Swiss Literature and Culture

Dear Colleagues,

Switzerland lies at the heart of the European continent, straddling linguistic, cultural, confessional and topographical borders. The modern Swiss state and its historical predecessors have been home to artists, writers, thinkers and creatives who have made major impacts on Swiss, European and global cultural history. From the architecture of Le Corbusier, the art of Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Angelica Kauffmann, the writings of Max Frisch and Fleur Jaeggy, to the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Ferdinand de Saussure’s semiotic theories, Swiss cultural and intellectual production has resonated far beyond the borders of Switzerland. Despite this rich history, Swiss contributions to art, literature, film, visual culture, performance, architecture and philosophy have often been treated as marginal phenomena, subsumed into the cultural history of the broader linguistic zones beyond the Confederation’s borders—if not overlooked entirely.

This Special Issue seeks to redress this imbalance by exploring the vital and multifaceted contributions that Swiss writers, artists and creatives have made to local, European and global cultural history. It aims to present and explore Swiss culture as a dynamic phenomenon that responds to socio-political, historical and cultural developments within and beyond Switzerland’s borders. The issue takes a deliberately inclusive approach to recognize the role played by Swiss citizens outside of Switzerland and of non-Swiss within the state. Indeed, Switzerland has long been a space of sustained migration, as well as presenting itself as a refuge from foreign persecution and war. At the same time, this issue will address the conceptual blind spots that underpin popular conceptualizations of Switzerland at home and abroad, as well as cultural responses to these. The issue aims to take a diachronic approach and welcomes contributions covering all eras of cultural and political history.

Possible topics might include, but are not limited to, the following:

• How have Swiss artists, writers and creatives responded to specifically Swiss historical, social, cultural and political developments?
• How has Swiss literature and culture responded to, and stimulated, European and global cultural, political and historical developments?
• To what extent can we think of a “Swiss” culture that transcends the state’s internal linguistic, political and cultural borders?
• How have Swiss cultural artefacts engaged with and critiqued political and cultural understandings of “Swissness”?
• What role have Swiss citizens played in cultural developments outside of Switzerland, and non-Swiss within the Swiss confederation?
• How are Swiss artists, writers and cultural producers responding to contemporary concerns like global conflict, population displacement, colonial entanglements and ecological breakdown?

Dr. Richard McClelland
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Humanities is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Swiss literature and culture
• literary multilingualism
• Swissness