Renown in Letters Written Large in Swiss History

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 9 (Supplement)

Renown in Letters Written Large in Swiss History

LAUSANNE. —The role that Switzerland has played in the literature of Europe is entirely disproportionate to its size. Nor should one merely look at its native writers; it has inspired some of the best-known works of men like Schiller and Shelley, it has even in our own day opened its doors wide to Henry James, Homain Holland (who Lives at Villeneuve) and Thomas Mann. Only the other day a bust was unveiled at Geneva to Chateaubriand who was fond of visiting Switzerland, while the name of Rousseau and Woltaire are inseparably connected with the country. A Literary Cruise Nothing could be more instructive than a “literary cruise" round Lake .Leman. The memory of Calvin, oj ALadume do Stael, of Benjamin Constant, of Amici, are evoked. The Chateau de Chillun was celebrated by Byron. Gibbon completed in his Swiss nome his monumental work on Home. Huskin delighted in the vision ol lake and mountain. Sainte-Beuve wrote his “l’ort-Koyal" at Lausanne. A French. Academician, Edmond Joloux, has made his abode by the lake that has also drawn to it Andre Gide aud Jacques Chardonue. Differ on Writer’s Style Among the literary celebrities of the hour is C. F. Kamuz, authentically Swiss, who has, adojiting a style that is severely criticized by some and highly lauded by others, imposed himself on all who read and love the ' french language. I In the German language Switzerland counts four great writers of the nineteenth century—Gotthelf, Keller, C. F. Meyer aud Carl Spitteler, and to-day there is a long list of young men and women who are carrying on the tradition of Gcrmano-Swiss eulIn the Italian Tongue The Italian tongue has been enriched by Francesco Chinesa, who has been enthusiastically accepted across the Alps, for the originality of his thought and the quality of his style. Nor is ho alone—he is the centre of a pleiad of writers in Italian. it is a notable fact that one little country should thus have contributed worthily to the literature of three countries, while remaining fundamentally itself.