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Switzerland’s diverse literature

As a country with four national languages, Switzerland is home to a diverse array of literature. For a good number of years, the “Swiss Review” has been showcasing the outstanding, stunning, unique works of Swiss authors both famous and forgotten. Literary scholar Charles Linsmayer covers this wide spectrum of excellence in his regular column. Our team of literary reviewers complements his articles with notes on recent publications.

The “Swiss Review” editorial team is responsible for all content. Contact email

Alex Capus | Stories in and around the Sevilla bar

Books

Isabelle Eberhardt | A restless woman goes travelling

Literature series

Alberto Nessi | Partisans and other stories

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Alberto Nessi’s “Miló” collection of stories, published in 2014, is finally available in German. The protagonists of these 18 stories live on the…

Jürg Federspiel | New York as the city of love and death

Literature series

Charles Linsmayer | 150 Swiss portraits

Books

Who is familiar with names like Lore Berger or Jonas Fränkel? Probably only a few people in the know or bookworms. It is a different story with Robert…

Hugo Loetscher | Zurich as a gateway to the world

Literature series

Peter Stamm | Alone through the world

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“Thomas and Astrid had put the children to bed and were sitting on the wooden bench in front of their house with a glass of wine…” Everything appears…

Germaine de Staël | She triumphed over Napoleon Bonaparte

Literature series

Therese Bichsel | The agonising question – stay or go?

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Jean-Luc Benoziglio | A native of the canton of Valais with an Italo-Turkish background

Literature series

Alexandra Lavizzari | From Kathmandu to Somerset via Rome

Literature series

Monique Schwitter | A woman and her lovers

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Ella Maillart | The sea and the vast expanse of Asia were her home

Literature series

Arno Camenisch | The pessimist and the dreamer

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“The dead are dancing too tonight” or “you feel an outsider in your own living room, and you are happy when you can leave again”. These are sentences…

Silvio Huonder | From Grisons to Lake Schwielowsee

Literature series

Joachim B. Schmidt | Back to the family drama

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Ina Jens | Had Heidi really lived...

Literature series

Edgar Hilsenrath | The Story of the Last Thought

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Tom Tirabosco | The story of an exile in Geneva told in a cartoon strip

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Charles Lewinsky | Surviving the winter in two senses

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Franziska Rogger | The path to political equality

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Paul Collier | Overcoming anxieties with ­sober-mindedness

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Cécile Ines Loos | Her mind was still ablaze while she dreamt

Literature series

John Knittel | He turned the world into a stage for his novels

Literature series

Max Lobe | The language of joy

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau | “He dared to say the words freedom and equality”

Literature series

Verena Stefan | A tale of illiberality and double standards

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The author has spared no effort trawling through an 800-page file on the abortion cases of a village doctor at the Bernese state archive. The doctor…

Karl Stauffer-Bern | He became a poet in a moment of great turmoil

Literature series

Patrick Deville | Discoverer and universal genius

Books

The saying goes that a prophet is without honour in his own country. This is certainly true in the case of Alexandre Yersin (1863-1943). However,…

Philippe Jaccottet | He put the small town of Grignan in the south of France on the map of world literature

Literature series
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