The lake smiles

Author's Note
Barbara Piatti, born in 1973, is a PhD graduate in German studies and a research group leader at ETH Zurich. Her project is titled "A Literary Atlas of Europe" and combines literary studies, cartography, web technology, and visual design. She has explored the Lake Lucerne and Gotthard region multiple times, including in "Tells Theater" (2004) and "The Geography of Literature" (2008). She lives with her family in Basel.

Blurb
Central Switzerland is a literary landscape of incredible richness. In countless works, the partly rugged, partly gentle area between Lake Lucerne and the Gotthard serves as the backdrop for exciting stories: August Strindberg manages to merge mythical moods with the stark reality of the Gotthard tunnel construction, Thomas Hürlimann and Tim Krohn delve into the depths of Lake Zug, while F. Scott Fitzgerald makes only a brief stop, Friedrich Schiller imagines crossing the Surenen Pass from his desk in Weimar, Meinrad Inglin transports us back to the time of the migrations around Schwyz, with F. H. Achermann we experience a gamekeeper-poacher showdown at Schwalmis, Cécile Lauber and Gertrud Leutenegger poetically distort Lake Uri, and Christina Viragh seems to respond to Heinrich Federer as both write about Pilatus, adding even more mystery to the Lucerne mountain than it already possesses. 15 literary hikes open up unexpected access to these narrated worlds. The trails lead into mountain valleys, to waterfalls, across alpine meadows, over passes, and to lake shores, into caverns and tunnels.