Der Gehülfe

A young man named Joseph Marti arrives to take a subordinate post and moves into his employer's house, working in a modest basement office and lodging in an upper tower room. He negotiates awkward encounters with an exacting, proud employer, a cool and ironic mistress of the house, and domestic staff, while observing small domestic rituals, breakfasts, drawing-room visits and social games. The narrative traces his quiet interior life and practical adjustments, attending to moments of embarrassment, soft rebellions of thought, and the contrast between private sensibility and public expectation, with recurring attention to everyday absurdities and the mechanics of dependence.