Legendary Late-Romantic Switzerlands

Abstract

Romantic-period writers travelled to Switzerland for a multitude of reasons: to follow in the footsteps of Rousseau, to admire or climb the Alps, to sketch natural landscapes, to study Swiss technology or educational theory, to experience Continental culture as tourists or sojourners. During the post-Waterloo era, the increased popularity of Swiss destinations manifests itself most obviously in canonical works by English writers who travelled to Switzerland, including Byron’s Prisoner of Chillon (1816) and Manfred (1817), P. B. Shelley’s ‘Mont Blanc’ (1817), and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818). The increased visibility of Switzerland in literature, periodicals, and travel accounts also motivates stay-at-home writers to become armchair tourists and construct imaginary Switzerlands based on their reading. In addition, the vogue of medievalism during the late-Romantic period helps direct attention toward the legendary times of William Tell, and the reception of the Tell legends in Britain allows them to function, despite their historical and geographical specificity, as correlatives for British ideals of rural simplicity, liberty, and attachment to home.