for me, what
     sort of a person am I? Someone to be wary of approaching unreservedly and with
     trust? Do you consider me a person to be feared? What is it about me which makes
     you wish to avoid me? Perhaps our circumstance? That I am the “big brother” and
     possibly know a bit more than you? Well then, know that I would be glad to be
     young again, and impractical, and naïve. And yet I am not quite so glad, dear
     brother, as a person should be. I am unhappy. Perhaps it’s too late for me to
     become happy. I’ve now reached an age when a man who still has no home of his
     own cannot think of those happy individuals who enjoy the bliss of seeing a
     young woman occupied with running their households without the most painful
     longing. To love a girl, what a lovely thing this is, brother. And it’s beyond
     my reach. —No, you really have no need to fear me, it is I who am seeking you
     out once more, who am writing to you, hoping to receive a warm friendly
     response. Perhaps you are now in fact richer than I—perhaps you have more hopes
     and far more reason to have them, have plans and prospects I myself cannot even
     dream of—the thing is: I don’t fully know you anymore. How could I after all
     these years of separation? Let me make your acquaintance once more, force
     yourself to write to me. Perhaps one day I shall enjoy the good fortune of
     seeing all my brothers happy; you, in any case, I should like to see content.
     What is Kaspar up to? Do you write to one another? What about his art? I’d love
     to have news of him as well. Farewell, brother. Perhaps we shall speak together
     again soon.

    Yours, Klaus.

    When a week had passed, Simon entered his employer’s office just as
     evening was arriving and made the following speech: “You have disappointed me.
     Don’t look so astonished, there’s nothing to be done about it, I shall quit your
     place of business this very day and ask that you pay me my wages. Please, let
     me
     finish. I know perfectly well what I want. During the past week I’ve come to
     realize that the entire book trade is nothing less than ghastly if it must
     entail standing at one’s desk from early morning till late at night while out
     of
     doors the gentlest winter sun is gleaming, and forces one to scrunch one’s back,
     since the desk is far too small given my stature, writing like some accursed
     happenstance copyist and performing work unsuitable for a mind such as my own.
     I
     am capable of performing quite different tasks, esteemed sir, than the ones
     entrusted to me here. I’d expected to be able to sell books in your shop, wait
     on elegant individuals, bow and bid adieu to the customers when they’re ready
     to
     depart. What’s more, I’d imagined I might be allowed to peer into the mysterious
     universe of the book trade and glimpse the world’s features in the visage and
     operation of your enterprise. But I experienced nothing of the sort. Do you
     imagine my young years in such a sorry state that I need to crumple up and
     suffocate in a lousy bookshop? You are equally mistaken if you suppose, for
     example, that a young man’s back exists in order to be hunched. Why didn’t you
     allocate for my use a good proper desk so I could comfortably sit or stand? Are
     not splendid American-sized desks available for purchase? If one
     wishes to have an employee, I believe, one should know how to accommodate him.
     This is a knack which, apparently, you don’t have. Lord knows, all sorts of
     things are demanded of a young beginner: industry, loyalty, punctuality, tact,
     sobriety, modesty,