Swiss literature
Encyclopedia
There is no such thing as a Swiss
national vernacular literature
, as there is no dominant national language. The four main languages of French, Italian, German and Romansch form the four branches which make up a literature of Switzerland. As the original Swiss Confederation, from its foundation in 1291 till 1798 comprised only a few French-speaking districts in Fibourg, and so the German language dominated. During that period the Swiss vernacular literature is in German, though in the 18th century French became the fashionable language in Bern and elsewhere. Geneva
and Lausanne
in the 18th century, with their respective brilliant societies, weren't yet Swiss, with Geneva an ally and Vaud a subject land. The older German branch is by far the more significant, while the French branch does not really begin as Swiss writing until after 1815, when the French-speaking regions took full rank as Swiss cantons. The Italian and Romansch-Ladin branches are less significant.
Like the earlier charters of liberties, the original League of 1291 is drawn up in Latin. Later alliances among the cantons, as well as documents concerning the whole Confederation; the Parsons Ordinance of 1370, the Sempach Ordinance of 1393, the Compact of Stans (1481) and all the Recesses of the Diets, are compiled in German. Political documents are not necessarily literature, but these pre-Reformation alliances rested on popular consent, and were expressed in vernacular German rather than in clerkly Latin.
then (as now) was the chief literary centre of the Confederation. The two Manesses (father and son) collected many of their songs in a manuscript that has happily come down to us and is preserved in Paris. The most prominent was Master John Hadlaub, who flourished in the second half of the 13th and the first quarter of the 14th centuries. Next we have a long series of war songs, celebrating the victories of the Swiss. One of the earliest and most famous of these was composed by Hans Halbsuter of Lucerne
to commemorate the battle of Sempach
(1386), not far from his native town. There are other similar songs for the victory of Näfels
(1388) and those of the battle of Grandson
and battle of Morat
(both 1476) in the Burgundian War. In the 14th century the Dominican friar Ulrich Boner
of Bern versified many old fables.
More important are the historical chronicles. In the 14th century we have Christian Kuchlmaster's continuation of the annals of the famous monastery of St Gall, in the early 15th century the rhymed chronicle of the war between the Appenzellers and the abbot of St Gall, and rather later in the same century the chronicles of Conrad Justinger
of Bern and Hans Fründ (d. 1469) of Lucerne, besides the fantastical chronicle of Strattligen and a scarcely less fanciful poem on the supposed Scandinavian descent of the men of Schwyz and of Ober Hasle, both by Eulogius Kiburger (d. 1506) of Bern.
In the 15th century, too, we have the White Book of Sarnen and the first William Tell
song, which gave rise to the well-known legend, as well as the rather later play named the Urnerspiel dealing with the same subject. The Burgundian War witnessed a great outburst of historical ardour in the shape of chronicles written by Diebold Schilling (d. 1486) of Bern, by Melchior Russ
(d. 1499), Diebold Schilling the Younger
(d. between 1516 and 1523) and Petermann Etterlin
(d. 1509), all three of Lucerne as well as by Gerold Edlibach (d. 1530) of Zürich, and by Johnanes Lenz (d. 1541) of Brugg
. In the vernacular, too, are the earliest descriptions of the Confederation, those by Albert von Bonstetten of Einsiedeln (1479) and by Conrad Turst of Zürich (1496), to whom also we owe the first map of the country (1495–1497).
The Swiss humanist
s wrote in Latin, as did also the Swiss Reformers, at any rate for the most part, though the Zürich Bible
of 1531 is an exception. Nicholas Manuel (1484–1530), a many-sided Bernese, composed satirical poems in German against the pope, while Valerius Anshelm
(d. 1540), also of Bern, wrote one of the best Swiss chronicles. Aegidius Tschudi
of Glarus
, despite great literary activity, published but a single German work in his lifetime, the Uralt warhafflig Alpisch Rhaetia sam pt dem Tract der anderen Alpgebirgen (1538) besides his map of Switzerland (same date). Sebastian Munster
, who was a Swiss by adoption, published (1544) his Cosmographia in German, the work being translated into Latin in 1550. But the many-sided Conrad Gesner, a born Swiss, wrote all his works in Latin, German translations appearing only at a later date.
The first important original product in German was the remarkable and elaborate history and description of Switzerland, issued in 1548 at Zürich by Johannes Stumpf of that town. But Josias Simler, who was in a way his continuator
, wrote all his works, theological and geographical, in Latin. Matthew Merian engraved many plates, which were issued in a series of volumes (1642–1688) under the general title of Topographia, the earliest volume describing Switzerland, while all had a text in German by an Austrian, Martin Zeiller. Very characteristic of the age are the autobiography of the Valais
scholar Thomas Platter
(1499–1582) and the diary of his still more distinguished son Felix
(1536–1614), both written in German, though not published till long after.
Gradually Swiss historical writers gave up the use of Latin for their native tongue, so Michael Stettler (1580–1642) of Bern, Franz Haffner (1609–1671) of Soleure, and quite a number of Grisons authors (though the earliest in date, Ulrich Campell of Süs
, c. 1509-c. 1582, still clung to Latin), such as Bartholomew Anhorn (1566 1640) and his son of the same name (1616–1670) and Johannes Guler (1562–1637). Fortunatus Sprecher (1585–1647) preferred to write his Pallas raetica in Latin, as did Fortunatus Juvalta (1567–1654) in the case of his autobiography. The autobiography of Hans Ardser of Davos (1557-post 1614) and the amusing dialogue between the Niesen and the Stockhorn by Hans Rudolf Rebmann (1566–1605) are both in German. J. B. Plantin (1625–1697) wrote his description of Switzerland in Latin, Helvetia nova et antiqua (1656), but J. J. Wagner's (1641–1695) guide to Switzerland is in German, despite its titles Inder memorabilium Helvetiae (1684) and Mercurius Helveticus (1688), though he issued his scientific description of his native land in Latin, Historia naturalis Helvetiae curiosa (1680).
(1707–1783), and three members of the Bernoulli family refugees from Antwerp, the brothers Jakob (1654–1705) and Johann
(1667–1748), and the latter's son Daniel
(1700–1782). But its chief literary glory was Isaac Iselin (1728–1783), one of the founders of the Helvetic Society
(1760) and of the Economical Society (1777), and author of a treatise on the philosophy of history entitled Geschichte dee Menschheit (1764), and of another on ideal politics, Philosophische und patriotische Trume eines Menschenfreundes (1755), while many of his economical tracts appeared (1776–1782) under the general title of Ephemeriden der Menschheit. At Bern Albrecht von Haller, though especially distinguished as a scientific writer, yet by his poem Die Alpen (1732) and his travels in his native country did much to excite and stimulate the love of mountain scenery. Another Bernese, Charles Victor de Bonstetten
, is a type of the gallicized Liberal Bernese patrician, while Beat Ludwig von Muralt (1665–1749) analysed the racial characteristics of other nations for the instruction of his fellow-countrymen, his Lettres sur les anglais et les francais (1725) being his principal work. Samuel Wyttenbach (1748–1830) devoted himself to making known the beauties of his country to its natives, travelling much and writing much about his travels. Gottlieb Sigmund Gruner
wrote the Eisgebirge des Schweizerlandes (1760), a work describing the ice-clad mountains of Switzerland, though it is rather a useftil compilation than an original contribution to knowledge, but a decided advance on his fellow Bernese, Johann Georg Altmanns (1697–1758) Versuch einer historischen und physischen Beschreibung dee helvetischen Eisgebirge (1751). In another department of knowledge a son of Albrecht von Haller
, Gottlieb Emmantiel von Haller (1735–1786), compiled a most useful bibliography of writings relating to Swiss history, the Bibliothek dee Schweizergeschichte (6 vols, 1784–1787), that is still indispensable to the historical student.
But in the 18th century Zürich was undoubtedly the intellectual and literary capital of German-speaking Switzerland, and gained the title of Athens on the Limmat. One of its earliest and most famous celebrities was JJ Scheuchzer
, who travelled much in Switzerland, and wrote much (his travels are described in Latin) as to its natural curiosities, being himself an FRS, and closely associated with Newton and the other English scientific men of the day. But in the purely literary domain the names of JJ Bodmer
and of his friend Johann Jakob Breitinger
(1701–1776), are the most prominent. By their united exertions the antiquated traditions of German literature were broken down to a large extent, while great praise was bestowed on English poets, Shakespeare, Milton
and others. Their views were violently opposed by Gottsched
, the leader of the Saxon school, and the controversy that arose forms part of the history of German literature. In 1721–1723 they published jointly the Discourse der Mater, a periodical which spread their views, while more elaborate and systematic expositions of their critical doctrine as to poetry are Bodmer's Kritische Abhandlung von dem Wunderbaren in der Poesie (1740), and Breitinger's Critische Dichtkunst (also in 1740). Their untiring efforts helped to prepare the way for the later outburst of German literature begun by Klopstock, Wieland
and Lessing
. Another famous Zürich writer was Solomon Gesner, the pastoral poet, and yet another was JK Lavater
, now best remembered as a supporter of the view that the face presents a perfect indication of character and that physiognomy
may therefore he treated as a science. Other well-known Zürich names are those of JH Pestalozzi
(1746–1827), the educationalist, of Johann Caspar Hirzel (1725–1803), another of the founders of the Helvetic Society, and author of Die Wirthschaft eines philosophischen Bauers (1761), and of Johann Georg Sulzer
(1720–1779), whose chief work is one on the laws of art or aesthetics, entitled Allgemeine Theorie der schönen Kunste (1771–1774).
Outside the three towns named above there were several writers of German-speaking Switzerland who must be mentioned. One of the best known even now is Johann Georg Zimmermann (1728–1795), whose Betrachtungen fiber die Einsamkeit (1756-1784/1785) profoundly impressed his contemporaries. He, like the fabulist AE Erhlich, was born at Brugg. Johannes von Müller
of Schaffhausen
, was the first who attempted to write (1780) a detailed history of Switzerland, which, though inspired rather by his love of freedom than by any deep research, was very characteristic of his times. JG Ebel
was a Swiss by adoption only, but deserves mention as the author of the first detailed guidebook to the country (1793), which held its ground till the days of Murray
and Baedeker
. A later writer, Heinrich Zschokke
(1771–1848), also a Swiss by adoption only, produced (1822) a history of Switzerland written for the people, which had a great vogue.
from the first of his numerous tales of peasant life in the Emmenthal, Gottfried Keller
, perhaps the most genuinely Swiss poet and novelist of the century, and Conrad Ferdinand Meyer
, also a poet and novelist, but of more cosmopolitan leanings and tastes. Jakob Burckhardt was a famous writer on Italian art, while Jakob Frey
(1824–1875) continued the work of Bitzius by his tales of Swiss peasant life. Ulrich Hegner (1759–1840) of Winterthur wrote novels full of local colour, as is also the case with David Hess (painter)
(1770–1843) in his description of a cure at Baden in Aargau and various tales. Johann Martin Usteri
(1763–1827) of Zürich was one of the earliest to write poems in his native dialect.
