Literary World Celebrates Centenary Of Swiss Poet Philippe Jaccottet

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) The centenary of the Swiss poet and translator Philippe Jaccottet, winner of both the Schiller and Goncourt literary prizes, is being marked by new editions of his work and seminars in Rome and Geneva. This content was published on July 2, 2025 - 09:00 8 minutes Mariella Radaelli

• Deutsch de Philippe Jaccottet: Der Goncourt-Preisträger wäre in diesen Tagen 100 geworden Read more: Philippe Jaccottet: Der Goncourt-Preisträger wäre in diesen Tagen 100 geworde
• Français fr Philippe Jaccottet, l'explorateur des passages métaphysiques Read more: Philippe Jaccottet, l'explorateur des passages métaphysique
• Italiano it Philippe Jaccottet, l'esploratore di portali metafisici Original Read more: Philippe Jaccottet, l'esploratore di portali metafisic
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When I met Philippe Jaccottet at the Swiss cultural centre in Milan in February 1998 for the launch of the Italian re-translation of his A la lumière d'hiver/Pensées sous les nuages (In the winter light/Thoughts under the clouds), the Swiss poet told me his life had change during the course of a walk when he encountered“a quince at the side of the road, a rather uncommon tree which I had never before seen in flower”.

I hurriedly went on to other topics and asked a few questions prior to the reading. Then I prepared myself to listen to his voice – those stripped-down, shattered lines of poetry, held taut between physical fragility and inner strength which still echo in my mind, as well as his penchant for understatement.

Ticino poet Fabio Pusterla, who was his translator and friend, described him as“a lucid, reserved, unpretentious man who shunned any kind of intellectual exhibition”. Jaccottet's birth centenary fell on June 30, 2025 and the Maison Rousseau in Geneva hosted the conference 'Philippe Jaccottet, from anxiety to festivity' to commemorate the day, while another meeting is planned this autumn in Rome.

Philippe Jaccottet (left) with Ticino poet Fabio Pusterla. Francesco Ferri Metaphysics was suspect to him

A winner of prestigious awards in his lifetime, notably the Schiller Grand Prix and the Goncourt prize for poetry, Jaccottet was born in Moudon, canton Vaud, on June 30, 1925. He studied literature at the University of Lausanne before moving to Paris. He left the big city in 1953 for Grignan, a small French medieval town in the Provence countryside. He lived there with his wife, a painter, until his death on February 24, 2021, at the age of 95. Being surrounded by nature gave him room to breathe.

“Jaccottet was a precise observer of the physical side of nature but at the same time he reflects on what may be its illusory metaphysical gateways or again, the 'thresholds' which his acute senses at times seemed to pick up in privileged moments,” explains John Taylor, an American poet living in France who has translated the poetry and prose of Cahier de verdure. His translation was published in the ambitious bilingual volume And, Nonetheless: Selected Prose and Poetry, which includes almost all of Jaccottet's literary prose writing between 1990 and 2009.

Portrait of Philippe Jaccottet by the publisher Henry-Louis Mermod, 1946. Centre des littératures en Suisse romande, UNIL, fonds Henry-Louis Mermod

Taylor adds that in reality Jaccottet was critical of his own metaphysical tendencies.“It may be helpful to think of him as an ancient Greek empirical philosopher who aspires to be a prophet but is aware of the illusions and self-deceptions that may be implicit in that kind of aspiration.”

In his dry lyricism there is a“powerful attempt to question the landscape. In it he tries to find the secret of poetic utterance,” Pusterla opines.“In one poem he says 'I would like to speak without images.' That's impossible; images are necessary, yet in Jaccottet's view they expose us to the risk of getting too complacent, thus keeping us at a distance. Each time he thinks he has found the right image, but a little while later he rejects it, to prevent it crystallising into something too literary.”

