The ruffian world

"Ich werde als alter Mann junge, selbstbewußte, schlecht erzogene Grobiane bedienen müssen, oder ich werde betteln, oder ich werde zugrunde gehen." – Robert Walser, in Jakob von Gunten, Ein Tagebuch ... "As an old man I shall have to serve young and confident and badly-educated ruffians, or I shall be a beggar, or I shall perish." (Christopher Middleton's translation).

Walser's body was found in the snow on Christmas Day 1956, the year after his book Der Spaziergang had been translated into English by Middleton. Walser had been reported missing from a nearby asylum; he was 78 years old.