Later we have a number of Zürich poets or versifiers, some of whose writings have become very well known. Such were Heinrich Leuthold
(1827–1879), August Corrodi (1826–1885) and Leonhard Widmer (1808–1868), the author of Trittst im Morgenrot daher (1842) (which, set to music by the Cistercian monk Alberic Zwyssig (1808–1854), is now known as the Swiss Psalm
), of Es lebt in jeder Schweizerbrust (1842), and Wo Berge sich erheben (1844). To the Bernese poet, Johann Rudolf Wyss
(1782–1830), whose father, Johann David Wyss
(1743–1818), was the author of the Swiss Family Robinson, we owe the Swiss national anthem, Rufst du mein Vaterland? and the song, Herz, mys Herz, warum so trurig?—while Johann Georg Krauer (1792–1845), of Lucerne, wrote the Rütlilied, Von ferne sei herzlich gegrüßet, and Gottfried Keller himself was responsible for O mein Heimatland. Gottlieb Jakob Kuhn (1775–1845) wrote many poems in the Bernese dialect about the Alps and their inhabitants. Less national in sentiment and more metaphysical are the lyrics of Dranmor, the pen-name of the Bernese Ferdinand Schmid (1823–1888).
Among the chief Swiss writers in the department of belles-lettres, novelists, poets, etc., may be mentioned Ernst Zahn
, Meinrad Lienert
, Arnold Ott, Carl Spitteler
, Fritz Marti, Walther Siegfried, Adolf Frey
, Hermann Hesse
, Jakob Christoph Heer, Joseph Victor Widmann, and Gottfried Strasser.
Isabella Kaiser wrote poems and stories. Johanna Spyri
is famous for her children's stories including Heidi
, a fictional character living in the Swiss Alps
.
, Max Frisch
, Robert Walser
, Peter Bichsel
, Erika Burkart
, Jürg Federspiel
, Thomas Hürlimann
, Zoe Jenny
, Christian Kracht
, Jürg Laederach
, Hugo Loetscher
, Gerhard Meier, Adolf Muschg
, Paul Nizon
, Peter Stamm
, Martin Suter
, Peter Weber, Markus Werner
and Urs Widmer.
Also: A. Bahl, J. L. Brandstetter, W. Burckhardt, K. Dandliker, R. Durrer, H. Escher, A. Heusler, R. Hoppeler, T. von Liebenau, W. Merz, G Meyer von Knonau, W. F. von Münen, W. Oechsli, J. R. Rahn, L. R. von Salis, P. Schweizer, J. Schollenberger, J. Strickler, R. Thommen, and H. Wartmann.
in 1397, the last scion of his ancient house, and left some amatory poems behind him, while one is extant only in a translation by Chaucer, who makes flattering mention of him. In the 15th and 16th centuries many miracle plays in the local Romance dialect were known. The Chronique des chanoines de Neuchâtel was formerly supposed to date from the 15th century, but is now considered by many to be a forgery. More individual and characteristic are the romance about Charlemagne, entitled Fierabras le Giant (1478), by Jean Bagnyon, and the poem named Congé pris du siècle siculier (1480), by Jacques de Bugnin. But the first really prominent personage in this department of literature is François Bonivard (d. 1570) who wrote the Chroniques de Geuve that extend down to 1530 and were continued to 1562 by Michel Roset (d. 1613). The first Protestant French translation of the Bible was issued at Neuchâtel in 1535, its principal authors being Pierre Robert Olivétan
and Pierre de Vingle. As a sort of pendant to the Protestant Bonivard
, we have the nun Jeanne de Jussie
who in her Levain du Calvinisme (c. 1545) recounts the establishment of Calvinism
at Geneva, while the noble Pierre de Pierrefleur in his Mémoires does the same in a lighter and less lachrymose style for Orbe, his native district. Naturally the Reformers of the Suisse Romande used French much in their theological and polemical works. Of more general interest are the writings of two Frenchmen who were driven by religious persecutions to end their lives at Geneva—the memoirs and poems of Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigné (1552–1630), and the historical writings and poems of Simon Goulart
(1543–1628). The great deliverance of Geneva from the duke of Savoy, known as the Escalade (1602), was described in prose by David Piaget (1580–1644) in his Histoire de l'escalade and celebrated in verse by Samuel Chappuzeau
(1625–1701)--in his Genève délivrée, though the narratives of Goulart and that (published officially by the government) attributed to Jean Sarasin (1574–1632), the author of the Citadin de Genève (1606), are more laconic and more striking. JB Plantin (1625–1697), of Vaud
, wrote his topography of Switzerland, Helvetia antiqua et nova (1656), in Latin, but his Abrégé de l'histoire générale de la Suisse (1666) in French, while Georges de Montmollin (1628–1703) of Neuchâtel wrote, besides various works as to local history, Mémoires of his times which have a certain historical value.
But the 17th century in the Suisse Romande pales before the glories of the 18th century, which forms its golden age, and was, in a large degree due to the influence of French refugees who, with their families, flocked thither after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) and settled down there for the rest of their lives. Such was Louis Bourguet
(1678–1743), who, besides his geological works, founded two periodicals which in different ways did much to stimulate the intellectual life of the Suisse Romande; these were the Bibliothèque italique (1729–1734), which aimed at making more widely known the results of Italian research, and the Mercure suisse which, first issued in 1732, lasted till 1784, under different names (rom 1738 onwards the literary section bore the name of Journée helvetique), and secured contributions from most of the leading writers of the Suisse Romande of the day, such as Firmin Abauzit (1679–1767), Abraham Ruchat (1678–1750), and others. Ruchat is now best remembered as the author (under the pen-name of Gottlieb Kypseler) of an excellent guide-book to Switzerland, the Deuces de la Suisse, which first appeared in 1714 and passed through many editions, the latest being issued in 1778; but his Histoire de la Reformation de la Suisse (1727–1728) was much esteemed in his day. Another Vaudois historian and antiquary was Charles Guillaume Loys de Bochat (1695–1754) whose Mémoires critiques sur divers points de l'ancienne histoire de la Suisse (1747–1749) still form a treasure-house for archaeologists. Yet a third Lausanne man was JP de Crousaz (1663–1750), who introduced there the philosophy of Descartes
, and was, by his books, the master of Gibbon
in logic. A French refugee at Lausanne, Jean Barbeyrac
(1674–1744), published in 1712 the Droit de la nature et des gens, a translation of Puffendorf's treatise, with a striking preface of his own. A precursor of Montesquieu and of Rousseau was Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui
(1694–1750) in his Principes du droit naturel et politique (1747 and 1751, issued together in 1763), while the celebrated international lawyer, Emeric de Vattel (1714 1767), was a native of Neuchâtel by birth and descent, and, though he spent most of his life at foreign courts, died at Neuchâtel, not so very long after the publication of his famous Droit des gens (1758).
The year 1754 is a great date in the literary history of the Suisse Romande, for in that year Rousseau
came back for good to Geneva, and Voltaire
established himself at Ferney, while in 1753 Gibbon had begun his first residence (which lasted till 1758) in Lausanne. The earlier writers mentioned above had then nearly all disappeared, and a more brilliant set took their place. But Rousseau, though a Genevese, belongs rather to European than to Swiss literature, as do later Jacques Necker
and his daughter, Madame de Staël, Benjamin Constant
and Sismondi
. Madame de Charrière
(1740–1805) was Dutch by birth, but married to a native of Neuchâtel. Among her earlier works were two novels, Le Man sentimental (1783), and the Lettres de Mistress Henley (1784), both of which had a great vogue in their day and paint, from her own experience, the sad results of an unsuitable marriage. More celebrated by reason of the liveliness and acuteness with which the manners of a little provincial town are described are her Lettres de Lausanne (1871), and her Lettres neuchâteloises (1784), particularly the second part of a story of the former, entitled Caliste, and published in 1788, for, according to Sainte-Beuve
, it was a sort of foreshadowing of the more famous Coninne (1807) of Madame de Staël.
PH Mallet
, a Genevese, who held a chair at Copenhagen
, devoted himself to making known to the educated world the history and antiquities of Scandinavia. But more characteristic of Geneva were the efforts of a group of men to spread the cause of natural science by personal investigations in the higher Alps, then but little known. Possibly their interest in such matters had been stimulated by the scientific and psychological speculations of Charles Bonnet
. The chief of this school was HB de Saussure
one of the founders of geology
and meteorology
, while his Alpine ascents (undertaken in the cause of science) opened a new world even to non-scientific travellers. The brothers De Luc devoted themselves mainly to questions of physics in the Alps, while Sénebier, the biographer of Saussure, was more known as a physiologist than as a physicist, though he wrote on many branches of natural science, which in those days was not yet highly specialized. On the other hand Marc Théodore Bourrit
, the contemporary of these three men, was rather a curious and inquisitive traveller than a scientific investigator, and charms us even now by his genial simplicity as contrasted with the austerity and gravity of the three writers we have mentioned. Philippe Cyriaque Bridel (1757–1845), best known as the doyen Bridel, was the earliest of the Vaudois poets by virtue of his Poèsies helvètiennes (1782). But he is better known as the painter of the scenery and people among whom he worked as pastor at Basel, at Château d'Oex, and at Montreux successively. His Course de Bâle à Bienne par les vallées du Jura appeared in 1802, while descriptions of his travels, as well as of the manners of the natives, local history, and in short everything that could stimulate national sentiment, were issued in a series of periodicals from 1783 to 1831 under the successive titles of Etrennes helvétiennes and of Conservateur suisse. His patriotic aim met with great success, while his impressions of his mountain wanderings are fresh and unspoilt by any straining after effect. He was the first writer of the Suisse Romande to undertake such wanderings, so that, with obvious differences, he may be regarded not merely as the forerunner, but as the inspirer and model of later Vaudois travellers and climbers in the Alps
, such as Rodolphe Töpffer
, of Eugène Rambert
, and of the last-named's most brilliant pupil, Émile Javelle (1844–1883), whose articles were collected in 1886 by the pious care of his friends under the title of Souvenirs d'un alpiniste.
As a poet Juste Olivier
surpassed Bridel. Nor can we wonder that with the advance of knowledge Bridel's history is found to be more picturesque than scientific. Two Vaudois, Charles Monnard
(1790–1865) and Louis Vulliemin (1797–1879) carried out their great scheme of translating (1837 1840) J von Müller's Swiss history with its continuation by Hottinger, and then completed it (1841–1851) down to 1815. This gigantic task did not, however, hinder the two friends from making many solid contributions to Swiss historical learning. Later in date were Alexandre Daguet (1816–1894) who wrote an excellent history of Switzerland, while Jean Joseph Hisely (1800–1866), Albert Rilliet (1809–1883), and Pierre Vaucher (1833–1898), all devoted much labour to studying the many problems offered by the early authentic history (from 1291 onwards) of the Swiss Confederation. A different type of history is the work of an honest but partisan writer, the Genevese Jules Henri Merle d'Aubign (1794–1872), entitled Histoire de la reformation au temps de Calvin (1835–1878). The Vaudois noble Frédéric Gingins-la-Sarra (1790–1863) represents yet another type of historian, devoting himself mainly to the medieval history of Vaud, but occasionally going beyond the numberless authentic documents brought to light by him, and trying to make them prove more than they can fairly be expected to tell us. Jean Antoine Petit-Senn
(1792–1870) was a thorough Genevese and a biting satirist, a pensive poet, the Genevese La Bruyère
, as he liked to be called, but was not fully appreciated till after his death, when his widely scattered writings were brought together. Alexandre Vinet
, the theologian, and HF Amiel
, the philosopher, in a fashion balance each other, and need only be mentioned here. Jean Jacques Porchat (1800–1864) was one of the most prominent among the minor poets of the region, very French owing to his long residence in Paris, and best remembered probably by his fables, first published in 1837 under the title of Glanures d'Esope (reissued in 1854 as Fables et paraboles), though in his day his stories for the young were much appreciated. Urbain Olivier
(1810–1888), a younger brother of the poet, wrote many tales of rural life in Vaud, while the Genevese novelist Victor Cherbuliez
(1829–1899) was perhaps the most brilliant of a brilliant family. Fribourg has produced the local novelist Pierre Sciobret (1833–1876) and the Bohemian poet Etienne Eggis (1830–1867), and Neuchâtel Auguste Bachelin (1830–1890) whose best novel was Jean Louis, a tale of which the scene is laid in the old-fashioned little village of St Blaise. Another Neuchâtel writer, Alice de Chambrier, the poetess, died young, as did the Genevese poet Louis Duchosal, both showing in their short lives more promise than performance. Madame de Gasparins (1813 1894) best tale is Horizons prochains (1857), a very vivid story of rural life in the Vaudois Jura, remarkable for the virile imagination of its descriptions.
