Jakob von Gunten. Ein Tagebuch is a novel by Swiss writer Robert Walser, first published in German in 1909. Introduction. Jakob von Gunten is a first-person account told by its titular protagonist, a young man of noble background who runs away from home and decides to spend the rest of his life serving others. To this end, he enrolls at the Benjamenta Institute, a school for servants. Walser based the novel on his own experiences: upon arriving in Berlin in 1905 he attended a school for servants, and served as a butler the following winter at the castle of Dambrau in Upper Silesia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_von_Gunten