“…a good-humoured, sweet Beckett, Walser is a truly wonderful, heartbreaking writer.” —Susan Sontag

An elegant collection, with gorgeous full-color art reproductions, Looking at Pictures presents a little-known aspect of the eccentric Swiss writer’s genius. Somewhere between short-story and criticism, these essays consider Van Gogh, Manet, Rembrandt, Cranach, Watteau, Fragonard, Bruegel, and his own brother Karl, as well as the character of the artist and of the dilettante and the differences between painters and poets. Each piece is marked by Walser’s unique eye, his delicate sensitivity, and his very particular sensibilities—and all are touched by his magic screwball wit.