Edouard Rod
the novelist, and Marc Monnier
, critic, poet, dramatist and novelist, are the most prominent figures in the recent literature of the Suisse Romande. Amongst lesser stars we may mention in the department of belles-lettres (novelists, poets or critics) Charles Du Bois-Melly, T. Combe (the pen name of Mlle Adele Huguenin), Samuel Cornut, Louis Favre
, Philippe Godet, Oscar Huguenin, Philippe Monnier
, Nolle Roger, Virgile Rossel, Paul Seippel and Gaspard Vallette. The chief literary organ of the Suisse Romande is the Bibliothèque universelle, which in 1816 took that title in lieu of Bibliothèque Britannique
(founded in 1796), and in 1861 added that of Revue suisse, which it then absorbed. Amongst historians the first place is due to one of the most learned men whom Switzerland has ever produced, and whose services to the history of the Valais were very great, and abbé Jean Gremaud (1823–1897) of Fribourg. The principal contemporary historians are Victor van Berchem, Francis de Crue, Camille Favre, Henri Fazy, B. de Mandrot, Berthold van Muyden and Edouard Rott. More recent authors include Charles Ferdinand Ramuz
(1878–1947), whose novels describe the lives of peasants and mountain dwellers, set in a harsh environment, the poets Blaise Cendrars
(born Frédéric Sauser, 1887–1961), Gustave Roud (1897–1976), Maurice Chappaz
(1916–2009) and Philippe Jaccottet
(* 1925) and the novelists Catherine Colomb (1892–1965), Monique Saint-Hélier (1895–1955), Alice Rivaz
(1901–1998) and Prix Goncourt
winner Jacques Chessex
(1934–2009).
Italian Switzerland is best known by its artists, while its literature is naturally subject to strong Italian influences, and not to any of a strictly Swiss nature. Stefano Franscini
(1796–1857) did much for his native land, especially in educational matters, while his chief published work (1835) was one that gave a general account of the canton. But this is not so thorough and good as a later book by Luigi Lavizzari (1814–1875), entitled Escursioni net cantone Ticino (1861), which is very complete from all points of view.
Angelo Barotho (d. 1893) and Emilio Motta represent the historical sciences, the latter contributing much to the Bolletlino della Svizzera Italiana (from 1879 onwards), which, though mainly historical, devotes much space to literary and historical matters relating to the canton. The art of novel writing does not flourish in Ticino. But it has produced a great number of poets such as Pietro Pen (1794–1869), who translated the Swiss national anthem into Italian, JB Buzzi (1825–1898), Giovanni Airoldi (died before 1900) and Carlo Cioccari (1829–1891) the two former were lyric poets, and the third a dramatist. Two younger singers are F. Chiesa and M. A. Nessi.
. The five largest languages in the Romansh family are Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter and Vallader. Puter and Vallader are sometimes considered one language: Ladin. Romansh was standardized in 1982. The unified language, called Rumantsch Grischun, is used by the federal government and the canton of Graubünden, where is it an official language
, for administrative purposes.
The oldest known written records of Romansh dating from the period before 1500 are:
The emergence of Romansh as a literary language is generally dated to the mid-16th century. The first poem in Ladin was one on the Musso war
, written in 1527 by Gian Travers (Johann von Travers, 1483–1563), though it was not published till 1865. The first book printed in it (at Poschiavo in 1552) was the translation of a German catechism
, and the next a translation of the New Testament, also at Poschiavo, but in 1560, both works by Jachiam Bifrun. Most of the works in both these dialects are translations of books of a religious or educational nature.
The principal writers in the Romonsch dialect, generally the less literary of the two, in the 19th century are Theodor von Castelberg (1748–1830), a poet and translator of poetry, and P. A. de Latour (about 1811) also a poet, while the best of all poets in this dialect was Anton Huonder, whose lyrics are considered remarkable. Alexander Balletta (1842–1887) wrote prose romances and sketches, while J. C. Muoth (Giacun Hasper Muoth, 1844–1906), himself a most typical and characteristic figure, wrote much in prose and verse as regards his native region.
In Ladin one of the chief figures was the poet Conradin von Flugi (1787–1874), who published volumes of poems in 1845 and 1861, but the poems, novels and translations of Gian Fadri Caderas (1830–1891) are placed above them. Other Ladin poets are Florin Valentin, O. P. Juvalta and S. Caratsch (d. 1892), while Peider Lansel
(1863–1943) represents a younger generation. Zaccaria Pallioppi (1820–1873) also wrote poems, but the excellent Ladin dictionary that he compiled was not published till 1895 by the care of his son.
Drama was represented by biblical plays, most notably the Passiuns sursilvanas (developed in 17th–18th century). From the 18th century, courtroom dramas based on criminal cases were added to the village repertoire. In the early 20th century, many villages would stage an annual vernacular comedy.
Following the First World War the Sutsilvan dialect developed a literature and the language achieved a measure of standardisation by the end of the Second World War.
From the 1940s onwards, Romansh writers consciously attempted to assimilate influences from international literary movements, as well as reflecting the situation of traditional Romansh culture as a disappearing way of life in a world of modernity and change. In 1946, a Romansh writers’ union was established by Artur Caflisch and Jon Guidon, known since 2004 as ULR (Union for Romansh Literature).
Jon Semadeni established the La Culissa theatrical touring company in 1944. His drama Il pövel cumada, which was first staged in 1946, is considered a landmark in Romansh drama. The company ceased touring in 1977.
Since 1990 an annual Romansh literary festival has been held.
Other writers include: Maurus Carnot (1846–1935), Giachen Michel Hay (1860–1920), Gian Fontana (1897–1935), Leza Uffer (1912–1982), Armon Planta (1917–1986), Gion Luregn Derungs, Gion Deplazes (born 1918), Cla Biert (1920–1981), Andri Peer (1921–1985), Martin Suter
, Tim Krohn
.
In 2007, the Swiss National Library
recorded a total of 11,410 new titles produced by Swiss publishers. Of those, 6,631 were in German
, 2,509 in French
, 361 in Italian
and 21 in Romansh; the rest being multilingual or in other languages. Taking all the languages combined, 1,983 new titles were in the field of literature proper. Other principal fields were musical publications (1,076 titles), the arts (1'019 titles), law (949 titles), religion (948 titles), languages (467 titles), technology (446 titles), geography (412 titles) and history (409 titles). 410 titles were translated from English, 200 from German and 157 from French. Books originating in 31 languages were translated into one or another of the national languages by Swiss publishers.
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
national vernacular literature
Vernacular literature
Vernacular literature is literature written in the vernacular—the speech of the "common people".In the European tradition, this effectively means literature not written in Latin...
, as there is no dominant national language. The four main languages of French, Italian, German and Romansch form the four branches which make up a literature of Switzerland. As the original Swiss Confederation, from its foundation in 1291 till 1798 comprised only a few French-speaking districts in Fibourg, and so the German language dominated. During that period the Swiss vernacular literature is in German, though in the 18th century French became the fashionable language in Bern and elsewhere. Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
and Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
in the 18th century, with their respective brilliant societies, weren't yet Swiss, with Geneva an ally and Vaud a subject land. The older German branch is by far the more significant, while the French branch does not really begin as Swiss writing until after 1815, when the French-speaking regions took full rank as Swiss cantons. The Italian and Romansch-Ladin branches are less significant.
Like the earlier charters of liberties, the original League of 1291 is drawn up in Latin. Later alliances among the cantons, as well as documents concerning the whole Confederation; the Parsons Ordinance of 1370, the Sempach Ordinance of 1393, the Compact of Stans (1481) and all the Recesses of the Diets, are compiled in German. Political documents are not necessarily literature, but these pre-Reformation alliances rested on popular consent, and were expressed in vernacular German rather than in clerkly Latin.
Emergence of vernacular literature
First in order of date are the Minnesingers, the number of whom in the districts that ultimately formed part of the medieval Swiss Confederation are said to have exceeded thirty. ZürichZürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
then (as now) was the chief literary centre of the Confederation. The two Manesses (father and son) collected many of their songs in a manuscript that has happily come down to us and is preserved in Paris. The most prominent was Master John Hadlaub, who flourished in the second half of the 13th and the first quarter of the 14th centuries. Next we have a long series of war songs, celebrating the victories of the Swiss. One of the earliest and most famous of these was composed by Hans Halbsuter of Lucerne
Lucerne
Lucerne is a city in north-central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of that country. Lucerne is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and the capital of the district of the same name. With a population of about 76,200 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and...
to commemorate the battle of Sempach
Battle of Sempach
An armistice was agreed upon on 12 October, followed by a peace agreement valid for one year, beginning on 14 January 1387.The battle was a severe blow to Austrian interests in the region, and allowed for the further growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy....
(1386), not far from his native town. There are other similar songs for the victory of Näfels
Battle of Näfels
The Battle of Näfels was fought on 9 April 1388 between Glarus with their allies, the Old Swiss Confederation, and the Habsburgs. It was a decisive Glarner victory despite being outnumbered sixteen to one.-History:...
(1388) and those of the battle of Grandson
Battle of Grandson
The Battle of Grandson, took place on 2 March 1476, was part of the Burgundian Wars, and resulted in a major defeat for Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.- Siege of Grandson, February 1476 :...
and battle of Morat
Battle of Morat
The Battle of Morat was a battle in the Burgundian Wars fought June 22, 1476 between Charles I, Duke of Burgundy and a Swiss army at Morat, about 30 kilometres from Bern.-Background:...
(both 1476) in the Burgundian War. In the 14th century the Dominican friar Ulrich Boner
Ulrich Boner
Ulrich Boner, or Bonerius, , was a German-speaking Swiss writer of fable.He was born in Bern, descended of an old Bernese family and, as far as can be ascertained, took clerical orders and became a monk; yet as it appears that he subsequently married, it is certain that he received the tonsure...
of Bern versified many old fables.
