The literary archives of the Swiss National Library are home to more than 250 literary estates - and 36 typewriters.
Literaturarchiv Nationalbibliothek
Hermann Hesse, 1877-1962
The distinctive glasses of the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature are today in the Swiss Literary Archive. Hesse lived in canton Ticino from 1919 until his death in 1962.
Literaturarchiv Nationalbibliothek
Patricia Highsmith, 1921-1995
The keys to Highsmith's house in the Maggia Valley in canton Ticino, where the American novelist lived from 1981. She changed the lock but kept the keys as a memento. The writing says: "MAIN DOOR BACK / ornamental only! / Lock now changed“.
Literaturarchiv Nationalbibliothek
Walter Vogt, 1927-1988
The flower was designed by German-born Swiss artist Meret Oppenheim (1913-1985) with whom the Swiss author and psychiatrist had a long relationship. Vogt wrote critically about doctors and the hospital system and also tackled the issue of death and his bisexuality.
Literaturarchiv Nationalbibliothek
Thomas Hürlimann, 1950-
The son of a former cabinet minister left the Swiss Literary Archive manuscripts, notebooks and correspondences among other things. Hürlimann often deals with recent Swiss history.
Literaturarchiv Nationalbibliothek
Friedrich Dürrenmatt, 1921-1990
Dürrenmatt gave this Bordeaux as a birthday present to the Swiss journalist and author Otto Frei (1924-1990). The military identity tag on the right belonged to Dürrenmatt, who, as a member of the volunteer service, had to inscribe such 'gravestones'.
Literaturarchiv Nationalbibliothek
Franco Beltrametti, 1937–1995
The poet, painter and architect from Italian-speaking Switzerland often carried around utensils like this (stones, penknives, tubes of paint, pastel crayons, silk fabric and bamboo sticks). He also incorporated empty cigarette packets into his collages.
Literaturarchiv Nationalbibliothek
Jörg Steiner, 1930-2013
Legend has it that this battered wicker chair was used by author Robert Walser (1878-1956) when he lived in the Hotel Blaues Kreuz in Biel between 1913 and 1920. The hotel's former owner later gave it to writer Jörg Steiner.
Literaturarchiv Nationalbibliothek
Rainer Maria Rilke, 1875-1926
Rilke was so taken by this figure of a shepherd that he wrote a poem about it. The poet lived in Switzerland for several years and was buried in a cemetery in canton Valais. On the right is one of Rilke's handkerchiefs.
Literaturarchiv Nationalbibliothek
E.Y. Meyer, 1946-
Meyer was not only an author of novels, stories, plays, radio plays and poems. He also performed the Swiss equivalent of Punch and Judy shows with puppets he made himself.
Literaturarchiv Nationalbibliothek
Aglaja Veteranyi, 1962-2002
The Swiss actor and writer of Romanian origin wore this wedding dress during a performance in which she read the text written on the dress. Veteranyi drowned herself in Lake Zurich.
Literaturarchiv Nationalbibliothek
Blaise Cendrars, 1887-1961
This effigy of Swiss writer and adventurer Blaise Cendrars was made out of bran by Russian artist Marie Vassilieff. Cendrars joined the French Foreign Legion during the First World War and lost his right arm in 1915.
Literaturarchiv Nationalbibliothek
Laure Wyss, 1913-2002
This cardholder belonged to the Swiss journalist and author Laure Wyss, who often wrote about her role as a working mother raising a family on her own.
Literaturarchiv Nationalbibliothek
Georges Borgeaud, 1914-1998
Swiss writer and publisher Georges Borgeaud was born in Lausanne and moved to Paris in 1946.
Literaturarchiv Nationalbibliothek
Dieter Bachmann, 1940-
In addition to letters, diaries, photos and sketches, the Swiss author and commentator has given the literary archives his very first laptop. Archivists have built cardboard holders for each accessory.
Literaturarchiv Nationalbibliothek
Switzerland owes its literary archives to the renowned Swiss author and dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921-1990), who bequeathed his legacy to the country on condition that a national literary archive be founded. However, that is only half the story.
The idea actually came from the author Peter von Matt, who, while dealing with the literary estate of playwright and novelist Max Frisch (1911-1991), became convinced that the works of deceased authors belonged in the public domain.
In 1988, von Matt, together with Dürrenmatt’s lawyer, tried to persuade Dürrenmatt – author of works including Romulus the Great, The Visit and The Physicists – to go to the government and say “you’ll get my entire estate free of charge if you create a national literary archive”.
It worked: 25 years after its founding, the Swiss Literary Archive looks after more than 250 estates of dead and living authors.
(Text: Sibilla Bondolfi, Images: Simon Schmid, Swiss National Library, picture department: Christoph Balsiger)
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