Romansh literature
Like Friulian, Romansh is a Romance language that dates back to the Roman conquest of the Alps in 15 BC. However, its transition to written form and the emergence of its literature came late, for at least three reasons: competition from Italian and German, which is still very real today - indeed, Graubünden is the only canton to be trilingual; the small number of speakers, around 50,000 today, which has earned Romansh a place on UNESCO's list of endangered languages; and the fact that the term Romansh encompasses five different languages - Sursilvan, Surmiran, Vallader, Sutsilvan and Puter - making their preservation more complex. In 1982, Rumantsch Grischun was created, a unified written "roof language" that facilitates the translation of federal documents, an obligation since a vote in 1996 added official language status to its status as a national language (obtained in 1938).
The earliest handwritten trace of the language dates back to the 10th century in Würzburg, but it was really at the time of the Reformation that the language was put into writing, thanks in particular to Johann Travers from Engadin, who in 1527 recounted his captivity at Musso Castle(Chanzun de la guerra dalg Chiastè d'Müs). The first texts were mainly translations of religious texts, with Jachiam Bifrun (1506-1572) giving a Puter version of the New Testament in 1560. It was not until the 19th century that the first signs of standardization appeared, with Zaccaria Palliopi setting the spelling of the Upper Engadine language in 1857, and poetry flourished. Conradin Flugi von Aspermont (1787-1874) wrote Alchünas rimas romaunschas, which recounted the emigration, and Gion Antoni Huonder, whose Il Pur suveran(Le Paysan libre et indépendant, 1865) became a regional anthem, which Giachen Caspar Muoth(Il Gioder, 1886 ; A mesiras, 1896), who also evoked the history of Graubünden(Il Cumin d'Ursèra de 1425, 1896).
Another important poet is Peider Lansel, who was born in Pisa in 1863 and died in Geneva in 1943, and who also dedicated himself to defending Romansh culture, as confirmed by his essays published from 1913 to 1917 in a collection with the evocative title Ni Italians, ni Tudais-chs, Rumantschs vulains restar(Neither Italians, nor Germans, we want to remain Romansh). He also published over two hundred poems, for which he was awarded the prestigious Schiller Prize in 1943. We could also mention Selina Chönz (author) and Alois Carigiet (illustrator) for their children's book series Schellen-Ursli, novelist Gian Fontana, Fluri Darms for his translations into Romansh of great classics of world literature, Cla Bert for his autobiographical story Une jeunesse en Engadine, the talented brothers Andri and Oscar Peer(Hannes, éditions d'En Bas, Coupe sombre, éditions Zoé), the daring Hendri Spescha (1928-1982), whose collections Il Giavin dalla siringia (1984) and Uss : poesias (1998), and the novelist Toni Halter, who questioned modernity. Romansh has the distinction of being the only Swiss language that does not belong to another country, and it has gained in vigor thanks to the Ligia Romontscha, in which Theo Candinas was involved. Although still fragile, a new generation of writers, such as Leo Tuor, winner of numerous awards, and Arno Camenisch, who knows how to navigate between languages; his Graubünden cycle is published by Quidam.
Swiss Italian literature
When it comes to Italian-speaking Switzerland, and despite a few Italian-speaking valleys in Graubünden, it's usually Ticino we're referring to. Created in 1803, this canton remains culturally oriented towards Italy, although its (r)attachment to the confederation gave rise to its first "Swiss writings": La Svizzera italiana (1840), a statistical work by the future politician Stefano Franscini (1796-1857), and the Correspondance between Vincenzo d'Alberti (1763-1849), Secretary of State, and Paulus Usteri. In literature, Francesco Chiesa (1871-1973) also explored Ticino identity, exerting a major influence through his commitment to the defense of the region's heritage. He was awarded the Schiller Prize in 1928, and is the author of Racconti puerili and Sonetti di San Silvestro, among other works. Giuseppe Zoppi (1896-1952), for his part, sings of the Ticino peasant way of life in Il libro dell'alpe(The Book of the Alps, 1922), which brought him great renown. He was also the Italian translator of Ramuz.
In 1921, Giorgio Orelli (1921-2013) was born in Airolo, and is considered to be the greatest Swiss-Italian poet. Equally at ease with the strictest metrics and free verse, he opened up new horizons for poetry that until then had remained very classical. Using dialect and Italian, he interrogates everyday life, contrasting the splendor of his landscapes with the throes of modernity. He is also a witness to the difficulty Ticino authors have in gaining recognition: he published regularly in Italian magazines and anthologies, but his collection Sinopie was not fully translated into French until 2000 (éditions Empreintes). In 2021, Éditions Circé published his short stories under the title Un jour de la vie. His cousin, Giovanni Orelli (1928-2016), made a name for himself as a novelist in Italy, with translations appearing in France(Le Rêve de Walaceck, 1998, Gallimard) and Switzerland(Les Myrtilles du Moléson, 2020, La Baconnière). His savory, pungent language blends Ticinese and Italian, earning him the Schiller Prize in 2012. Last but not least, Fabio Pusterla, Jaccottet's translator, has also acquired a certain renown beyond the canton's borders, proof perhaps that the trend is reversing, as confirmed by the Swiss Grand Prize for Literature awarded to Alberto Nessi in 2016 and the positive reception of the work of Pierre Lepori, who publishes (and self-translates!) with Editions d'En Bas(Comme un chien, Nuit américaine) and Anne Ruchat, born in Zurich in 1959, raised in Ticino and now living in Italy.
