von Claudia Schmid (2011)

Die Vierwaldstättersee-Gotthard-Region ist zweifellos eine der am dichtesten beschriebenen Literaturlandschaften Europas.

Barbara Piatti, Literaturwissenschaftlerin

Die spektakuläre Landschaft der Vierwaldstättersee-Region mit ihren Tälern und Berggipfeln hat literarische Spuren hinterlassen. Namhafte Autorinnen und Autoren der Weltliteratur sowie zahlreiche lokal verankerte Schriftstellerinnen und Schriftsteller haben sich schreibend mit der Region befasst. Der Dokumentarfilm führt auf eine faszinierende Reise durch Innerschweizer Landschaften und Buchseiten. Er stellt eine Auswahl historischer und aktueller Autorenpersönlichkeiten vor. Stimmige Textzitate lassen eintauchen in vergangene und visionäre Gedankenwelten und machen Lust auf eigene Lese-Entdeckungen.

The Literary Central Switzerland â€" a cinematic approach,
by Claudia Schmid, CH 2011, 82 - Dialect/German
(C) Albert Koechlin Stiftung AKS.
This documentary movie was shown in the cinema and is supplement of the following book (german language):
Ulrich Suter, Die literarische Innerschweiz. Regionen, Porträts mit Leseproben, Literatenverzeichnis.

The Literary Central Switzerland Flyer

» over the Wall« and the hole in the middle of Berlin. Berlin literature before and after the reunification – from a literary geography perspective « (Master thesis, University of Basel 2010)

Download of thesis (in German)_[1 MB]

Kathrin Winkler

Abstract: When space itself becomes the protagonist in stories that are set in Northern Frisia, it is usually the North Sea that intervenes in the plot. Its power to act (in form of floodings or storm surges) is always present and forms the backdrop against which the story unfolds. In most cases, the acting space is presented as an antagonist to the characters; the coastline as a natural border between land and water becomes a place of confrontation between man and nature.

This protagonistic-physical quality of space can be found in many texts set in Northern Frisia â€" and in the majority of cases it seems to bear the same narrative function. The natural catastrophe often enrolls parallely to an emotional or interindividual conflict, so that the increasing personal disaster is mirrored in the deluge. The rising of the water forces the characters to react and on the narrative level, the growing pressure on the outside parallels the aggravation of the inner conflict and the resulting call for action.

At the peak of the flood the solutions to both situations fall in one: the inland is either rescued from the water or flooded â€" the characters will either overcome their conflict or go down.

Figure 1: Single object map: Settings and projected places with protagonistical-physical characteristics, model region Northern Frisia

Kathrin Winkler and Kim Seifert

Abstract: This text provides an insight into the methods of the literary scholars within the project. Regarding literary texts set in Northern Frisia, the answer to the question, where the plot takes place, appears to be quite simple: on the western coast of Schleswig-Holstein. It is in this region, where dikes, the North Sea, and the mud flats can be found. But while the fictional geography of the text as a whole is very specific, the single settings often seem to be rather vague. Sometimes a real-world correspondent can be found by using biographical information about the author, but this can also be misleading, e.g. when the author has transformed the setting (for instance by relocating it). Furthermore, it is essential to keep in mind that the landscape of Northern Frisia has constantly been changing over the years. A setting in a text from the 1850s, which was, at that time, located directly on the coast, might be part of the inland today.

All this information has to be gathered from different sources and brought onto the map in order to obtain results about the structure of the particular fictionalized landscape. In the case of Northern Frisia the results so far show that the model region has to be divided in several subregions, which are evoked in their particular originality. Within each subregion the single settings are almost exchangeable. These observations raise the question, whether the spatial descriptions of these subregions can be distinguished.

To answer this question, a large amount of texts has to be taken into account to get significant results. Therefore the work is far from being finished…

Abstract: As one of the highest populated valleys in Europe, the Engadine marks a productive literary field. Clearly separated from urban areas and the flat country, but still sharply contrasting the mountainious regions, the valley lies somewhere inbetween these two opposite spaces.

The aim of this literary geographically study is to discover distinctive textual functions of this landscape as a whole, and of certain scenic elements, such as lakes, rivers, stone deserts and mountain peaks. Mapping four "Engadine-texts" from very different authors (Ulrich Becher, Cla Biert, Hans Boesch & Tim Krohn), I study how alpine landscape can function as trigger points and projection spaces (Figure 1 at the top), how narrated space is anchored in the geospatial level and how it is established diachronically (Figure 2). To that aim I use different scales of maps (Figure 2 compared to Figure 3), a variety of cartographical methods and divers ways of visualisation. Besides these topographical analyses I adress the semantic function of landscape, asking how it is constructed and, more importantly, to what textual value.

Figure 2: Diachronically appearance of literary spaces of Cla Bierts

Figure 3: Total plot of Hans Boeschs

Download of thesis in German [11.8 MB]