Jean Starobinski’s library donated to the Swiss Literary Archives
Bern, 26.10.2010 - As a gesture of generous patronage, the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation has donated Jean Starobinski’s personal library to the Swiss Literary Archives (SLA) of the Swiss National Library (NL). This accession completes the Jean Starobinski Collection.
In 2003, a Jean Starobinski Collection was created at the Swiss Literary Archives, bringing together all of the manuscripts, notes and correspondence written by this famous professor from Geneva.However, the archives of a scholar are not truly complete until his working library, complete with notes, clippings and commentaries is preserved and made available for research purposes. This is particularly true of Jean Starobinski’s vast library (containing an estimated 40,000 books). At the request of the Swiss National Library, Claude Reichler, a professor at the University of Lausanne, assessed the scientific value of the collection, which he sees as “evidence of a world of exceptional richness and refinement; its unity should be maintained and it should be made accessible for future generations”. He explains that “[this] library has become [Jean Starobinski’s] memory, his address book, his repertoire of ideas, his project drawers and especially his mental space. It is also a vast and controlled, intimate and ramified environment, where he lives and moves lovingly and with ease.”
In 2010, the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation was approached by the NL. Following this initial contact, it decided to extend its generosity beyond the NL’s request by donating the entire library to the SLA. Pierre Mottu, president of the Foundation says, “It is important to us that this vast documentary collection, which is central to western culture of the 20th century, now be available at the Swiss Literary Archives to students, researchers and professors”. Marie-Christine Doffey, Director of the Swiss National Library (NL) is of the same mind. She says: “I am delighted that a very important object of our cultural heritage can be preserved in its entirety in Switzerland for future researchers. I am deeply grateful to the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation. As a token of our gratitude, we will put up a commemorative plaque at the entrance to the NL for the first time in our library’s history.”
The plaque will be unveiled at a private ceremony held at the Swiss National Library in the presence of Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter. At the same time, and to celebrate Jean Starobinski’s 90th birthday, a symposium on the subject of “À distance de loge” will be held in Bern on 19 November and in Geneva on 20 November. This symposium is open to the general public.The symposium is part of an ambitious project focussed on critical literature and the Geneva School. The SLA and the University of Geneva have jointly set up a “Jean Starobinski Study Circle”, a Circle Bulletin is published each year, and conferences and symposia are regularly organised to discuss the work of Jean Starobinski and literary criticism in general.
Address for enquiries
Contacts for the press:
Marie-Christine Doffey, Director of the Swiss National Library,
Tel.: 031/ 322 89 01, marie-christine.doffey@nb.admin.ch
Stéphanie Cudré-Mauroux (curator of the Starobinski Collection), Swiss Literary Archives,
Tel.: 031/ 323 23 55 (Monday to Thursday), stephanie.cudre-mauroux@nb.admin.ch
Serge Bednarczyk, Hans Wilsdorf Foundation
Tel.: 022/ 737 30 00, sbednarczyk@hanswilsdorf.ch
Copies of the Circle Bulletin will be sent to any journalists interested in receiving it.
Publisher
Swiss National Library
http://www.nb.admin.ch
