Yvette Z'Graggen

Yvette Z'Graggen (31 March 1920 - 16 April 2012) was a Swiss writer and translator.

Early life and education Yvette Z'Graggen was born in Geneva on 31 March 1920 to Alice (née Hekschohann) and Heinrich Z'Graggen. Her father was Swiss German and a dentist and her mother came from Vienna, with Hungarian ancestry. Her paternal grandfather came from the canton of Uri and had moved to Graubünden.Nicoletta Cimino: Ich bin ein gefallenes Mädchen – sei’s drum. In: Die Zeit. Nr. 14 vom 26. März 2020 Her parents spoke High German when she was young, her mother in memory of Vienna, her father because he preferred it to the Glarus dialect. After they decided to live in Geneva, French was spoken in the family. The family were part of the Protestant Geneva bourgeoisie. At the age of six, she invented the characters Mimi and Noémie, who were allowed to do things that Z'Graggen was not allowed to do.

She earned her high school Maturité in Geneva and then trained as a secretary. She also studied at the University of Florence.

During the Second World War, Z'Graggen worked for the International Red Cross from 1941 to 1946.

Career In 1939 she wrote her first book, L'Appel du rêve, which was published five years later in 1944 under the pseudonym Danièle Marnan. She wrote novels, autobiographical accounts, short stories and numerous radio plays.

She translated works from Italian and German. Some of her books have been translated into German, Italian, Hungarian and Romanian.

From 1949 to 1952, Z'Graggen she worked as a secretary at the Rencontres Internationales de Genève and at the European Cultural Society in Venice.

From 1952 to 1982, she produced cultural and literary programmes for Radio Suisse Romande. From 1982 to 1989, Z'Graggen worked at the Comédie de Genève theatre when it was under the direction of Benno Besson.

Her 1982 book, Les années silencieuses (The Years of Silence) dealt with the Swiss refugee policy of the war years and the shame of those who had not recognised their shortcomings. In Matthias Berg (1995) and Ciel d'Allemagne (Germany's Sky (1996) she considered the ambivalent feelings her generation harboured towards Germany. In Mémoire d'elles (1999) she used two letters discovered in her late mother's belongings to explore the life of her grandmother.

Personal life In 1953, she married Robert Brunel, with whom she had a daughter in 1963. The marriage ended in divorce in 1978.

Death and commemoration Yvette Z'Graggen died on 16 April 2012 in Geneva at the age of 92, after a long illness. She was buried in the canton of Geneva.

In 2015–2016, Frédéric Gonseth made a film about Z'Graggen's life, Une femme au volant de sa vie, which was nominated for the Audience Award at the Journées de Soleure 2017 and released in cinemas later that year.

Works L'Appel du rêve (under the pseudonym Danièle Marnan), novel, Éditions Perret-Gentil, 1944 La Vie attendait, novel, J.-H. Jeheber, 1944, Éditions de l'Aire, 1996 L'Herbe d'octobre, novel, Jeheber, 1950, Éditions de L'Aire, 1989 Le Filet de l'oiseleur, novel, Jeheber, 1957, Éditions de L'Aire, 1996 Un Été sans histoire, novel, Éditions de la Baconnière, 1962, Éditions de L'Aire, 1987 Chemins perdus, three short stories, Éditions L'Aire, 1971 Un Temps de colère et d'amour, narrative, Éditions de L'Aire, 1980, 2004 Les Années silencieuses, narrative, Éditions de L'Aire, 1982, 1998 Cornelia, novel, Éditions de L'Aire, 1985, 2002 Changer l'Oubli, story, Éditions de L'Aire, 1989, 2001 Les Collines, [New ed.], short story, Éditions de L'Aire, 1991, 1997 La Punta, novel, Éditions de L'Aire, 1992, 1995 La Lézarde et autres nouvelles, Éditions de L'Aire, 1993, 2004 La Preuve; Un long voyage, postf. by Sylviane Roche, Éditions Zoé, 1995 Matthias Berg, novel, Éditions de L'Aire, 1995, 1999 Ciel d'Allemagne, story, Éditions de L'Aire, 1996, 2000 Quand la Vie n'attend plus, interviews, Éditions de L'Aire, 1997 Mémoire d'elles, narrative, Éditions de L'Aire, 1999, 2006 La Nuit n'est jamais complète, diary of the year 2000, Éditions de L'Aire, 2001 Un Etang sous la glace, novel, Éditions de L'Aire, 2003 Éclats de vie, Éditions de L'Aire, 2007 Juste avant la pluie, Éditions de L'Aire, 2011

Translations from Italian

Giorgio Orelli: Selected Poems, Éditions de L'Aire, 1973 Claudio Nembrini: Le Secret de San Carpoforo, Zoé, 1990 Angelo Casè: L'Espoir d'une vie meilleure, Éditions de L'Aire, 1994

Translations from German

Max Frisch: Suisse sans armée? un palabre, Bernard Campiche (ed.), 1989 Annemarie Schwarzenbach: La Vallée heureuse, Éditions de L'Aire/Le Griot, 1991 Urs Richle: Mall ou la disparition des montagnes, Zoé, 1997 Otto Steiger: La Patagonie peut-être, Éditions de L'Aire, 2000

Awards

1981: prix Bibliomedia for Un temps de colère et d'amour, 1980, Éditions de L'Aire. 1982: prix de la Société genevoise des Écrivains for Les années silencieuses, Éditions de L'Aire, 1982. 1990: prix Pittard de l'Andelyn. 1993: prix des auditeurs de la Radio suisse romande for La Punta, Éditions de L'Aire, 1992. 1996: Schiller Prize. 1998: prix Rambert, special centenary prize. 2004: prix Lipp Suisse for Un étang sous la glace, Éditions de L'Aire 2003. 2012: prix Édouard-Rod posthumously for Juste avant la pluie, Éditions de L'Aire 2011.

Yvette Z'Graggen

Bron en licentie