“By recollecting his time with Walser, Seelig seems to have felt as much responsibility to Walser’s legacy as the writer himself did not. The friendship deepens over nineteen years, and the visits acquire the ceremony of tradition: always for Walser’s birthday and Christmas. But Seelig’s devotion cannot displace the tension crouching in their relationship. Eventually Seelig became Walser’s official guardian, and he maintains an air of paternal concern and curiousness that curdles their power dynamic. The two men are not quite companions; at times they seem to be using each other for their own ends, Seelig for the book, Walser for the chaperon.”