More important are the historical chronicles. In the 14th century we have Christian Kuchlmaster's continuation of the annals of the famous monastery of St Gall, in the early 15th century the rhymed chronicle of the war between the Appenzellers and the abbot of St Gall, and rather later in the same century the chronicles of Conrad Justinger
Conrad Justinger
Conrad Justinger was probably born in Strasbourg. Justinger, who had learned the trade of a chronicler in his home-town, appears to have moved to the city of Bern in the last quarter of the 14th century...
of Bern and Hans Fründ (d. 1469) of Lucerne, besides the fantastical chronicle of Strattligen and a scarcely less fanciful poem on the supposed Scandinavian descent of the men of Schwyz and of Ober Hasle, both by Eulogius Kiburger (d. 1506) of Bern.
In the 15th century, too, we have the White Book of Sarnen and the first William Tell
William Tell
William Tell is a folk hero of Switzerland. His legend is recorded in a late 15th century Swiss chronicle....
song, which gave rise to the well-known legend, as well as the rather later play named the Urnerspiel dealing with the same subject. The Burgundian War witnessed a great outburst of historical ardour in the shape of chronicles written by Diebold Schilling (d. 1486) of Bern, by Melchior Russ
Melchior Russ
Melchior Russ was born of an old noble family in Lucerne.In 1473, after having studied for at least two years in Basle, Russ left the University of Basle for the University of Pavia with the intention to study law....
(d. 1499), Diebold Schilling the Younger
Diebold Schilling the Younger
Diebold Schilling the Younger was the author of the "Luzerner Schilling", one of the Swiss illustrated chronicles, which he presented to the city council of Lucerne on 15 January 1513 . He was the nephew of Diebold Schilling the Elder of Berne...
(d. between 1516 and 1523) and Petermann Etterlin
Petermann Etterlin
Petermann Etterlin was born in Lucerne as the son of Egloff Etterlin, who served as chronicler of the city of Lucerne from 1427 to 1453. Although his parents had destined him for an ecclesiastical career, Etterlin never became a clergyman...
(d. 1509), all three of Lucerne as well as by Gerold Edlibach (d. 1530) of Zürich, and by Johnanes Lenz (d. 1541) of Brugg
Brugg
Brugg or Brügg may refer to the following places:* In Switzerland:** Brugg, Aargau, in the Canton of Aargau*** FC Brugg, a Swiss football club, from the town of Brugg in Canton Aargau...
. In the vernacular, too, are the earliest descriptions of the Confederation, those by Albert von Bonstetten of Einsiedeln (1479) and by Conrad Turst of Zürich (1496), to whom also we owe the first map of the country (1495–1497).
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
s wrote in Latin, as did also the Swiss Reformers, at any rate for the most part, though the Zürich Bible
Zürich Bible
The Zürich Bible is a Bible translation historically based on the translation by Huldrych Zwingli. Recent editions have the stated aim of maximal philological exactitude.-Froschau Bible:...
of 1531 is an exception. Nicholas Manuel (1484–1530), a many-sided Bernese, composed satirical poems in German against the pope, while Valerius Anshelm
Valerius Anshelm
Valerius Anshelm , born as Valerius Rüd , was a Swiss chronicler working in Bern.Anshelm was born in Rottweil, a city in Swabia that was allied with the Old Swiss Confederacy. His grandfather „Boley der Rüd genannt Anshelm“ had fought on the side of the Eidgenossen in the Burgundy Wars...
(d. 1540), also of Bern, wrote one of the best Swiss chronicles. Aegidius Tschudi
Aegidius Tschudi
Aegidius Tschudi was an eminent member of the Tschudi family, of Glarus, Switzerland....
of Glarus
Glarus
Glarus is the capital of the Canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Glarus municipality since 1 January 2011 incorporates the former municipalities of Ennenda, Netstal and Riedern....
, despite great literary activity, published but a single German work in his lifetime, the Uralt warhafflig Alpisch Rhaetia sam pt dem Tract der anderen Alpgebirgen (1538) besides his map of Switzerland (same date). Sebastian Munster
Sebastian Münster
Sebastian Münster , was a German cartographer, cosmographer, and a Hebrew scholar.- Life :Münster was born at Ingelheim near Mainz, the son of Andreas Munster. He completed his studies at the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen in 1518. His graduate adviser was Johannes Stöffler.He was appointed to...
, who was a Swiss by adoption, published (1544) his Cosmographia in German, the work being translated into Latin in 1550. But the many-sided Conrad Gesner, a born Swiss, wrote all his works in Latin, German translations appearing only at a later date.
The first important original product in German was the remarkable and elaborate history and description of Switzerland, issued in 1548 at Zürich by Johannes Stumpf of that town. But Josias Simler, who was in a way his continuator
Continuator
A continuator, in literature, is a writer who creates a new work based on someone else's prior text, such as a novel or novel fragment. The new work may complete the older work , or may try to serve as a sequel or prequel to the older work A continuator, in literature, is a writer who creates a new...
, wrote all his works, theological and geographical, in Latin. Matthew Merian engraved many plates, which were issued in a series of volumes (1642–1688) under the general title of Topographia, the earliest volume describing Switzerland, while all had a text in German by an Austrian, Martin Zeiller. Very characteristic of the age are the autobiography of the Valais
Valais
The Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
scholar Thomas Platter
Thomas Platter
Thomas Platter was a Swiss humanist scholar and writer.His sons Felix Platter and Thomas Platter the Younger both studied medicine, a thwarted ambition of Platter's own early life...
(1499–1582) and the diary of his still more distinguished son Felix
Felix Plater
Felix Plater was a Swiss physician, professor in Basel, well known for his classification of psychiatric diseases, and was also the first to describe an intracranial tumour ....
(1536–1614), both written in German, though not published till long after.
Gradually Swiss historical writers gave up the use of Latin for their native tongue, so Michael Stettler (1580–1642) of Bern, Franz Haffner (1609–1671) of Soleure, and quite a number of Grisons authors (though the earliest in date, Ulrich Campell of Süs
SUS
SUS or Sus can refer to:SUS*Saybolt Universal Second, unit of viscosity*Science Undergraduate Society of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec*Scottish Universities Sport, a professional body for university sport...
, c. 1509-c. 1582, still clung to Latin), such as Bartholomew Anhorn (1566 1640) and his son of the same name (1616–1670) and Johannes Guler (1562–1637). Fortunatus Sprecher (1585–1647) preferred to write his Pallas raetica in Latin, as did Fortunatus Juvalta (1567–1654) in the case of his autobiography. The autobiography of Hans Ardser of Davos (1557-post 1614) and the amusing dialogue between the Niesen and the Stockhorn by Hans Rudolf Rebmann (1566–1605) are both in German. J. B. Plantin (1625–1697) wrote his description of Switzerland in Latin, Helvetia nova et antiqua (1656), but J. J. Wagner's (1641–1695) guide to Switzerland is in German, despite its titles Inder memorabilium Helvetiae (1684) and Mercurius Helveticus (1688), though he issued his scientific description of his native land in Latin, Historia naturalis Helvetiae curiosa (1680).
Eighteenth century
In the 18th century the intellectual movement in Switzerland greatly developed, though it was naturally strongly influenced by local characteristics. Basel, Bern and especially Zürich were the chief literary centres. Basel was particularly distinguished for its mathematicians, such as Leonhard EulerLeonhard Euler
Leonhard Euler was a pioneering Swiss mathematician and physicist. He made important discoveries in fields as diverse as infinitesimal calculus and graph theory. He also introduced much of the modern mathematical terminology and notation, particularly for mathematical analysis, such as the notion...
(1707–1783), and three members of the Bernoulli family refugees from Antwerp, the brothers Jakob (1654–1705) and Johann
Johann Bernoulli
Johann Bernoulli was a Swiss mathematician and was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family...
(1667–1748), and the latter's son Daniel
Daniel Bernoulli
Daniel Bernoulli was a Dutch-Swiss mathematician and was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. He is particularly remembered for his applications of mathematics to mechanics, especially fluid mechanics, and for his pioneering work in probability and statistics...
(1700–1782). But its chief literary glory was Isaac Iselin (1728–1783), one of the founders of the Helvetic Society
Helvetic Society
The Helvetische Gesellschaft / Société Helvétique, or Helvetic Society as it is known in English, was a patriotic society and the first Swiss reform society. It was founded by Swiss philosopher Isaak Iselin, poet Solomon Gessner and some 20 others on 15 May 1762, and was dissolved with the...
(1760) and of the Economical Society (1777), and author of a treatise on the philosophy of history entitled Geschichte dee Menschheit (1764), and of another on ideal politics, Philosophische und patriotische Trume eines Menschenfreundes (1755), while many of his economical tracts appeared (1776–1782) under the general title of Ephemeriden der Menschheit. At Bern Albrecht von Haller, though especially distinguished as a scientific writer, yet by his poem Die Alpen (1732) and his travels in his native country did much to excite and stimulate the love of mountain scenery. Another Bernese, Charles Victor de Bonstetten
Charles Victor de Bonstetten
Charles Victor de Bonstetten , was a Swiss liberal writer.By birth a member of one of the great patrician families of Bern, he was educated in his native town, at Yverdon, and at Geneva, where he came under the influence of Rousseau and of Charles Bonnet, and imbibed liberal sentiments...
, is a type of the gallicized Liberal Bernese patrician, while Beat Ludwig von Muralt (1665–1749) analysed the racial characteristics of other nations for the instruction of his fellow-countrymen, his Lettres sur les anglais et les francais (1725) being his principal work. Samuel Wyttenbach (1748–1830) devoted himself to making known the beauties of his country to its natives, travelling much and writing much about his travels. Gottlieb Sigmund Gruner
Gottlieb Sigmund Gruner
Gottlieb Sigmund Gruner , cartographer and geologist, was the author of the first connected attempt to describe in detail the snowy mountains of Switzerland....
wrote the Eisgebirge des Schweizerlandes (1760), a work describing the ice-clad mountains of Switzerland, though it is rather a useftil compilation than an original contribution to knowledge, but a decided advance on his fellow Bernese, Johann Georg Altmanns (1697–1758) Versuch einer historischen und physischen Beschreibung dee helvetischen Eisgebirge (1751). In another department of knowledge a son of Albrecht von Haller
Albrecht von Haller
Albrecht von Haller was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, naturalist and poet.-Early life:He was born of an old Swiss family at Bern. Prevented by long-continued ill-health from taking part in boyish sports, he had the more opportunity for the development of his precocious mind...
, Gottlieb Emmantiel von Haller (1735–1786), compiled a most useful bibliography of writings relating to Swiss history, the Bibliothek dee Schweizergeschichte (6 vols, 1784–1787), that is still indispensable to the historical student.
But in the 18th century Zürich was undoubtedly the intellectual and literary capital of German-speaking Switzerland, and gained the title of Athens on the Limmat. One of its earliest and most famous celebrities was JJ Scheuchzer
Johann Jakob Scheuchzer
Johann Jakob Scheuchzer was a Swiss scholar born at Zürich.thumb|Herbarium deluvianumthumb|Zürich, Zwingli-Platz : Former home of Konrad von Mure and the house, where Johann Jakob Scheuchzer was bornthumb|Memorial plate-Career:The son of the senior town physician of Zürich, he received his...
