Page 23 - ZSG Bordmagazin 2021 - Zürichsee Schifffahrt

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and his friends would spend their evening at the Restaurant Pfauen by the Kunsthaus or in the Kronenhalle on Rämistrasse. As a final stop, you could visit the James Joyce restaurant and bar near Bahnhofstrasse for a well-earned pint of Guinness.
A trip around the lake – from Mann to Meyer. For a literary tour of the very leisurely kind, we recommend starting off at the Bürkliplatz, where you can board a boat for the big cruise around Lake Zurich. During the 1930s, German novelist Thomas Mann (2) and his wife Katja lived in Küsnacht. The family’s relationship to Lake Zurich continued after they returned from exile in America in 1952, when they settled in Erlenbach, just a little further down the lake. Thomas Mann died three years later and was buried in Kilchberg Cemetery, on the opposite side of the lake. On this left shore you’ll also pass Horgen, where the author, journalist and photographer Annemarie Schwarzenbach grew up on a country estate. Four stops on lies Richterswil, which is said to have been the inspiration
for Swiss poet Gottfried Keller’s Seldwyla in his novel “The People of Seldwyla”. This is also where Keller’s beloved Henriette lived, who died of consumption
at the age of 19. Keller, also 19 at the time, expressed his profound grief in the poem “Das Grab am Zürichsee” (The grave by Lake Zurich). A viewing spot at Burg- halden above Richterswil is named after Keller, while a bust (3) of the poet also looks out on the lake from Zurich’s Mythenquai.
Women lead the way. On its return journey to the Bürkliplatz the boat passes the Saffa island. This was artificially raised in 1958 by a group of dynamic women as part of the Swiss Exhibition on Women’s Work, SAFFA in short. With Switzer- land celebrating the 50th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote, 2021
is the perfect year to remember those tenacious women. So why not take a stroll in the footsteps of Zurich’s female history-makers. Over the centuries, Zurich has been home to many prominent women. From Katharina von Zimmern (4), the last abbess of Zurich’s Fraumünster Abbey, to “Heidi” creator Johanna Spyri and her niece Emilie Kempin-Spyri, who in 1887 was the first woman in Switzerland to graduate with a law degree and later founded the “Frauenrecht” magazine. Then there’s the politician Emilie Lieberherr, the journalist and author Klara Obermüller who grew up in Wollishofen and, bringing us to the present day, the Zurich-based poetry slam performer Lara Stoll (5). Be honest,
how many of these women did you know of? High time to go for that stroll ... ls
TIPS
➝ Discover Zurich’s literary heritage on foot: bux-app.ch, joycefoundation.ch
➝ Yvonne-Denise Köchli: «Miis Züri: Neun Streifzüge durch Zürich für Frauen», Xhantippe 2016.
➝ Esther Scheidegger: «Spaziergänge durch das Zürich der Literaten und Künstler», Arche 2008.
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LITERATURSTADT ZÜRICH
Zürich ist nicht nur Geburts- und Wohnort namhafter Zürcher Schriftsteller wie Gottfried Keller, Johanna Spyri oder Max Frisch,
die Stadt diente über die Jahre
auch immer wieder als Exil und Zufluchtsort für namhafte Literaten. So lebten und schrieben auch James Joyce oder Thomas Mann in der Limmatstadt. Zürichs literarische Spuren lassen sich bestens auf eigene Faust erkunden: zu Fuss, mit dem Tram – und bequem mit dem Schiff auf der Mini-Seerundfahrt.
zsg.ch/rundfahrten
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Bilder: James Joyce, 1918 © Alex Ehrenzweig (Wikimedia Commons); Thomas Mann © ETH Archiv;
Katharina von Zimmern © Filmplakat «Zwingli» von Stefan Haupt; Lara Stoll © drehundangel.ch; Skulptur Gottfried Keller © zVg