Maurice Zermatten

Maurice Zermatten (1910-2001)

Maurice Zermatten (22 October 1910, in Saint-Martin, Valais – 11 February 2001, in Sion) was a French-speaking Swiss writer.

He was born in Saint-Martin, Valais, a small village situated in the Val d'Hérens, in the canton of Valais. He was first educated at the Ecole normale and then at the University of Fribourg.

Career

He published his first novel Le Coeur inutile in 1936 at the age of 26. He taught at the College of Sion where he stayed until retirement. In 1952, he became a lecturer in (French Literature) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich. Maurice Zermatten also performed a military career leading him to the rank of colonel.

He dedicated himself to several literary genres like novels, storytelling, theatre pieces, and short stories.

Zermatten published about 120 books; most of them are novels. Zermatten described the novel as "a complete kind where the author creates characters, history and environment. It is a fiction that reflects reality as it draws its imagination in life."

He dedicated works to writers: Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, Léon Savary, Rainer Maria Rilke, Gonzague de Reynold and also to painters : Théodore Stravinski, Charles Menge, Georges Borgeaud, Paul Monnier and Ferdinand Dubuis.

Personal life

Maurice Zermatten is also Jean Zermatten's father.

Prizes and distinctions

Zermatten won several distinctions like: Prix Schiller [fr] (1938 and 1956), Grand prix catholique de littérature for all his work (1959), Gottfried Keller Prize (1959), Prix de l'Académie française [fr] (1960),

He also became Officier de l’Ordre du mérite national français des arts et des lettres and Bourgeois d'honneur de la ville de Sion (1976)