, who travelled much in Switzerland, and wrote much (his travels are described in Latin) as to its natural curiosities, being himself an FRS, and closely associated with Newton and the other English scientific men of the day. But in the purely literary domain the names of JJ Bodmer
Johann Jakob Bodmer
Johann Jakob Bodmer was a Swiss-German author, academic, critic and poet.-Life:Born at Greifensee, near Zürich, and first studying theology and then trying a commercial career, he finally found his vocation in letters...
and of his friend Johann Jakob Breitinger
Johann Jakob Breitinger
Johann Jakob Breitinger was a Swiss philologist and author.- Life :Breitinger studied theology and philology and first earned recognition from 1730 through a new edition of the Septuaginta. From 1731 he worked as Professor of Hebrew and later of Greek in the gymnasium in Zürich...
(1701–1776), are the most prominent. By their united exertions the antiquated traditions of German literature were broken down to a large extent, while great praise was bestowed on English poets, Shakespeare, Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
and others. Their views were violently opposed by Gottsched
Johann Christoph Gottsched
Johann Christoph Gottsched was a German author and critic.-Biography:He was born at Juditten near Königsberg, Brandenburg-Prussia, the son of a Lutheran clergyman...
, the leader of the Saxon school, and the controversy that arose forms part of the history of German literature. In 1721–1723 they published jointly the Discourse der Mater, a periodical which spread their views, while more elaborate and systematic expositions of their critical doctrine as to poetry are Bodmer's Kritische Abhandlung von dem Wunderbaren in der Poesie (1740), and Breitinger's Critische Dichtkunst (also in 1740). Their untiring efforts helped to prepare the way for the later outburst of German literature begun by Klopstock, Wieland
Christoph Martin Wieland
Christoph Martin Wieland was a German poet and writer.- Biography :He was born at Oberholzheim , which then belonged to the Free Imperial City of Biberach an der Riss in the south-east of the modern-day state of Baden-Württemberg...
and Lessing
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist, and art critic, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature...
. Another famous Zürich writer was Solomon Gesner, the pastoral poet, and yet another was JK Lavater
Johann Kaspar Lavater
Johann Kaspar Lavater was a Swiss poet and physiognomist.-Early life:Lavater was born at Zürich, and educated at the Gymnasium there, where J. J. Bodmer and J. J...
, now best remembered as a supporter of the view that the face presents a perfect indication of character and that physiognomy
Physiognomy
Physiognomy is the assessment of a person's character or personality from their outer appearance, especially the face...
may therefore he treated as a science. Other well-known Zürich names are those of JH Pestalozzi
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was a Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer who exemplified Romanticism in his approach....
(1746–1827), the educationalist, of Johann Caspar Hirzel (1725–1803), another of the founders of the Helvetic Society, and author of Die Wirthschaft eines philosophischen Bauers (1761), and of Johann Georg Sulzer
Johann Georg Sulzer
Johann Georg Sulzer was a Swiss professor of Mathematics, who later on moved on to the field of electricity. He was a Wolffian philosopher and director of the philosophical section of the Berlin Academy of Sciences....
(1720–1779), whose chief work is one on the laws of art or aesthetics, entitled Allgemeine Theorie der schönen Kunste (1771–1774).
Outside the three towns named above there were several writers of German-speaking Switzerland who must be mentioned. One of the best known even now is Johann Georg Zimmermann (1728–1795), whose Betrachtungen fiber die Einsamkeit (1756-1784/1785) profoundly impressed his contemporaries. He, like the fabulist AE Erhlich, was born at Brugg. Johannes von Müller
Johannes von Müller
Johannes von Müller was a Swiss historian.-Biography:He was born at Schaffhausen, where his father was a clergyman and rector of the gymnasium. In his youth, his maternal grandfather, Johannes Schoop , roused in him an interest in the history of his country...
of Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen is a city in northern Switzerland and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimated population of 34,587 ....
, was the first who attempted to write (1780) a detailed history of Switzerland, which, though inspired rather by his love of freedom than by any deep research, was very characteristic of his times. JG Ebel
Johann Gottfried Ebel
Johann Gottfried Ebel , the author of the first real guide-book to Switzerland, was born at Zullichau ....
was a Swiss by adoption only, but deserves mention as the author of the first detailed guidebook to the country (1793), which held its ground till the days of Murray
John Murray (publisher)
John Murray is an English publisher, renowned for the authors it has published in its history, including Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Byron, Charles Lyell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Herman Melville, and Charles Darwin...
and Baedeker
Karl Baedeker
Karl Baedeker was a German publisher whose company Baedeker set the standard for authoritative guidebooks for tourists.- Biography :...
. A later writer, Heinrich Zschokke
Heinrich Zschokke
Johann Heinrich Daniel Zschokke was a German author and reformer. Most of his life was spent, and most of his reputation earned, in Switzerland...
(1771–1848), also a Swiss by adoption only, produced (1822) a history of Switzerland written for the people, which had a great vogue.
Nineteenth century
In the later literary history of German-speaking Switzerland three names stand out above all others: Albert Bitzius, known as Jeremias GotthelfJeremias Gotthelf
Albert Bitzius , Swiss novelist, best known by his pen name of Jeremias Gotthelf, was born at Murten, where his father was pastor.In 1804 the home was moved to Utzenstorf, a village in the Bernese Emmental...
from the first of his numerous tales of peasant life in the Emmenthal, Gottfried Keller
Gottfried Keller
Gottfried Keller , a Swiss writer of German-language literature, was best known for his novel Green Henry .- Life and work :...
, perhaps the most genuinely Swiss poet and novelist of the century, and Conrad Ferdinand Meyer
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer was a Swiss poet and historical novelist, a master of realism chiefly remembered for stirring narrative ballads like "Die Füße im Feuer" .-Biography:...
, also a poet and novelist, but of more cosmopolitan leanings and tastes. Jakob Burckhardt was a famous writer on Italian art, while Jakob Frey
Jakob Frey
Jakob Frey was a Swiss writer of short stories about peasant life. He used the pseudonyms J. Reif, F. Kuhn, F. Imhoof, and J. A.- Life :...
(1824–1875) continued the work of Bitzius by his tales of Swiss peasant life. Ulrich Hegner (1759–1840) of Winterthur wrote novels full of local colour, as is also the case with David Hess (painter)
David Hess (painter)
David Hess was a Swiss writer, caricaturist, and politician.- Life :Hess grew up on a country estate, the Beckenhof, in Zurich-Unterstrass. His father, Johann Rudolf Hess, was a Dutch officer stationed in Zurich. His mother, Martha de la Tour, was the daughter of a French mining engineer...
(1770–1843) in his description of a cure at Baden in Aargau and various tales. Johann Martin Usteri
Johann Martin Usteri
Johann Martin Usteri was a Swiss poet, noted for has narrative poetry and his idyls. He was one of the earliest German poets to write poems in his native Zürich dialect; among these, his Vicar holds the foremost place.-External links:*...
(1763–1827) of Zürich was one of the earliest to write poems in his native dialect.
Later we have a number of Zürich poets or versifiers, some of whose writings have become very well known. Such were Heinrich Leuthold
Heinrich Leuthold
Heinrich Leuthold was a Swiss poet and translator, described by one critic as the writer "most endowed with genius" of the Munich literary circle, Die Krokodile....
(1827–1879), August Corrodi (1826–1885) and Leonhard Widmer (1808–1868), the author of Trittst im Morgenrot daher (1842) (which, set to music by the Cistercian monk Alberic Zwyssig (1808–1854), is now known as the Swiss Psalm
Swiss Psalm
The Swiss Psalm is the national anthem of Switzerland. It was composed in 1841, by Alberich Zwyssig . Since then, it has been frequently sung at patriotic events. The Federal Council declined however on numerous occasions to accept the psalm as the official anthem. This was because the council...
), of Es lebt in jeder Schweizerbrust (1842), and Wo Berge sich erheben (1844). To the Bernese poet, Johann Rudolf Wyss
Johann Rudolf Wyss
Johann Rudolf Wyss was a Swiss author, writer, and folklorist who wrote the words to the former Swiss national anthem Rufst Du, mein Vaterland in 1811, and also edited the novel The Swiss Family Robinson, written by his father Johann David Wyss in 1814.Wyss was born in Bern, Switzerland, and...
(1782–1830), whose father, Johann David Wyss
Johann David Wyss
Johann David Wyss is best remembered for his book The Swiss Family Robinson. It is said that he was inspired by Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, but wanted to write a story from which his own children would learn, as the father in the story taught important lessons to his children...
(1743–1818), was the author of the Swiss Family Robinson, we owe the Swiss national anthem, Rufst du mein Vaterland? and the song, Herz, mys Herz, warum so trurig?—while Johann Georg Krauer (1792–1845), of Lucerne, wrote the Rütlilied, Von ferne sei herzlich gegrüßet, and Gottfried Keller himself was responsible for O mein Heimatland. Gottlieb Jakob Kuhn (1775–1845) wrote many poems in the Bernese dialect about the Alps and their inhabitants. Less national in sentiment and more metaphysical are the lyrics of Dranmor, the pen-name of the Bernese Ferdinand Schmid (1823–1888).
Among the chief Swiss writers in the department of belles-lettres, novelists, poets, etc., may be mentioned Ernst Zahn
Ernst Zahn
Ernst Zahn was a Swiss author.- Works :* Herzens-Kämpfe, narration, 1893* Erni Behaim, historical novel, Stuttgart 1898* Albin Indergand, novel, Frauenfeld 1901...
, Meinrad Lienert
Meinrad Lienert
The Swiss writer Meinrad Lienert is most noted for his works in the Swiss German dialect. After finishing his studies of law, he became notary in his native town of Einsiedeln...
, Arnold Ott, Carl Spitteler
Carl Spitteler
Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler was a Swiss poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1919. His work includes both pessimistic and heroic poems....
, Fritz Marti, Walther Siegfried, Adolf Frey
Adolf Frey
Adolf Frey was a Swiss writer and literary historian. The son of popular writer Jakob Frey , he studied at various universities, including from 1879 to 1881 literature and history at the University of Leipzig.In 1882 he became a German teacher at the high school in Aarau and in 1898 professor of...
, Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature...
, Jakob Christoph Heer, Joseph Victor Widmann, and Gottfried Strasser.
Isabella Kaiser wrote poems and stories. Johanna Spyri
Johanna Spyri
Johanna Spyri was an author of children's stories, and is best known for her book Heidi. Born Johanna Louise Heusser in the rural area of Hirzel, Switzerland, as a child she spent several summers in the area around Chur in Graubünden, the setting she later would use in her novels.-Biography:In...
is famous for her children's stories including Heidi
Heidi
Heidi is a Swiss work of fiction, published in two parts as Heidi's years of learning and travel and Heidi makes use of what she has learned.It is a novel about the events in the life of a young girl in her grandfather's care, in the Swiss Alps...
, a fictional character living in the Swiss Alps
Swiss Alps
The Swiss Alps are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position within the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps....
.
Twentieth century
The best-known Swiss German writers are Friedrich DürrenmattFriedrich Dürrenmatt
Friedrich Dürrenmatt was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-garde dramas, philosophically deep crime novels, and often macabre satire...
