Swiss Scene

A fascinating and unbiased account of the Swiss people, their history and customs, their literature, art and science, religious turmoil and economic problems. “Don't sell this as a travel book. Actually, I could wish for a little more of that aura, but since it is not intended as such, that is mere quibbling. For here is an intellectual approach to the history, the geography, the political structure of a country that in many ways might serve as a microcosm of world federation in action. But the author has approached the subject realistically, and torn off the overlay of legend and story, showing a small country, protected from encroachments by its geographic expression, but far from being an oasis of peace. The cantons warred one with another; religious wars and civil wars tore them internally; the Catholic cantons attempted secession in 1848 and only then were the two major segments—Catholic and Protestant, brought together under one constitution. There were internecine class wars constantly. But by the end of the 15th century common sense dictated a common military organization of defense only to have the Reformation rip them asunder again. Finally the Congress of Vienna established the bound aries. Successive popular legends are gently dissected and disproved, and full circle is traced to Switzerland progresses from a peasant economy, to conquerors, soldiers of fortune, state monopolies, and back to unity of farmers and merchants. Names in the hall of fame, Voltaire, Rousseau, Amiel, and other writers; Pestalozzi, Henri Dumon, Zwingli—names internationally known in their fields; brief biographies integral to the overall picture of a people in a chronic state of political excitement, but yet able to evolve an aesthetic and cultural life, and a reputation for stability...Plenty of controversial but revealing material here; scholarly without being pedantic in style.”-Kirkus reviews

Anne Herrmann, a dual citizen born in New York to Swiss parents, offers in Coming Out Swiss a witty, profound, and ultimately universal exploration of identity and community. “Swissness”—even on its native soil a loose confederacy, divided by multiple languages, nationalities, religion, and alpen geography—becomes in the diaspora both nowhere (except in the minds of immigrants and their children) and everywhere, reflected in pervasive clichés. In a work that is part memoir, part history and travelogue, Herrmann explores all our Swiss clichés (chocolate, secret bank accounts, Heidi, Nazi gold, neutrality, mountains, Swiss Family Robinson) and also scrutinizes topics that may surprise (the “invention” of the Alps, the English Colony in Davos, Switzerland’s role during World War II, women students at the University of Zurich in the 1870s). She ponders, as well, marks of Swissness that have lost their identity in the diaspora (Sutter Home, Helvetica, Dadaism) and the enduring Swiss American community of New Glarus, Wisconsin. Coming Out Swiss will appeal not just to the Swiss diaspora but also to those drawn to multi-genre writing that blurs boundaries between the personal and the historical.

A detailed treatment of Switzerland in British literature, the book shows how a republican myth contributed to Romanticism and liberalism.

New Glarus is the only town in America founded by the Swiss Immigration Society. These early settlers, laborers in the textile industry back in Switzerland, became the famous Wisconsin dairy farmers of later generations. While embracing the American ways of their new home--adopting, for example, the midwestern vernacular and Greek Revival boomtown architecture so popular at the time--the Swiss of New Glarus never lost sight of their rich European heritage. In 1937, the town decided to present the Wilhelm Tell Pageant to the public. Performed every summer to this day, it is the longest-running play in a foreign language in the United States. The annual Wilhelm Tell Festival, along with historic Puempel's Tavern, social clubs such as the New Glarus Yodelers, and the 14-building complex called Swiss Historical Village, each seen in this book through vintage images, is testament to why New Glarus has been dubbed "America's Little Switzerland."

Reprint of the original, first published in 1874.