Today it is less to do with the Walser dialect, which, like many dialects, is fading.
The 40, 000-odd population of the traditional Walser settlements includes many non-Walser, especially in the town of Davos.
In a parody of smallness, even the tiny principality of Liechtenstein has its very own Walser enclave.
Mr Walser says his book is merely a satire about the abuse of power in the literary world.
That row, still rumbling, coincided with a no less ferocious one over Martin Walser, one of Germany's most distinguished authors.
They live in a scattering of villages in Switzerland, Austria and northern Italy, and some still speak the Walser German dialect.
Most traditional Walser houses are of the sturdy farmhouse type, built out of wood, stone or plaster in styles particular to each valley.
The critic in many ways resembles Marcel Reich-Ranicki, a Holocaust survivor who for many years hosted a television programme where some of Mr Walser's books have been rubbished.
Regulars here include The Derailers, an upbeat country band guaranteed to crack a grin on the dourest face, and Don Walser, an icon of country yodelling (yes, yodelling).
Walser stresses that the electoral process has been flawed.
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With the 20th-century boom in winter sports, the unloved blankets of snow that stifled the Walser each winter suddenly became white gold, and villages such as Davos, Klosters and Lech grew into famous ski resorts.
This year, for instance, an obscure DJ from Lichtenstein, Al Walser, is nominated for best dance recording next to heavyweights such as Avicii and Skrillex, after he made lobbying efforts on a private website for Academy members.
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