, Max Frisch
Max Frisch
Max Rudolf Frisch was a Swiss playwright and novelist, regarded as highly representative of German-language literature after World War II. In his creative works Frisch paid particular attention to issues relating to problems of human identity, individuality, responsibility, morality and political...
, Robert Walser
Robert Walser
Robert Walser may refer to:* Robert Walser , Swiss modernist writer* Robert Walser , American musicologist, author and professor...
, Peter Bichsel
Peter Bichsel
Peter Bichsel is a popular Swiss-German writer and journalist representing modern German literature. He was a member of the Gruppe Olten....
, Erika Burkart
Erika Burkart
Erika Burkart was a Swiss writer and poet. She was the recipient of many awards, among them the Conrad-Ferdinand-Meyer-Preis, the Gottfried-Keller-Preis, the Joseph-Breitbach-Preis, and the Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart-Preis.She was born in Aarau in 1922 and died in Muri in 2010.-Poetry books:* Der...
, Jürg Federspiel
Jürg Federspiel
Jürg Federspiel was a Swiss writer, born in in Kemptthal, Canton Zurich.Federspiel grew up in Davos and attended secondary school in Basel. From 1951 he worked as a journalist and film critic for several Swiss newspapers, and spent time in Germany, France, Great Britain, Ireland and the USA...
, Thomas Hürlimann
Thomas Hürlimann
Thomas Hürlimann is a Swiss playwright and novelist.His 1989 novel Das Gartenhaus was published as The Couple in the United States in 1991.-External links:*. Goethe-Instituts Website...
, Zoe Jenny
Zoë Jenny
Zoë Jenny is a Swiss writer. Her first novel, The Pollen Room, was published in German in 1997 and has been translated into 27 languages. Since 2003 she has been living in London. In 2008 she married Matthew Homfray, a British veterinary surgeon and pharmaceuticals consultant...
, Christian Kracht
Christian Kracht
Christian Kracht is a Swiss novelist and journalist.-Early life:Kracht was born in Saanen. His father, Christian Kracht Sr., was chief representative for the Axel Springer publishing company in the 1960s. Kracht attended Schule Schloss Salem in Baden and Lakefield College School in Ontario, Canada...
, Jürg Laederach
Jürg Laederach
Jürg Laederach is a Swiss writer.-Works:* Einfall der Dämmerung, Frankfurt am Main 1974* Im Verlauf einer langen Erinnerung, Frankfurt am Main 1977* Das ganze Leben, Frankfurt am Main 1978...
, Hugo Loetscher
Hugo Loetscher
Hugo Loetscher was a Swiss writer and essayist.- Life :Loetscher was born in Zürich, and grew up there. He studied philosophy, sociology and literature at the University of Zürich and the Sorbonne...
, Gerhard Meier, Adolf Muschg
Adolf Muschg
Adolf Muschg is a Swiss writer and professor of literature. Muschg was a member of the Gruppe Olten.- His life :...
, Paul Nizon
Paul Nizon
Paul Nizon is a Swiss art historian and writer.The son of a Russian chemist and a Swiss mother, after leaving school he studied history of art, classical archaeology and German language and literature in the universities of Berne and Munich. He obtained his doctorate in 1957 with a thesis on...
, Peter Stamm
Peter Stamm
-Life:Peter Stamm grew up in Weinfelden in the canton of Thurgau the son of an accountant. After completing primary and secondary school he spent three years as an apprentice accountant and then 5 as an accountant...
, Martin Suter
Martin Suter
Martin Suter is a Swiss author. He became known for his weekly column Business Class in the Weltwoche newspaper , now appearing in the Tages-Anzeiger, and another column appearing in "NZZ Folio". Suter has published seven novels, for which he received various awards...
, Peter Weber, Markus Werner
Markus Werner
Markus Werner is a German-speaking Swiss writer, the author of Zündels Abgang .-Life:...
and Urs Widmer.
Historians
Of historical writers in different departments of their subject in the course of the 19th century some of the principal were (in alphabetical order):- Ildefons von Arx (1755–1833), the historian of St Gall, of which he had been a monk,
- E. Blusch (1838–1900), the historian of the Protestant churches in German-speaking Switzerland,
- J. J. Blumer (1819–1875), and
- JK BluntschliJohann Kaspar BluntschliJohann Caspar Bluntschli was a Swiss jurist and politician.-Biography:He was born in Zurich to a soap and candle manufacturer...
(1808–1881), who both devoted their energies to Swiss constitutional matters, - Johannes Dierauer (1842–1920), who wrote the impressive Geschichte der schweizerischen eidgenossenschaft, 2 vo, 1887–91,
- JJ HottingerJohann Jakob HottingerJohann Jakob Hottinger was the son of the Swiss philologist and theologian Johann Heinrich Hottinger.He became professor of theology at Zürich in 1698, and was the author of a work against Roman Catholicism, Helvetische Kirchengeschichte .----...
(1783–1860), the continuator of J. von Muller's Swiss history, - J. E. Kopp (1793–1866), who rewrote early Swiss history on the basis of authentic documents,
- R. Maag (1866–1899), who began the publication of the invaluable Flabsburg terrier of the early 14th century, but had to leave the completion of the work to other competent hands,
- P. C. von Planta (1815–1902) and J. A. Pupikofer (1797–1882), the historians respectively of the Grisons and of the Thurgau,
- A. P. von Segesser (1817–1888), the historian and statesman of Lucerne,
- A. F. Stettler (1796–1849),
- A. von Tillier (1792–1854),
- E. von Wattenwyl (1815–1890), and
- J. L. Wurstemberger (1783–1862) who all four wrote on Bernese history,
- Georg von WyßGeorg von WyßGeorg von Wyß was a Swiss historian. He was born and died in Zürich.-References:...
(1816–1893), to whom we owe, among many excellent works, an admirable account of all Swiss historians and their works, - his stepbrother F. von Wyss (1818–1907), a great authority on the legal and constitutional history of Switzerland, and
- J. C. Zellweger (1768–1855), the historian of Appenzell.
Also: A. Bahl, J. L. Brandstetter, W. Burckhardt, K. Dandliker, R. Durrer, H. Escher, A. Heusler, R. Hoppeler, T. von Liebenau, W. Merz, G Meyer von Knonau, W. F. von Münen, W. Oechsli, J. R. Rahn, L. R. von Salis, P. Schweizer, J. Schollenberger, J. Strickler, R. Thommen, and H. Wartmann.
French branch
The knight Othon of Grandson is the earliest figure in the literature of the Suisse romande. He was killed in a judicial duelDuel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
in 1397, the last scion of his ancient house, and left some amatory poems behind him, while one is extant only in a translation by Chaucer, who makes flattering mention of him. In the 15th and 16th centuries many miracle plays in the local Romance dialect were known. The Chronique des chanoines de Neuchâtel was formerly supposed to date from the 15th century, but is now considered by many to be a forgery. More individual and characteristic are the romance about Charlemagne, entitled Fierabras le Giant (1478), by Jean Bagnyon, and the poem named Congé pris du siècle siculier (1480), by Jacques de Bugnin. But the first really prominent personage in this department of literature is François Bonivard (d. 1570) who wrote the Chroniques de Geuve that extend down to 1530 and were continued to 1562 by Michel Roset (d. 1613). The first Protestant French translation of the Bible was issued at Neuchâtel in 1535, its principal authors being Pierre Robert Olivétan
Pierre Robert Olivétan
Pierre Robert Olivétan was the first to translate the Bible into the French language starting from the Hebrew and Greek texts. He was a cousin of John Calvin, who wrote a Latin preface for the translation, often called the Olivetan Bible....
and Pierre de Vingle. As a sort of pendant to the Protestant Bonivard
François Bonivard
François Bonivard was a Swiss patriot and historian whose life was the inspiration for Byron's 1816 poem The Prisoner Of Chillon....
, we have the nun Jeanne de Jussie
Jeanne de Jussie
-Life:Jeanne was born in Jussy-l'évèque and became a nun at the convent of Saint Clare in nearby Geneva after studying there. She became the official record keeper of the convent. When the Protestant Reformation began to take root there and made life increasingly difficult for Catholics, life...
who in her Levain du Calvinisme (c. 1545) recounts the establishment of Calvinism
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
at Geneva, while the noble Pierre de Pierrefleur in his Mémoires does the same in a lighter and less lachrymose style for Orbe, his native district. Naturally the Reformers of the Suisse Romande used French much in their theological and polemical works. Of more general interest are the writings of two Frenchmen who were driven by religious persecutions to end their lives at Geneva—the memoirs and poems of Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigné (1552–1630), and the historical writings and poems of Simon Goulart
Simon Goulart
Simon Goulart was a French Reformed theologian, humanist and poet.-Life:He was born at Senlis in northern France. He first studied law, then adopted the Reformed...
(1543–1628). The great deliverance of Geneva from the duke of Savoy, known as the Escalade (1602), was described in prose by David Piaget (1580–1644) in his Histoire de l'escalade and celebrated in verse by Samuel Chappuzeau
Samuel Chappuzeau
Samuel Chappuzeau was a French scholar, author, poet and playwright whose best-known work today is Le Théâtre François, a description of French Theatre in the 17th century....
(1625–1701)--in his Genève délivrée, though the narratives of Goulart and that (published officially by the government) attributed to Jean Sarasin (1574–1632), the author of the Citadin de Genève (1606), are more laconic and more striking. JB Plantin (1625–1697), of Vaud
Vaud
Vaud is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and is located in Romandy, the French-speaking southwestern part of the country. The capital is Lausanne. The name of the Canton in Switzerland's other languages are Vaud in Italian , Waadt in German , and Vad in Romansh.-History:Along the lakes,...
, wrote his topography of Switzerland, Helvetia antiqua et nova (1656), in Latin, but his Abrégé de l'histoire générale de la Suisse (1666) in French, while Georges de Montmollin (1628–1703) of Neuchâtel wrote, besides various works as to local history, Mémoires of his times which have a certain historical value.
But the 17th century in the Suisse Romande pales before the glories of the 18th century, which forms its golden age, and was, in a large degree due to the influence of French refugees who, with their families, flocked thither after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) and settled down there for the rest of their lives. Such was Louis Bourguet
Louis Bourguet
Louis Bourguet was a polymath and correspondent of Leibniz who wrote on archaeology, geology, philosophy, Biblical scholarship and mathematics....
(1678–1743), who, besides his geological works, founded two periodicals which in different ways did much to stimulate the intellectual life of the Suisse Romande; these were the Bibliothèque italique (1729–1734), which aimed at making more widely known the results of Italian research, and the Mercure suisse which, first issued in 1732, lasted till 1784, under different names (rom 1738 onwards the literary section bore the name of Journée helvetique), and secured contributions from most of the leading writers of the Suisse Romande of the day, such as Firmin Abauzit (1679–1767), Abraham Ruchat (1678–1750), and others. Ruchat is now best remembered as the author (under the pen-name of Gottlieb Kypseler) of an excellent guide-book to Switzerland, the Deuces de la Suisse, which first appeared in 1714 and passed through many editions, the latest being issued in 1778; but his Histoire de la Reformation de la Suisse (1727–1728) was much esteemed in his day. Another Vaudois historian and antiquary was Charles Guillaume Loys de Bochat (1695–1754) whose Mémoires critiques sur divers points de l'ancienne histoire de la Suisse (1747–1749) still form a treasure-house for archaeologists. Yet a third Lausanne man was JP de Crousaz (1663–1750), who introduced there the philosophy of Descartes
René Descartes
René Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
, and was, by his books, the master of Gibbon
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...
in logic. A French refugee at Lausanne, Jean Barbeyrac
Jean Barbeyrac
-Life:Born at Béziers in Lower Languedoc, the nephew of Charles Barbeyrac, a distinguished physician of Montpellier. He moved with his family into Switzerland after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. After spending some time at Geneva and Frankfurt am Main, he became professor of belles-lettres...
