Zwischen Moderne und Konservatismus. Die Serie der ländlichen Mythen von C.F. Ramuz und ihre politische Lektüre

Abstract

During the interwar years, the rural novel has seen rising attention in the French literary field. In this context, the rural novels tend to take over political functions: either as a symbol for the rural traditions of French speaking regions or as a means to highlight the living conditions of workers and farmers in a more leftist approach. Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, a prolific Swiss writer of rural novels at the end of World War 1, has been received during his life as well as a modernist with a unique, oralized literary style – and therefore been adopted by leftist literary circles – as later on been elevated by the right wing press as a symbol for Swiss nationalism. This study of the so-called ‘mythical novels’ and their seriality tries to analyze their idealization of Swiss country life and to situate Ramuz’s political position in the literary field of his time.