Publications

Vilenican Anthologies – Anthology of Contemporary Swiss Literature

Occupying a special place at the 28th Vilenica Festival will be multi-ethnic Switzerland and its literatures, written in the German, French, Italian, and, Romansh languages, as well as the languages of its many immigrants. On this occasion, the Vilenica Anthologies series of the Slovene Writer’s Association will publish the Anthology of Contemporary Swiss Literatureentitled Gluscht. Dr. Vesna Kondrič Horvat is the editor of the anthology, and Ana Barič Moder, Vesna Kondrič Horvat, Mojca Kranjc, Meta Lah, Amalija Maček, Gašper Malej, Mojca Schlamberger, Aleš Šteger, and Primož Vitez contributed translations.

As the editor writes in her introduction to the anthology, we cannot speak of a single Swiss national literature but rather of the four literatures of Switzerland. There is very little cross fertilization among the language groups in Switzerland and therefore four exceptionally rich literatures have developed almost entirely independently of each other, both in terms of theme and approach, and thus are even more open to outside influences from the larger German, French, and Italian linguistic spheres and farther afield. The anthology draws attention to fragments from the rich treasure chest of Swiss literature and awakens in the reader the desire to discover more gems from this extraordinarily diverse, small but linguistically varied, literary space. The work of the following authors appears in the anthology: German-language writers Adolf Muschg, Erica Pedretti, Hedi Wyss, Franz Hohler, Rolf Lappert, Alex Capus, Franco Supino, Catalin Dorian Florescu, Pedro Lenz, Christoph Simon, Ilma Rakusa, Raphael Urdweider, Urs Widmer, Thomas Hürlimann, Lukas Bärfuss; French-language writers Jacques Chessex, Ghislaine Dunant, Michel Layaz, Frédéric Wandelère; Italian-language writers Giovanni Orelli, Alberto Nessi, Pietro De Marchi, and; Romansh-language writers Arno Camenisch and Leta Semadeni. The cover art of the anthology is entitled “Breakfast in Fur” and painted by the renowned Swiss artist Meret Oppenheim whose 100th anniversary would be celebrated this year. Publication of the book was made possible for the Slovenian Book Agency and Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.