(1674–1744), published in 1712 the Droit de la nature et des gens, a translation of Puffendorf's treatise, with a striking preface of his own. A precursor of Montesquieu and of Rousseau was Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui
Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui
Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui was a Swiss legal and political theorist, who popularised a number of ideas propounded by other thinkers.-Life:...
(1694–1750) in his Principes du droit naturel et politique (1747 and 1751, issued together in 1763), while the celebrated international lawyer, Emeric de Vattel (1714 1767), was a native of Neuchâtel by birth and descent, and, though he spent most of his life at foreign courts, died at Neuchâtel, not so very long after the publication of his famous Droit des gens (1758).
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
came back for good to Geneva, and Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
established himself at Ferney, while in 1753 Gibbon had begun his first residence (which lasted till 1758) in Lausanne. The earlier writers mentioned above had then nearly all disappeared, and a more brilliant set took their place. But Rousseau, though a Genevese, belongs rather to European than to Swiss literature, as do later Jacques Necker
Jacques Necker
Jacques Necker was a French statesman of Swiss birth and finance minister of Louis XVI, a post he held in the lead-up to the French Revolution in 1789.-Early life:...
and his daughter, Madame de Staël, Benjamin Constant
Benjamin Constant
Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque was a Swiss-born French nobleman, thinker, writer and politician.-Biography:...
and Sismondi
Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi
Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi , whose real name was Simonde, was a writer born at Geneva. He is best known for his works on French and Italian history, and his economic ideas.-Early life:...
. Madame de Charrière
Isabelle de Charrière
Isabelle de Charrière , known as Belle van Zuylen in the Netherlands and Madame de Charrière elsewhere, is a Dutch writer of the Enlightenment who lived the latter half of her life in Switzerland. She is now best known for her letters although she also wrote novels, pamphlets, music and plays...
(1740–1805) was Dutch by birth, but married to a native of Neuchâtel. Among her earlier works were two novels, Le Man sentimental (1783), and the Lettres de Mistress Henley (1784), both of which had a great vogue in their day and paint, from her own experience, the sad results of an unsuitable marriage. More celebrated by reason of the liveliness and acuteness with which the manners of a little provincial town are described are her Lettres de Lausanne (1871), and her Lettres neuchâteloises (1784), particularly the second part of a story of the former, entitled Caliste, and published in 1788, for, according to Sainte-Beuve
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve was a literary critic and one of the major figures of French literary history.-Early years:...
, it was a sort of foreshadowing of the more famous Coninne (1807) of Madame de Staël.
PH Mallet
Paul Henri Mallet
Paul Henri Mallet was a Swiss writer.He was born and educated in Geneva. He became tutor in the family of the count of Calenberg in Lower Saxony. In 1752 he was appointed professor of belles lettres to the academy at Copenhagen...
, a Genevese, who held a chair at Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, devoted himself to making known to the educated world the history and antiquities of Scandinavia. But more characteristic of Geneva were the efforts of a group of men to spread the cause of natural science by personal investigations in the higher Alps, then but little known. Possibly their interest in such matters had been stimulated by the scientific and psychological speculations of Charles Bonnet
Charles Bonnet
Charles Bonnet , Swiss naturalist and philosophical writer, was born at Geneva, of a French family driven into Switzerland by the religious persecution in the 16th century.-Life and work:Bonnet's life was uneventful...
. The chief of this school was HB de Saussure
Horace-Bénédict de Saussure
200px|thumb|Portrait of Horace-Bénédict de Saussure Horace-Bénédict de Saussure was a Genevan aristocrat, physicist and Alpine traveller, often considered the founder of alpinism, and considered to be the first person to build a successful solar oven.-Life and work:Saussure was born in Conches,...
one of the founders of geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and meteorology
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
, while his Alpine ascents (undertaken in the cause of science) opened a new world even to non-scientific travellers. The brothers De Luc devoted themselves mainly to questions of physics in the Alps, while Sénebier, the biographer of Saussure, was more known as a physiologist than as a physicist, though he wrote on many branches of natural science, which in those days was not yet highly specialized. On the other hand Marc Théodore Bourrit
Marc Theodore Bourrit
-Biography:Marc Theodore Bourrit came of a family which was of French origin but had taken refuge at Geneva for reasons connected with religion. His father was a watchmaker there, and he himself was educated in his native city...
, the contemporary of these three men, was rather a curious and inquisitive traveller than a scientific investigator, and charms us even now by his genial simplicity as contrasted with the austerity and gravity of the three writers we have mentioned. Philippe Cyriaque Bridel (1757–1845), best known as the doyen Bridel, was the earliest of the Vaudois poets by virtue of his Poèsies helvètiennes (1782). But he is better known as the painter of the scenery and people among whom he worked as pastor at Basel, at Château d'Oex, and at Montreux successively. His Course de Bâle à Bienne par les vallées du Jura appeared in 1802, while descriptions of his travels, as well as of the manners of the natives, local history, and in short everything that could stimulate national sentiment, were issued in a series of periodicals from 1783 to 1831 under the successive titles of Etrennes helvétiennes and of Conservateur suisse. His patriotic aim met with great success, while his impressions of his mountain wanderings are fresh and unspoilt by any straining after effect. He was the first writer of the Suisse Romande to undertake such wanderings, so that, with obvious differences, he may be regarded not merely as the forerunner, but as the inspirer and model of later Vaudois travellers and climbers in the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
, such as Rodolphe Töpffer
Rodolphe Töpffer
Rodolphe Töpffer was a Swiss teacher, author, painter, cartoonist, and caricature artist. He is also considered to be the first modern comic creator.- Biography :...
, of Eugène Rambert
Eugène Rambert
Eugène Rambert , was a Swiss author.He was born at Sales near Swiss Clarens, the eldest son of a Vaudois schoolmaster, from whom he received his education. When in 1845 his father lost his post owing to the religious disputes, Rambert became a teacher in Paris, and later a tutor in England and at...
, and of the last-named's most brilliant pupil, Émile Javelle (1844–1883), whose articles were collected in 1886 by the pious care of his friends under the title of Souvenirs d'un alpiniste.
As a poet Juste Olivier
Juste Olivier
Juste Daniel Olivier , Swiss poet, was born near Nyon in the canton of Vaud; he was brought up as a peasant, but studied at the college of Nyon, and later at the academy of Lausanne....
surpassed Bridel. Nor can we wonder that with the advance of knowledge Bridel's history is found to be more picturesque than scientific. Two Vaudois, Charles Monnard
Charles Monnard
Charles Monnard was a Swiss historian. He was from Lausanne, and expanded to Romandy the national-historical movement in Swiss history that had been promoted by German-speaking Swiss historians such as Johannes von Müller and Heinrich Zschokke...
(1790–1865) and Louis Vulliemin (1797–1879) carried out their great scheme of translating (1837 1840) J von Müller's Swiss history with its continuation by Hottinger, and then completed it (1841–1851) down to 1815. This gigantic task did not, however, hinder the two friends from making many solid contributions to Swiss historical learning. Later in date were Alexandre Daguet (1816–1894) who wrote an excellent history of Switzerland, while Jean Joseph Hisely (1800–1866), Albert Rilliet (1809–1883), and Pierre Vaucher (1833–1898), all devoted much labour to studying the many problems offered by the early authentic history (from 1291 onwards) of the Swiss Confederation. A different type of history is the work of an honest but partisan writer, the Genevese Jules Henri Merle d'Aubign (1794–1872), entitled Histoire de la reformation au temps de Calvin (1835–1878). The Vaudois noble Frédéric Gingins-la-Sarra (1790–1863) represents yet another type of historian, devoting himself mainly to the medieval history of Vaud, but occasionally going beyond the numberless authentic documents brought to light by him, and trying to make them prove more than they can fairly be expected to tell us. Jean Antoine Petit-Senn
Jean Antoine Petit-Senn
Jean Antoine Petit-Senn was a poet of French-Swiss origin. Among many quotes attributed to him is this one..."Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance."...
(1792–1870) was a thorough Genevese and a biting satirist, a pensive poet, the Genevese La Bruyère
Jean de La Bruyère
Jean de La Bruyère was a French essayist and moralist.-Ancestry:He was born in Paris, not, as was once thought, at Dourdan in 1645...
, as he liked to be called, but was not fully appreciated till after his death, when his widely scattered writings were brought together. Alexandre Vinet
Alexandre Vinet
Alexandre Rodolphe Vinet , was a Swiss critic and theologian.-Life:He was born near Lausanne in Switzerland.Educated for the Protestant ministry, he was ordained in 1819, when already teacher of the French language and literature in the gymnasium at Basel; and throughout his life he was as much a...
, the theologian, and HF Amiel
Henri-Frédéric Amiel
Henri Frédéric Amiel was a Swiss philosopher, poet and critic.Born in Geneva in 1821, he was descended from a Huguenot family driven to Switzerland by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes....
, the philosopher, in a fashion balance each other, and need only be mentioned here. Jean Jacques Porchat (1800–1864) was one of the most prominent among the minor poets of the region, very French owing to his long residence in Paris, and best remembered probably by his fables, first published in 1837 under the title of Glanures d'Esope (reissued in 1854 as Fables et paraboles), though in his day his stories for the young were much appreciated. Urbain Olivier
Urbain Olivier
Urbain Olivier was a Swiss writer.The brother of Juste Olivier, he was well known from 1856 onwards as the author of numerous popular tales of rural life in the Canton of Vaud, especially of the region near Nyon.- External links :...
(1810–1888), a younger brother of the poet, wrote many tales of rural life in Vaud, while the Genevese novelist Victor Cherbuliez
Victor Cherbuliez
thumb|right|Victor CherbuliezCharles Victor Cherbuliez was a French novelist and author. He was the eleventh member elected to occupy seat 3 of the Académie française in 1881.-Biography:...
(1829–1899) was perhaps the most brilliant of a brilliant family. Fribourg has produced the local novelist Pierre Sciobret (1833–1876) and the Bohemian poet Etienne Eggis (1830–1867), and Neuchâtel Auguste Bachelin (1830–1890) whose best novel was Jean Louis, a tale of which the scene is laid in the old-fashioned little village of St Blaise. Another Neuchâtel writer, Alice de Chambrier, the poetess, died young, as did the Genevese poet Louis Duchosal, both showing in their short lives more promise than performance. Madame de Gasparins (1813 1894) best tale is Horizons prochains (1857), a very vivid story of rural life in the Vaudois Jura, remarkable for the virile imagination of its descriptions.