To define him as a poet of nature would be too simplistic, rather he is“a writer who meditates on our relationship with nature and the possibility (or impossibility) of exploring that relation 'honestly' with words,” Taylor stresses.

Jaccottet as homo europaeus

Jaccottet was one of the few authors to be included in the Pléiade series of classics during his lifetime. He was also a true European writer. He played an outstanding role in the European literary culture of the 20^th century with his prolific, masterful presence as a translator.

Reading notes on the origin of 'Entretien des Muses'. Laurent Dubois © BCU Lausanne

“He knew several languages, and translated out of them; he reviewed a wide range of European books and grappled with the deep philosophical issues which concerned other classic European poets and writers, in particular Rilke and Hölderlin,” notes Taylor. Besides German classics, including the entire production of Musil, he produced French translations of Homer, Italian poets (Tasso, Leopardi, and especially Ungaretti ), Spanish and Czech poets, and even the haikus of Basho and Issa. He also took up the challenge of translating Osip Mandelstam, whose poetry had struck him like a meteor.

At the Frankfurt Book Fair the unassuming voice of Jaccottet changed its tone when he started to talk about the Russian poet, as Pusterla who was there with him recalls. Jaccottet declared“when I think of Mandelstam, I imagine him out on the steppes, just about to die, but saying to us 'stand up, stand up, even in worse adversities!'”

When Taylor met him, he asked Jaccottet how he managed to do all this work of translation and criticism in parallel with his own writing.“He just shrugged his shoulders and said quite simply: 'I don't know'”. This succinct reply of his, Taylor thinks,“points to all the hard work and financial worries which translation involves, aspects which he at times made explicit in his correspondence with Ungaretti (Correspondance 1946-1970).”

Philippe Jaccottet in 1991, after receiving the Prix Goncourt, France's most prestigious literary prize. The author was awarded it for his complete work. KEYSTONE/Mario Del Curto The Swissness of Jaccottet

Jaccotet was rooted in the culture of his birthplace.“He was always very aware of what was being produced in French-speaking Switzerland,” notes Pusterla.“One critic has suggested that, [Jaccottet] having grown up in an environment strongly influenced by Calvinism, that Calvinist thinking may have had a part in his close relationship with the Old Testament.”

Being Swiss provided him the opportunity“early on, through his schooling” to get to know the German language and its literature. He pursued this interest under the guidance of his mentor Gustave Roud, with whom he kept up a longterm relationship based on their high esteem for each other.

Before his death, he entrusted his personal papers to the Centre for Literature in French Switzerland at the University of Lausanne.“I believe that choice had to do with his uninterrupted connection with his birthplace, but also practical considerations,” says Pusterla.“The centre works very well.” The material was immediately catalogued and made available for research.

Reading Jaccottet today can have a particular value.“We have entered an age of unequivocal partisan discourse, of linguistic robotisation, of tiny symbols standing for complex emotions,” Taylor has written.“In total contrast to this, Philippe Jaccottet's writing constantly shows nuance, attentiveness, perseverance, circumspection, and a genuine quest for essential truths.”

In 1988 in Lausanne the poet received the translation award“Prix lémanique de traduction”. He had made a name for himself with translations of Musil, Hölderlin, Muschg and Thomas Mann, among others. In this photograph, Philippe Jaccottet is seen delivering his speech on receiving the prize. Keystone-SDA

Jaccottet's writing revealed all that in the midst of doubt and uncertainty, through the inexpressible connections of things, and in the encounter with that rustling quince tree which, on his own account, changed the poet's life. The image of the quince appears in a personal essay which was translated into English as“Blazon in Green and White”.

“What Jaccottet said there recalls the central point in many of his prose writings: the deep significance of those privileged moments in which suddenly we see something and get the idea that it has offered us more than its own materiality, that a sort of 'threshold' has appeared before us. But then he wonders right away: is this impression of an 'elsewhere' just an illusion?,” explains Taylor.

Adapted from Italian by Terence MacNamee/sb

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