{"product_id":"the-microscripts-9780811218801","title":"The Microscripts","description":"\u003cp\u003eW. G. Sebald called Robert Walser a clairvoyant of the small  and nowhere is the phrase more apt than in his microscripts. Robert Walser wrote many of his manuscripts in a highly enigmatic  shrunken-down form. These narrow strips of paper (many of them written during his hospitalization in the Waldau sanatorium) covered with tiny ant-like markings only a millimeter or two high  came to light only after the authors death in 1956. At first considered a secret code  the microscripts were eventually discovered to be a radically miniaturized form of a German script: a whole story could fit on the back of a business card.  Selected from the six-volume German transcriptions from the original microscripts  these 25 short pieces are gathered in this gorgeously illustrated co-publication with the Christine Burgin Gallery. Each microscript is reproduced in full color in its original form: the detached cover of a trashy crime novel  a disappointing letter  a receipt of payment. Sometimes Walser used the pages of small tear-off calendars (but only after cutting them lengthwise and filling up each half with text). Schnapps  rotten husbands  small town life  the radio  pigs (and how none of us can deny being one)  jealousy  Van Gogh and marriage proposals are some of Walsers subjects. These texts take strength from Walsers motto: To be small and to stay small. 65 full-color illustrations\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647216181301,"sku":"ByrdShop_0811218805","price":202.05,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780811218801.jpg?v=1781689859","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-microscripts-9780811218801","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}