Edouard Rod
Edouard Rod , a French-Swiss novelist, was born at Nyon, in Switzerland, studied at Lausanne, where he wrote his doctoral thesis about the Oedipus legend , and Berlin, and in 1878 found his way to Paris.In 1881 he dedicated his novel, Palmyre Veulard, to Zola, of whom...
the novelist, and Marc Monnier
Marc Monnier
Marc Monnier was a French writer.Monnier was born at Florence. His father was French, and his mother a Genevese; he received his early education in Naples, he then studied in Paris and Geneva, and he completed his education at Heidelberg and Berlin. He became professor of comparative literature at...
, critic, poet, dramatist and novelist, are the most prominent figures in the recent literature of the Suisse Romande. Amongst lesser stars we may mention in the department of belles-lettres (novelists, poets or critics) Charles Du Bois-Melly, T. Combe (the pen name of Mlle Adele Huguenin), Samuel Cornut, Louis Favre
Louis Favre
Louis Favre was a Swiss engineer, remembered as the builder of the Gotthard Rail Tunnel between 1872 and his death in the tunnel in 1879....
, Philippe Godet, Oscar Huguenin, Philippe Monnier
Philippe Monnier
Philippe Monnier, born 2 November 1864 in Geneva, died 21 July 1911 in Plainpalais, was a Swiss writer in the French language.- Publications :Most of his writings dealt with Geneva and its region, from where he originated...
, Nolle Roger, Virgile Rossel, Paul Seippel and Gaspard Vallette. The chief literary organ of the Suisse Romande is the Bibliothèque universelle, which in 1816 took that title in lieu of Bibliothèque Britannique
Bibliothèque Britannique
The Bibliothèque Britannique was a monthly journal of the sciences and the arts published in Geneva by Marc-Auguste Pictet, his younger brother Charles, and his friend Frédéric-Guillaume Maurice. It covered a wide range of scientific, literary, economic, and political topics. It was created in...
(founded in 1796), and in 1861 added that of Revue suisse, which it then absorbed. Amongst historians the first place is due to one of the most learned men whom Switzerland has ever produced, and whose services to the history of the Valais were very great, and abbé Jean Gremaud (1823–1897) of Fribourg. The principal contemporary historians are Victor van Berchem, Francis de Crue, Camille Favre, Henri Fazy, B. de Mandrot, Berthold van Muyden and Edouard Rott. More recent authors include Charles Ferdinand Ramuz
Charles Ferdinand Ramuz
Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz was a French-speaking Swiss writer.He was born in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud and educated at the University of Lausanne. He taught briefly in nearby Aubonne, and then in Weimar, Germany. In 1903, he left for Paris and remained there until World War I, with frequent...
(1878–1947), whose novels describe the lives of peasants and mountain dwellers, set in a harsh environment, the poets Blaise Cendrars
Blaise Cendrars
Frédéric Louis Sauser , better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss novelist and poet naturalized French in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the modernist movement.-Early years:...
(born Frédéric Sauser, 1887–1961), Gustave Roud (1897–1976), Maurice Chappaz
Maurice Chappaz
Maurice Chappaz was a French-language Swiss poet and writer. He published more than 40 books and won several literary awards, including his country's most notable award, the Grand Prix Schiller, in 1997....
(1916–2009) and Philippe Jaccottet
Philippe Jaccottet
Philippe Jaccottet is a poet and translator who publishes in French.After completing his studies in Lausanne, he lived several years in Paris. In 1953, came to live in the town of Grignan in Provence...
(* 1925) and the novelists Catherine Colomb (1892–1965), Monique Saint-Hélier (1895–1955), Alice Rivaz
Alice Rivaz
Alice Rivaz was a Swiss author and feminist.- Life :She was born Alice Golay in the small Swiss municipality of Rovray. She spent much of her life in Geneva and originally studied music training to be a pianist...
(1901–1998) and Prix Goncourt
Prix Goncourt
The Prix Goncourt is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"...
winner Jacques Chessex
Jacques Chessex
Jacques Chessex was a Swiss author and painter.-Biography :Chessex was born in 1934 in Payerne. From 1951 to 1953, he studied in St-Michel College in Fribourg, before undertaking literature studies in Lausanne. In 1953, he co-founded the literary review Pays du Lac in Pully...
(1934–2009).
Italian branch
Stefano Franscini
Stefano Franscini was a Swiss politician and statistician. He was one of the initial members of the Swiss Federal Council elected in 1848 and Switzerland's first native Italian speaking federal councillor. Franscini was affiliated to the Liberal Radical Party of Switzerland. During his office...
(1796–1857) did much for his native land, especially in educational matters, while his chief published work (1835) was one that gave a general account of the canton. But this is not so thorough and good as a later book by Luigi Lavizzari (1814–1875), entitled Escursioni net cantone Ticino (1861), which is very complete from all points of view.
Angelo Barotho (d. 1893) and Emilio Motta represent the historical sciences, the latter contributing much to the Bolletlino della Svizzera Italiana (from 1879 onwards), which, though mainly historical, devotes much space to literary and historical matters relating to the canton. The art of novel writing does not flourish in Ticino. But it has produced a great number of poets such as Pietro Pen (1794–1869), who translated the Swiss national anthem into Italian, JB Buzzi (1825–1898), Giovanni Airoldi (died before 1900) and Carlo Cioccari (1829–1891) the two former were lyric poets, and the third a dramatist. Two younger singers are F. Chiesa and M. A. Nessi.
Romansh branch
Romansh is spoken by some 1% of Switzerland's 7.4 million inhabitants. It is the smallest of Switzerland's national languages in terms of number of speakers, and has not much to show in the way of literary activity. Fears of the language perishing altogether have spurred certain energetic groups to promote and foster a language revivalLanguage revival
Language revitalization, language revival or reversing language shift is the attempt by interested parties, including individuals, cultural or community groups, governments, or political authorities, to reverse the decline of a language. If the decline is severe, the language may be endangered,...
. The five largest languages in the Romansh family are Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter and Vallader. Puter and Vallader are sometimes considered one language: Ladin. Romansh was standardized in 1982. The unified language, called Rumantsch Grischun, is used by the federal government and the canton of Graubünden, where is it an official language
Official language
An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
, for administrative purposes.
The oldest known written records of Romansh dating from the period before 1500 are:
- the Würzburg manuscript (10th century);
- the Einsiedeln Homily which was discovered in 1907, and consists of a few lines, in an early form of the Romonsch dialect, of interlinear translation (with the original Latin text) of a sermon attributed to St AugustineAugustine of HippoAugustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
. This monument is said to date from the early 12th century; - the Müstair linguistic monument dated 1389 and consisting of a fragment of a document about grazing rightsGrazing rightsGrazing rights is a legal term referring to the right of a user to allow their livestock to feed in a given area.- United States :...
on common land.
The emergence of Romansh as a literary language is generally dated to the mid-16th century. The first poem in Ladin was one on the Musso war
Musso war
The Musso war was an armed conflict between the federation of the Three Leagues in the Grisons, an associate state of the Old Swiss Confederacy, and the Duchy of Milan early in the 16th century....
, written in 1527 by Gian Travers (Johann von Travers, 1483–1563), though it was not published till 1865. The first book printed in it (at Poschiavo in 1552) was the translation of a German catechism
Catechism
A catechism , i.e. to indoctrinate) is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present...
, and the next a translation of the New Testament, also at Poschiavo, but in 1560, both works by Jachiam Bifrun. Most of the works in both these dialects are translations of books of a religious or educational nature.
The principal writers in the Romonsch dialect, generally the less literary of the two, in the 19th century are Theodor von Castelberg (1748–1830), a poet and translator of poetry, and P. A. de Latour (about 1811) also a poet, while the best of all poets in this dialect was Anton Huonder, whose lyrics are considered remarkable. Alexander Balletta (1842–1887) wrote prose romances and sketches, while J. C. Muoth (Giacun Hasper Muoth, 1844–1906), himself a most typical and characteristic figure, wrote much in prose and verse as regards his native region.
In Ladin one of the chief figures was the poet Conradin von Flugi (1787–1874), who published volumes of poems in 1845 and 1861, but the poems, novels and translations of Gian Fadri Caderas (1830–1891) are placed above them. Other Ladin poets are Florin Valentin, O. P. Juvalta and S. Caratsch (d. 1892), while Peider Lansel
Peider Lansel
Peider Lansel was a Swiss Romansh lyric poet. He is most known for having revived Rhaeto-Romansh as a literary language...
(1863–1943) represents a younger generation. Zaccaria Pallioppi (1820–1873) also wrote poems, but the excellent Ladin dictionary that he compiled was not published till 1895 by the care of his son.
Drama was represented by biblical plays, most notably the Passiuns sursilvanas (developed in 17th–18th century). From the 18th century, courtroom dramas based on criminal cases were added to the village repertoire. In the early 20th century, many villages would stage an annual vernacular comedy.
Following the First World War the Sutsilvan dialect developed a literature and the language achieved a measure of standardisation by the end of the Second World War.
From the 1940s onwards, Romansh writers consciously attempted to assimilate influences from international literary movements, as well as reflecting the situation of traditional Romansh culture as a disappearing way of life in a world of modernity and change. In 1946, a Romansh writers’ union was established by Artur Caflisch and Jon Guidon, known since 2004 as ULR (Union for Romansh Literature).
Jon Semadeni established the La Culissa theatrical touring company in 1944. His drama Il pövel cumada, which was first staged in 1946, is considered a landmark in Romansh drama. The company ceased touring in 1977.
Since 1990 an annual Romansh literary festival has been held.
Other writers include: Maurus Carnot (1846–1935), Giachen Michel Hay (1860–1920), Gian Fontana (1897–1935), Leza Uffer (1912–1982), Armon Planta (1917–1986), Gion Luregn Derungs, Gion Deplazes (born 1918), Cla Biert (1920–1981), Andri Peer (1921–1985), Martin Suter
Martin Suter
Martin Suter is a Swiss author. He became known for his weekly column Business Class in the Weltwoche newspaper , now appearing in the Tages-Anzeiger, and another column appearing in "NZZ Folio". Suter has published seven novels, for which he received various awards...
, Tim Krohn
Tim Krohn
Tim Krohn is an author of Swiss literature, recipient of the 1994 Conrad-Ferdinand-Meyer-Preis.Born in Wiedenbrück, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Krohn grew up in Glarus...
.
Statistics
In the 2000s, Swiss production of books fluctuated between 10,000 and 12,000 titles per annum.In 2007, the Swiss National Library
Swiss National Library
The Swiss National Library is the national library of Switzerland. It is part of the Federal Office of Culture. Under the terms of the law which governs it, it is charged with collecting, cataloging and conserving information in all fields and disciplines, and in any medium, connected with...
recorded a total of 11,410 new titles produced by Swiss publishers. Of those, 6,631 were in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, 2,509 in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, 361 in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and 21 in Romansh; the rest being multilingual or in other languages. Taking all the languages combined, 1,983 new titles were in the field of literature proper. Other principal fields were musical publications (1,076 titles), the arts (1'019 titles), law (949 titles), religion (948 titles), languages (467 titles), technology (446 titles), geography (412 titles) and history (409 titles). 410 titles were translated from English, 200 from German and 157 from French. Books originating in 31 languages were translated into one or another of the national languages by Swiss publishers.
External links
- sieps.ch Information Services on Swiss Private Schools and Universities