Selina Chönz

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Selina Chönz (born August 4, 1910 in Samedan ; † February 17, 2000 there ) was a Swiss author. Her best-known work is Schellenursli , a children's book illustrated by Alois Carigiet .

Selina Chönz's house in Guarda

Life

Selina Chönz was born as the oldest child and only daughter of the Meyer-Ronzi family. The father, the German Anton M. Meyer (1884–1962) from Hof was a printer and typesetter. Selina trained as a Montessori kindergarten teacher in Bern . After language stays in French-speaking Switzerland, England and Italy, she found her first job in Zuoz in the Engadin. A short time later she was appointed to Zurich as a teacher for kindergarten teachers. There she got the idea to write a children's book herself.

In 1939 she married the architect Iachen Ulrich Könz (1899–1980), who brought four boys from his first marriage into the marriage. Later they had a son, the painter and draftsman Steivan Liun Könz (1940–1998); however, she had a broken relationship with him throughout his life.

Selina Chönz attached great importance to maintaining Romansh. Although she replaced the German "K" with the "Ch" and called herself "Chönz", she was never really accepted into the village community. She lived with her family in Guarda until 1981. In the last years of her life, Selina Chönz suffered from senile dementia.

Chasa 51 in Guarda, template for the Schellenurslihaus in the book

Uorsin was the original version of the Schellenursli , written in Upper Engadine Romansh . Selina Chönz was able to win over the Swiss artist Alois Carigiet , whose posters and backdrops she knew from the Zurich Cabaret Cornichon , as an illustrator for her books. In the years 1940–1945 he came to Guarda for two months at a time, where the drawings for the book Schellenursli were made in the Chönz house. The neighboring house, Chasa 51, served as a template for the Ursli house in the book. This is how one of the most famous Swiss picture books came about. Schellenursli was sold over a million times after the Second World War.

Several works such as the story of Flurina followed, written by Selina Chönz and illustrated by Alois Carigiet. The books appeared in different languages ​​and are reissued over and over again.

Works

stories

  • La chastlauna. (1940)
  • Il purtret da l'antenat. (1943)
  • La scuvierta da l'orma. Novel volume (1950)

Children's books

  • Schellenursli. (1945) Illustrated by Alois Carigiet.
  • Flurina and the wild bird. (1952) Illustrated by Alois Carigiet.
  • The big snow. (1957) Illustrated by Alois Carigiet.

literature

  • Marcella Maier: Obituary for Selina Könz (1910–2000). In: Bündner Jahrbuch: Zeitschrift für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte Graubünden, Vol. 43, 2001, pp. 163–165 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kathrin Siegfried: Steivan Liun Könz - story painter and picture counter 1940–1998. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 2011; P. 19
  2. ↑ Tages-Anzeiger of July 2, 2011, p. 31.
  3. ↑ Kathrin Siegfried: Steivan Liun Könz - story painter and picture counter 1940–1998. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 2011; P. 123
  4. ↑ The last German edition of the Schellenursli appeared in 2010.
personal data
SURNAME Chönz, Selina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Koenz, Selina
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss author
DATE OF BIRTH 4th August 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Samedan
DATE OF DEATH February 17, 2000
Place of death Samedan