French-language literature
Is the supposed rivalry between French-speaking Switzerland and France due to the latter's habit of appropriating certain authors, as it did with Jean-Jacques Rousseau(Du contrat social, Rêveries du promeneur solitaire), whose birth in Geneva in 1712 is all too often forgotten? History repeats itself withMme de Staël, author of a now-classic Correspondance - although she was born in Paris to a Genevan family - and Benjamin Constant(Adolphe, Le Cahier rouge), a native of Lausanne who became a naturalized French citizen in 1790. In the 19th century, Henri-Frédéric Amiel published Du mouvement littéraire dans la Suisse romane et de son avenir (The Literary Movement in French-speaking Switzerland and its Future ) in 1849, as well as keeping a voluminous, philosophically-influenced Journal . Meanwhile, in Geneva, Rodolphe Töpffer invented the comic strip.
The century also saw the birth of some great writers who, even if they sometimes gave in to the sirens of Paris, were nonetheless representative of a true Swiss soul. Édouard Rod(Le Sens de la vie, La Course à la mort) refused to sit on the French Academy so as not to have to renounce his nationality. The Cingria brothers, Alexandre and Charles-Albert, competed in all the arts, while Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz (1878-1947) asserted himself in the regionalist vein and in a style as close as possible to the Vaudois idiom. His novels - Aline, La Grande Peur dans la montagne, Derborence, etc. - are unmissable. In the 20th century, travel literature offered Romandie some of its finest pages thanks to Blaise Cendrars(Prose du Transsibérien, Bourlinguer), Ella Maillart(Oasis interdites, La Voie cruelle) and the inestimable Nicolas Bouvier(L'Usage du monde, Le Poisson-scorpion), but poetry was not to be outdone: the work of Gustave Roud (1897-1976) and Maurice Chappaz (1916-2009) precedes that of Philippe Jaccottet (1925-2021), who had the rare honor of being included in the Pléiade during his lifetime. In 1973, Jacques Chessex won the Goncourt with L'Ogre and continued to present an unpolished image of French-speaking Switzerland, as did Yvette Z'Graggen in 1982 with Les Années silencieuses. In terms of female voices, we should mention Corinna Bille, Alice Rivaz, Anne Cuneo, Monique Saint-Hélier, and in terms of contemporary voices, we should hesitate, as they are so numerous and talented: Noëlle Revaz, Joël Dicker, Daniel de Roulet, Thomas Sandoz, Blaise Hofmann, and so on.
German-language literature
German, used by 65% of the population, is spoken in local dialects (züritüütsch, bärndütsch, etc.) but written in "good German", as the saying goes, although some authors (Carl Albert Loosli, Ernst Burren, Pedro Lenz...) periodically prefer to use dialect. A secular literature, it has produced masterpieces since the Middle Ages, including the Codex Manesse, a sumptuous manuscript of lyrical poetry (minnesang), and Ulrich Zwingli's translation of the Bible. The Enlightenment saw Zurich become a sphere of influence for German-language letters, with publishing houses multiplying and intellectuals flocking there: Johann Jakob Bodmer, Johann Jakob Breitinger, Albrecht von Haller, Johann Gaudenz von Salis-Seewis..
The 19th century was tinged with a certain patriotism: Albert Blitzius from Bern - under the pseudonym Jeremias Gotthelf - praised the rural world, sometimes using dialect, in theUli saga (L'Âge d'homme), and feared the modernity to which Gottfried Keller aspired(Les Gens de Seldwya, éditions Zoé). In poetry, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1825-1898) dominates, although his short stories have been translated into French (La Femme juge, éditions de l'Aire, Coup de feu en plein sermon, L'Âge d'homme), and children's literature welcomes Heidi by Johanna Spyri (1827-1901).
With the outbreak of the First World War, Zurich became Dada when the Romanian Tristan Tzara met the German Hugo Ball, and the Basel-born Carl Spitteler was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1919. Ten years later, Robert Walser entered a psychiatric clinic, where he remained until his death in 1956. It was only after his death that the strength of his strange literary career, from his novels to his "micrograms": Les Enfants Tanner, Seeland, La Rose, etc., was really recognized. In the 1970s, an eponymous group of writers met at the Olten train station buffet, and boasted among its ranks, as worthy representatives of German-speaking Switzerland, the multifaceted writer Max Frisch(Stiller, Grasset, Journal berlinois, éditions Zoé) and the playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt, whom Albin Michel has undertaken to republish in full. A first volume of his novels(La Promesse, La Panne, Le Juge et son bourreau, Le Soupçon) was published in 2021, and his indispensable plays are available from Arche éditeur: Le Météore, Les Physiciens, Les Fous de Dieu... Contemporary literature is still extremely lively, as the successes of Peter Stamm, Martin Suter, Alain Claude Sulzer, Matthias Zschokke and Lukas Bärfuss suggest.
