Robert Walser: "A Biedermeier Story"
Excluding the exceptional "The Walk," Walser's stories in this collection are just a few pages long. "A Biedermeier Story" is less than two pages. The amazing thing is how much he slips into less than two pages (typically with a salute or nod to the Absurd). The ending: The maid, true, though this emphasis is only incidental, had a habit of eating Schabziger , as they call it, a variety of herb cheese. More and more difficult did it become for him to kiss her on the lips. He once took the risk of indicating disapproval thereof; she begrudged him this. With a nobly casual air as befitted his rank as a war lord, General Gorchakov, who only comes into this sketch of mine for local color, commanded his armies. Once the housemaid had performed her tasks, instead of going out for a walk, which certainly would have done her no harm, she went to her room, sat down at the table, and started to write. If it w...