“I tronchi nodosi parlavano una lingua primordiale”: gli alberi nei testi di Robert Walser

The essay examines the relationship between trees and the human in the work of the Swiss-German author Robert Walser. Starting from the early poems and short stories to the late microscripts (Mikrogramme), trees are anthropomorphized: not only can they think, feel and in some cases speak, but they do suffer too and feel empathy with human beings. In the Jahrhundertwende Walser's ecocentrical concern anticipates the Naturlyrik of Erika Burkart, one of the most distinguished poets of contemporary Swiss-German literature, and also relevant issues of the German ecological movements which rose in the 70s and in the 80s.