Swiss literature, literature on Switzerland in the four national languages. The overarching attempt to constitute the collective identity of a literature with a national attribute is particularly problematic for Swiss literature. For linguistic and territorial reasons, it exists in quadruple distribution with various extra-national relationships that are already manifest in the languages ​​spoken both in […]

Swiss Theater, the theater encompassing the four language regions (German, French, Italian, Romansh) of Switzerland; mostly in the tension between regional identity and the cultures of neighboring countries with the same languages. The theater traditions of German- and French-speaking Switzerland go back to the Middle Ages. The performances of spiritual games in the Rhaeto-Romanic region […]

The most interesting work of late medieval literature from the Alemannic-speaking area is the satirical epic “The Ring” by H. Wittenwiler. The extensive, multi-layered poetry handed down in just one manuscript (around 1410), which is conceived as a “negative didax” (teaching) with many allegorical elements and grotesque exaggerations, remained without imitators. The narrative prose literature […]