Charles Ferdinand Ramuz
For a while Ramuz (1878-1947) was considered the main bard of roman Switzerland or the prototype of the writer of the land. Those labels distorted the perception of a work that is among the most original and audacious of the 20th century. Creator of a personal language that he created and imposed against any kind of academism, Ramuz freed the novel from classical convention. If his plots indeed take place in the district of Vaud and Valais in the countryside, they all tackle actual questions that are still modern and relevant today: the disappearance of common values, the fake promises of desire. This disenchanted acknowledgments, carried by a tragic tension, are softened by the search for beauty and by moments of lyrical contemplation that express the insatiable quest of an harmony between man and nature.