Romansh literature
The Romansh literature is in Romansh written literature Switzerland. In contrast to the German, French and Italian-speaking Swiss, the Romansh speakers have no linguistic hinterland from which they could have benefited. In addition, the linguistic, geographical and confessional fragmentation and the awareness of autonomy in the Graubünden valleys prevented the formation of a political and cultural center that could have developed a uniform written language for a long time.
The Friulian literature in Udine , which is linguistically related to Romansh, developed under different circumstances, since its language was already used as a written business language in the 14th and 15th centuries. Like the Ladin literature of Northern Italy, it is therefore treated in separate articles, so that only the literature of Romansh speakers in Switzerland is dealt with below.
history
The beginning of Rhaeto-Romanic literature was marked by the political song "Chanzun da la guerra dalg Chiastè d'Müs" (Song of the Müsserkrieg ) by the Zuoz humanist Gian Travers (1483 / 84–1563), which was written as a testimony to oral literature in the Upper Engadine only in later times Copies have survived. Jachiam Tütschett Bifrun's “L'g Nuof Sainc Testamaint” (1560) formed the actual foundation stone for Rhaeto-Romanic literature . This translation of the New Testament in the Upper Engadine idiom ( Putèr ) is the first surviving printed text in Romansh literature. A little later, the transition to the written language also took place in the other idioms, for example in the Lower Engadine through Durich Chiampel's book of psalms “Vn cudesch da Psalms” (1562) and in the Surselvian (Upper Land ) through Stefan Gabriel's edification book “Igl vêr sulaz da pievel giuvan” (“ The real joy of the young people », 1611).
Until around 1750, literary production was limited to religious texts and theological texts, plays , passion and carnival plays . The fierce interdenominational disputes contributed to their spread, with different orthographies developing in the Catholic and Protestant areas. The writings of Conradin Riola (father and son) fall into this phase .
The Enlightenment promoted the creation of political and didactic texts from 1750. Since the middle of the 19th century, the press and school books also contributed to the revival of the Romansh language. The literary production initially came largely from emigrants living in Italy (so-called emigrant poetry ). It was shaped by authors such as Conradin Flugi von Aspermont (1787–1874), Gian Fadri Caderas (1830–1891) and Simeon Caratsch for the poetry and Giovannes Mathis and Johannes Barandun for the prose. The cantonal administration took over the schools in 1843 and tried - initially unsuccessfully - to standardize the written language.
In 1885, the canton school teacher Gion Antoni Bühler (1825-1897) founded the Societad Retorumantscha , which published in its yearbook Annalas new literature and articles on Rhaeto-Romanic culture , which has been published since 1886 . Caspar Decurtins collected the fairy tales, legends, folk songs and folk plays that had only been passed on orally until then. His “Rhaeto-Romanic Chrestomathy” (1888–1912) is still the most important collection of texts for Romansh literary studies. During this period, literature - starting from the Surselva - became an important instrument for the defense of Romansh peasant identity, especially in confrontation with Italian irredentists . Surselver authors such as the historian and ballad poet Giacun Hasper Muoth (also Giachen Casper Muoth , 1844–1906), Gian Fontana (1897–1935), Gion Antoni Huonder (1824–1867), Hans Erni (1867–1963) and the Lower Engadine Poet and narrator Peider Lansel (1863–1943), who also collected evidence of folk culture and published it in anthologies.
Until well into the 20th century, literary production remained rooted in folk literary traditions and used regional dialects . In 1919 an umbrella association of local language associations, the "Lia Rumantscha", was founded. However, it was only with the spread of radio and television that language development across regions began. Over 90% of the roughly 50 Rhaeto-Romanic novels published up to 2012 date from the period after 1950. Traditional forms such as fairy tales, sagas and parables were used to criticize the existing situation. New genres such as radio plays, youth books, literary chronicles and literary diaries found their way into the work of the Sursilvaners Leonard Caduff , Vic Hendry (Ludivic Hendry, pseudonym: Martin Busch, (1920–2014)), Theo Candinas (* 1929) and the Ladin Andri Peer . Jon Semadeni wrote plays and radio plays on Vallader .
The book "Litteratura dals Rumauntschs e Ladins" (1979) by the Zurich Romance studies professor Reto R. Bezzola is considered a milestone in the documentation of Romansh literature .
present
The introduction of a uniform official language, the Rumantsch Grischun for the Rhaeto-Romans in Graubünden since 2001, which is intended to replace school lessons in the five different dialects (the so-called “sixth fourth national language”) met with local resistance; however, it enables authors to turn to all of the Romansh federations without having to print the texts in all five idioms or having to use German as the common language. It has been shown that the Romantsch Grischun is easy to learn even without school lessons and can actually function as an umbrella language without replacing the local idioms; however, most authors still publish in the five dialects Rumantsch vallader, sursilvan, sutsilvan, surmiran or puter. The magazine Litteratura of the Uniun litteratura rumantscha, which has been published for almost 40 years, has contributed to the spread of Rumantsch Grischun.
Significant names in contemporary Rhaeto-Romanic literature are the Sursylvanian philologist, narrator and poet Arnold Spescha (* 1941), the Lower Engadine author Rut Plouda-Stecher (* 1948), Flurin Spescha (1958-2000), who wrote the first novel in Rumantsch Grischun in 1993 , and the Sursilvaner Leo Tuor (* 1959), whose works in German translation achieved cult status in Switzerland.
See also
literature
- Gion Deplazes: Romansh Literature. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Wilhelm Giese: The Rhaeto-Romanic literatures. In: Kindler's new literary lexicon. Munich 1996, Vol. 20, pp. 102-104.
- G. Mützenberg: Destin de la langue et de la littérature rhéto-romanes. 1992. Multilingual (in German, Surmiran, Ladin, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Vallader).
- Friedlieb Rausch: History of the literature of the Rhäto-Romanesque people, with a look at their language and character. JD Sauerländer, Aarau 1870.
- Clà Riatsch : literature and small language. Studies of Graubünden Romance literature since 1860 . 2 vols., Chur 1993.
- L. Uffer: Romansh literature. In: Kindler's literary history of the present. Munich 1974.
Anthology:
- Rumantscheia - A Romance-German anthology. Artemis, Zurich 1979.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Romansh literature , in: Der Literatur-Brockhaus , Mannheim 1988, vol. 3.
- ↑ Mini-portrait in Romansh ( memento from March 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed June 30, 2015
- ↑ http://www.bibliomedia.ch/de/autoren/Hendry_Vic/785.html
- ↑ http://www.bibliomedia.ch/de/autoren/Candinas_Theo/775.html
- ↑ Thomas Furter: Rumantsch Grischun. The sixth fourth national language of Switzerland? (pdf) Student thesis, University of Zurich 2006.
- ↑ Author information on www.perlentaucher.de Biography on www.bibliomedia.ch
- ↑ Author information on www.buchstart.ch