Swiss Literature

[Liam]

With the publication of a 350+ pp. anthology of 20th century Swiss poetry by Dalkey, it seemed like a good idea to open a general thread on Swiss literature.

The only Swiss writer I am personally somewhat familiar with is Robert Walser, whose Jakob von Gunten is a magnificent short novel.

But as this anthology amply demonstrates, there is an entire handful of names of French-speaking, German-speaking and Italian-speaking Swiss poets whose work may or may not be familiar to Anglophone readers: Blaise Cendrars, Hugo Ball, Jacques Chessex, Hans Arp, Gerhard Meier, Philippe Jaccottet, Adelheid Duvanel, Arno Camenisch, Giorgio and Giovanni Orelli, Urs Allemann, Claire Genoux.

What are some of the other Swiss writers whose works you have read?

[Eric]

Over here in Sweden, a publishing house called Tranan has been doing something similar. If you look at this notice, in English, you can compare the names of the Swiss authors translated into Swedish with those that Liam mentioned:

http://translate.google.com/translat...tbb=1&ie=UTF-8

But here are some names from the website, anyway:

Contributing Authors: Urs Widmer, Hanna Johansen, Charles Lewinsky, Eleonore Frey, Adolf Muschg, Ruth Schweikert, Peter Stamm, Melinda Nadj Abonji, Katharina Faber, Peter Bischel, Jacques-Etienne Bovard, Eugene, Catherine Safonoff, Daniel Maggetti, Amélie Plume, Jean-Francoise Sonnay, Annelise Grobèty, Alberto Nessi, Anna Ruschat, Anna Felder, Claudia Cadruvi, Lothar Deplazes, Arno Came Niche

Editors: Mrs Funke, Martin Lagerholm, Francoise Sule

Translators: Anders Bodegård, Jens Christian Brandt, Christine Bredenkamp, ​​Aimée Delblanc, Ulla Ekblad, Forsgren, Ragna Essén, Martin Lagerholm, Anna Lindberg, Sofia Lindelof, Elisabeth Olin, Meta Ottosson, Ingmar Söhrman

[Rumpelstilzchen]

The only Swiss writer I am personally somewhat familiar with is Robert Walser, whose Jakob von Gunten is a magnificent short novel.

Yes, he has written more good stuff.

The most famous post-war writers are certainly Max Frisch and Friedrich Dürrenmatt. For me Max Frisch is the best one, Nobel prize worthy.

These days Christian Kracht is getting a lot of attention with his fourth novel "Imperium" that just came out this year.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

These days Christian Kracht is getting a lot of attention with his fourth novel "Imperium" that just came out this year.

We have a thread on Kracht btw: http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/...ristian-Kracht

[Daniel del Real]

I'm terribly misread about Swiss literature, but last December I had the chance to meet Peter Stamm, who was here in the city as part of the German language writers who came with the Guest country, Germany. He also presented his last translated novel 7 Years. So I bought a copy of a novel called Ungefähre Landschaft in Spanish translation, and I'll be reading it this month dedicated to literature from Eastern Europe & Mitteleuropa.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

My personal favorite of Max Frisch's books is Man In The Holocene (1979) by the way, a short and dense novella. From Wikipedia:

The New York Times Book Review included Man in the Holocene in its list of Best Books of 1980. The principal review was written by George Stade and appeared June 22, 1980. The review concluded "I should also mention that, as far as I can tell, this luminous parable of indeterminate purport is also a masterpiece."

Some other of his classics that are very worthwhile reading:


I am not Stiller (1954, novel)
Homo Faber (1957, novel)
Firebugs (1958, play)
Andorra (1961, play)
Gantenbein (1964, novel)
Montauk (1975, novel)

OH, and the diaries are quite famous, but somehow I have never tried them.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

to be published by New Directions, June 5th 2012

It is my favorite book by Walser.

[Eric]

Just out of interest, what is it that draws you to Robert Walser? He is surely an interesting author, but I haven't yet read him, so I don't know why.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

Just out of interest, what is it that draws you to Robert Walser? He is surely an interesting author, but I haven't yet read him, so I don't know why.

I am not a fan of this writer in particular. I like some his books, that is all. He is one of those writers who only became famous posthumously. What I personally like about this writer is his cheerfulness and playfulness on the one side (though there is also a strong component of existential Angst) and on the other side his stunning descriptions of the world that sometimes are exaggerated into very subjective perspectives. His writing feels very fresh, so to say. His short novella The Walk reads a bit like a feverish dream, if you like. Sometimes his writing is compared to the early short stories by Kafka as they can be found in his first publication Contemplation (1912). Or to put it differently, when Kafka's first publication came out, he was compared to Walser in the reviews. We know that Kafka admired Walser's work. Of course, Kafka went into a completely different direction then.

[Daniel del Real]

I am not a fan of this writer in particular. I like some his books, that is all. He is one of those writers who only became famous posthumously. What I personally like about this writer is his cheerfulness and playfulness on the one side (though there is also a strong component of existential Angst) and on the other side his stunning descriptions of the world that sometimes are exaggerated into very subjective perspectives. His writing feels very fresh, so to say. His short novella The Walk reads a bit like a feverish dream, if you like. Sometimes his writing is compared to the early short stories by Kafka as they can be found in his first publication Contemplation (1912). Or to put it differently, when Kafka's first publication came out, he was compared to Walser in the reviews. We know that Kafka admired Walser's work. Of course, Kafka went into a completely different direction then.

Do you recomend The Walk to start reading Walser?

[Liam]

Rumpy's gone, unfortunately.

I'd recommend to start with Jakob von Gunten, followed by the Brothers Quay film adaptation, The Institute Benjamenta.

[Cleanthess]

From Philippe Jaccottet, Switzerland:

Lettre du vingt-six juin/Letter of 26 June

From now on let our life be told to you by birds.
A man would churn out too many tales
and all you’d see through his words would be
a traveler’s lodgings, a window
where tears have misted a rain-shattered wood….

Night settles. You hear voices under the lime trees:
the human voice shines like the earthward gleam
of Antares which is sometimes red, sometimes green.
*
When we shall speak with the voice of the nightingale….

Translated by Jennie Feldman

Que les oiseaux vous parlent désormais de notre vie.
Un homme en ferait trop d'histoires
et vous ne verriez plus à travers ses paroles
qu'une chambre de voyageur, une fenêtre
où la buée des larmes voile un bois brisé de pluie...

La nuit se fait. Vous entendez les voix sous les tilleuls:
la voix humaine brille comme au-dessus de la terre
Antarès qui est tantôt rouge et tantôt vert.
*
Lorsque nous parlerons avec la voix du rossignol….

I got this from the excellent
ein klage-himmel blog (I have nothing to complaint about that site, it's heavenly ).

http://circumstanceandmagic.blogspot.com

[Eric]

I very nearly bought some books by Robert Walser second hand once, and rather regret that I didn't. But I can obtain things in Swedish and from the library in the town where I live, maybe even in German.