For a nation with only seven million inhabitants, the literature of Switzerland is astonishingly complex. First, it should be noted that the small country actually possesses four literatures, respective to each of their language regions (German, French, Italian, and Rhaeto-Romansh). The literatures produced in the different linguistic regions have as little in common with each other as do German, French, and Italian literatures. Generally, the focal point for Swiss authors is the culture of the respective larger neighboring country. In the case of eastern Switzerland, where Rhaeto-Romansh is spoken by less than 100.000 people, authors publish primarily in German to reach a larger audience (Iso Camartin [1944-], Reto Hänny [1947-], Flurin Spescha [1958-2000]). In addition, the German…
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Citation: Sabalius, Romey. "Swiss-German Literature, 1945-2000". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 October 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1486, accessed 21 November 2024.]
