Alice Rivaz

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Alice Rivaz 1995

Alice Rivaz (* 14. August 1901 in Rovray as Alice Golay ; † 27. February 1998 in Genthod ) was a Swiss writer from the French-speaking Switzerland .

Life

Alice Rivaz studied music and trained as a pianist and music teacher. From 1925 to 1959 she worked as a documentalist at the International Labor Office (BIT) in Geneva . She published her first novel, Nuages ​​dans la main , in 1940. During the war years, the author was unemployed because the BIT moved to Montréal. She kept herself afloat with various small jobs, including journalism, but also used this time to devote herself intensively to writing. Her second novel Comme le sable was published in 1946, and in 1947 her third La Paix des ruches , whose importance as a forerunner of feminist literature was only recognized at the end of the 1960s when it was reprinted.

Memorial plaque on the birthplace of Alice Rivaz in Rovray

After a 14-year career break - after her early retirement - Alice Rivaz published the collection of short stories Sans Alcool in 1961 . This was followed in 1966 by an autobiographical text in 11 chapters, the lyrical prose book Comptez vos jours , which she considered her best, in 1967 the extensive novel Le Creux de la vague , a continuation of Comme le sable , and in 1968 L'Alphabet du matin which tells about her childhood in Clarens near Montreux and Lausanne .

Two more works followed in the 1970s: the collection of short stories De Mémoire et d'oubli in 1973 , her main work in 1979, the novel Jette ton pain , the essay collection Ce Nom qui n'est pas le mien in 1980 and, finally, her diary entries Traces de vie in 1983 , carnets 1939-1982 .

Alice Rivaz grave

Alice Rivaz spent most of her life in Geneva in a small apartment where she lived for 60 years and wrote all of her literary works. From 1992 until her death she lived in Genthod near Geneva. She is buried in the Cimetière des Rois cemetery, to the right of the musicians Ernest Ansermet and Alberto Ginastera .

An Intercity tilting train operated by SBB , an adult school in Geneva (the Collège pour adultes Alice-Rivaz ), a street in Geneva’s Champel district, a square in Clarens in Vaud and a literature prize (since 2015) are named after her.

She has received several awards for her work. Some of her books have been translated into German and first published by the former Benziger Verlag in Zurich and, from 1993, by Lenos Verlag in Basel . Alice Rivaz's estate is in the Swiss Literary Archives in Bern .

Works

Novels

  • Nuages ​​in the main. 1940; Clouds in hand. German by Markus Hediger . Huber Verlag Frauenfeld 1992; Lenos Verlag , Basel 1995.
  • Comme le sable. 1946; Like sand through your fingers. German by Markus Hediger. Lenos Verlag, Basel 2000 and 2006.
  • La Paix des ruches. 1947; The peace of the bees. German by Marcel Schwander . Benziger Verlag, Zurich 1976; Lenos Verlag, Basel 1993 and 2001,
  • Le Creux de la vague. 1967; The valley of the waves. German by Markus Hediger, Lenos Verlag, Basel 2001,
  • L'Alphabet du matin. 1968.
  • Jette ton pain. 1979; Sleepless night. German by Markus Hediger. Lenos Verlag, Basel 1994 and 1997, Swiss Library Zurich 2005.

stories

  • Cendres. 1943.
  • Sans alcool. 1961.
  • Comptez vos jours. 1966; Measure the time. German by Marcel Schwander. Benziger Verlag, Zurich 1976; Basel 1993.
  • De Mémoire et d'oubli. Stories, 1973; From memory, from oblivion. German by Markus Hediger. Basel 1997.
  • L'Homme et son enfant. Sans alcool. Le Canari. Stories. 1996.

Essays

  • Ce Nom qui n'est pas le mien. 1980.
  • Jean-Georges Lossier. Poésie et vie interior. 1986.

Diaries

  • Traces de vie, Carnets 1939-1982. 1983.

Correspondence

  • Creuser des puits dans le desert. Lettres à Jean-Claude et Paule Fontanet. 2001.
  • Les enveloppes bleues. Correspondance 1944-51. (with Pierre Girard), 2005.
  • Pourquoi serions-nous heureux? Correspondance 1945–1982. (with Jean-Georges Lossier ), 2008.

Audio book

Awards

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Rivaz, Alice
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Golay, Alice (single name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss writer
DATE OF BIRTH August 14, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Rovray
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 1998
Place of death Genthod