Swiss Literature - Romansh Branch

Romansh Branch

Romansh is spoken by some 1% of Switzerland's 7.4 million inhabitants. It is the smallest of Switzerland's national languages in terms of number of speakers, and has not much to show in the way of literary activity. Fears of the language perishing altogether have spurred certain energetic groups to promote and foster a language revival. The five largest languages in the Romansh family are Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter and Vallader. Puter and Vallader are sometimes considered one language: Ladin. Romansh was standardized in 1982. The unified language, called Rumantsch Grischun, is used by the federal government and the canton of Graubünden, where is it an official language, for administrative purposes.

The oldest known written records of Romansh dating from the period before 1500 are:

• the Würzburg manuscript (10th century);
• the Einsiedeln Homily which was discovered in 1907, and consists of a few lines, in an early form of the Romonsch dialect, of interlinear translation (with the original Latin text) of a sermon attributed to St Augustine. This monument is said to date from the early 12th century;
• the Müstair linguistic monument dated 1389 and consisting of a fragment of a document about grazing rights on common land.

The emergence of Romansh as a literary language is generally dated to the mid-16th century. The first poem in Ladin was one on the Musso war, written in 1527 by Gian Travers (Johann von Travers, 1483–1563), though it was not published till 1865. The first book printed in it (at Poschiavo in 1552) was the translation of a German catechism, and the next a translation of the New Testament, also at Poschiavo, but in 1560, both works by Jachiam Bifrun. Most of the works in both these dialects are translations of books of a religious or educational nature.

The principal writers in the Romonsch dialect, generally the less literary of the two, in the 19th century are Theodor von Castelberg (1748–1830), a poet and translator of poetry, and P. A. de Latour (about 1811) also a poet, while the best of all poets in this dialect was Anton Huonder, whose lyrics are considered remarkable. Alexander Balletta (1842–1887) wrote prose romances and sketches, while J. C. Muoth (Giacun Hasper Muoth, 1844–1906), himself a most typical and characteristic figure, wrote much in prose and verse as regards his native region.

In Ladin one of the chief figures was the poet Conradin von Flugi (1787–1874), who published volumes of poems in 1845 and 1861, but the poems, novels and translations of Gian Fadri Caderas (1830–1891) are placed above them. Other Ladin poets are Florin Valentin, O. P. Juvalta and S. Caratsch (d. 1892), while Peider Lansel (1863–1943) represents a younger generation. Zaccaria Pallioppi (1820–1873) also wrote poems, but the excellent Ladin dictionary that he compiled was not published till 1895 by the care of his son.

Drama was represented by biblical plays, most notably the Passiuns sursilvanas (developed in 17th–18th century). From the 18th century, courtroom dramas based on criminal cases were added to the village repertoire. In the early 20th century, many villages would stage an annual vernacular comedy.

Following the First World War the Sutsilvan dialect developed a literature and the language achieved a measure of standardisation by the end of the Second World War.

From the 1940s onwards, Romansh writers consciously attempted to assimilate influences from international literary movements, as well as reflecting the situation of traditional Romansh culture as a disappearing way of life in a world of modernity and change. In 1946, a Romansh writers’ union was established by Artur Caflisch and Jon Guidon, known since 2004 as ULR (Union for Romansh Literature).

Jon Semadeni established the La Culissa theatrical touring company in 1944. His drama Il pövel cumada, which was first staged in 1946, is considered a landmark in Romansh drama. The company ceased touring in 1977.

Since 1990 an annual Romansh literary festival has been held.

Other writers include: Maurus Carnot (1846–1935), Giachen Michel Hay (1860–1920), Gian Fontana (1897–1935), Leza Uffer (1912–1982), Armon Planta (1917–1986), Gion Luregn Derungs, Gion Deplazes (born 1918), Cla Biert (1920–1981), Andri Peer (1921–1985), Martin Suter, Tim Krohn.