Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz
Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz was a Swiss writer born in 1878 in Lausanne, in the canton of Vaud. He initially pursued his literary ambitions in Paris, producing a significant body of work, including novels, poems, and short stories over a twelve-year period. However, feeling increasingly alienated from urban life and its artistic demands, he returned to Switzerland in 1914, settling in Pully, where he focused on the life and people he knew—fishermen, farmers, craftsmen, and peasants. This shift proved fruitful, as he gained recognition for his sensitive portrayal of Swiss rural life.
Ramuz aimed to convey authentic human emotions and experiences, striving to depict the beauty and virtues of his homeland while avoiding philosophical abstractions. Despite some criticism regarding the mystical elements in his work, his storytelling resonated with readers and secured him a wide audience. His literary contributions were acknowledged when he was considered for the Nobel Prize in 1945. Ramuz passed away in 1947 in Pully, leaving behind a legacy that reflects the essence of Swiss culture and landscapes.
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Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz
Swiss novelist
- Born: September 24, 1878
- Birthplace: Lausanne, Switzerland
- Died: May 23, 1947
- Place of death: Pully, near Lausanne, Switzerland
Biography
Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz (rah-mew) was born in 1878 in Lausanne, on Lake Geneva in the canton of Vaud. He studied at the University of Lausanne and in 1902 moved to Paris, where he intended to develop his capacities as a writer. During the next twelve years he wrote diligently, producing several novels and numerous poems and short stories. Becoming increasingly dissatisfied with life in Paris and with his work, however, he began to believe that isolation in France neither liberated him nor provided him with the kind of material he was best equipped to handle. Consequently, he resolved to return to his birthplace and to write in the midst of the life he remembered and valued. In 1914 he settled down once more in Switzerland, in the town of Pully, and began a flow of work about the people he understood, writing of fishermen and farmers, of craftsmen and peasants.
His decision was soon shown to be wise. A series of novels concerned with Swiss life came from Pully, bringing success and recognition to their author. Writing in a sympathetic way about the people he knew, he won a wide audience. Although there were critics who claimed that he was allowing his metaphysical and mystical interests to cloud his clear vision of the people of Switzerland, there was enough of the beauty and virtue of the land in his books to make them widely accepted. Ramuz explained in a critical discussion of his work that he intended to communicate the basic emotions of actual life not by philosophical analysis or contrived situations but by selecting those features of real life that would best exemplify the qualities he wanted to share.
Ramuz was considered for the Nobel Prize in 1945, a tribute to the enduring quality of his work and to his productivity. Two years later, on May 23, 1947, he died in Pully as the result of an operation.
Bibliography
Bevan, David. The Art and Poetry of Ramuz: Reflections on Immobility and Movement in the Novels. New York: Oleander Press, 1977.
Bevan, David. Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz. Boston: Twayne, 1979.
Bevan, David. Towards Narrative Stasis in the Novels of C.-F. Ramuz. Port Elizabeth, N.Y.: University of Port Elizabeth, 1976.
Parkinson, Michael H. The Rural Novel: Jeremias Gotthelf, Thomas Hardy, C. F. Ramuz. New York: P. Lang, 1984.