Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Ella Maillart on Travel in the Orient

Description

Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Ella Maillart on Travel in the Orient
Christa Baumberger in conversation with Friederike Kretzen The this year's closing event of the Literary Autumn Gstaad is a Femmage to the two literary pioneers Annemarie Schwarzenbach (1908–1942) and Ella Maillart (1903–1997). At a time when women traveling alone were very rare, they set out in all directions: extensive journeys and expeditions took them to the Orient, China and India, the USA, and the Congo. As writers and photographers, they revolutionized the male-dominated genre of travel reports. In 2025, their literary and photographic legacy was inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World register. The event focuses on the legendary Persia trip of 1939 by Ella Maillart and Annemarie Schwarzenbach, which led along the Balkans to Persia and Afghanistan. The conversation between the author Friederike Kretzen and the publicist Christa Baumberger revolves around the female perspective on the world. Readings from Maillart's The Bitter Road (German 1948, English first edition 1947) and Schwarzenbach's The Happy Valley (1940) show how perceptions of others and self-exploration, ethnographic observation, and poetic expression come together. Reading: Rosa Reiter. The discussion is held in cooperation with the Stiftung Litar, which has been conducting one-hour discussions with significant authors for several years. Christa Baumberger holds a doctorate in literary studies, is a cultural journalist, and curator. She writes and publishes books, curates literary exhibitions, and is co-editor of Emmy Hennings’ prose works. From 2009 to 2018, she worked as a collection curator and research associate at the Swiss Literature Archive of the National Library. Since 2018, she has been developing projects in the field of literature and literary translation as head of Stiftung Litar: litar.ch The conversation is led by Christa Baumberger with Friederike Kretzen. Kretzen studied sociology and ethnology and worked as a dramaturg at the Residenz-Theater Munich. Since 1983, she has lived as a freelance author in Basel. She is also active as a literary critic, essayist, and lecturer at ETH and the Biel Literature Institute. She has received numerous awards for her novels, including the German Critics' Prize for Literature 1999 (for I am a Hill), the Arno Schmidt Scholarship 2001, and the Swiss Literature Prize 2018 (for School of the India Travelers). Most recently, she published a picture of the moon. Novel of a journey (Dörlemann 2022).

Highlights

• Femmage to Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Ella Maillart
• Conversation with Christa Baumberger and Friederike Kretzen
• Readings from "The Bitter Road" and "The Happy Valley"

General Information

The event is part of the Literary Autumn Gstaad and is dedicated to the travels and literary legacy of Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Ella Maillart. The focus is on their legendary Persia trip of 1939, accompanied by readings and a discussion about the female perspective on the world.

Location

Egglistrasse 24, 3780 Gstaad, Switzerland

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