A guide sheds light on Albert Cohen’s footsteps in Geneva

If we had to stick to what the Geneva topography tells us about it, we would not escape a somewhat distressing observation. Geneva, a city which celebrates the brilliance and destiny of so many of its children, by dedicating squares and streets to them by the dozen, has revealed itself to be remarkably miserly with Albert Cohena world-famous author who called the city of Calvin home for more than half a century.

To find today the meager tribute paid to the writer, you have to sneak into the Pâquis district and reach, through a dreary back street which bears his name, the rue des Alpes to that dedicated to the politician and ambassador Michel Roset.

The state of affairs illustrates better than a thousand words the amnesia of the past of certain decision-makers and the little consideration given to the character who died in 1981. It is based on this observation that a collective of enthusiasts set about a task almost relating to reparation, which aims to somehow replace Albert Cohen in the middle of the village.

The operation culminated these days in the publication of a thorough and stimulating literary guide, “Albert Cohen and Geneva” (Editions La Baconnière). A special work which invites you to wander through the city, following the biographical and fictional traces of the man of letters, at the same time as it introduces curious people who would never have approached it to his work.

Geneva, its beauties, its stridencies

Geneva, as we find it here, seems transfigured. Firstly divided into six distinct urban portions and as many environments where the author has rooted tiny or substantial pieces of his life and portions of his writings. It is above all restored through the unique gaze of a writer who has never ceased to scrutinize it, to describe its beauties and stridencies and to elevate it, ultimately, to the status of a true character in his writings.

The tabs of the guide thus lead us on an immersive peregrination: we are the writer, we are sometimes his characters by going towards the “Jardins Anglais-Cité”, heading towards “Nations-Pâquis”, strolling through “Bastions -Plainpalais”, going up towards “Cologny-Pinchat” and strolling elsewhere still.

As one can imagine, the careful identification of these places, buildings and streets linked to Albert Cohen’s Geneva cosmogony required long and in-depth work. The research by the group of authors was meticulous, as was the diving into the archives.

The beginnings of this collective experience go back several years already. Bruno Racalbutoart historian and co-author of the guide, remembers it perfectly: “Discussing one day with my historian friend Thierry Mauricealso passionate about literature, we discussed the few traces of Cohen’s visit to our city. Very quickly the idea of ​​honoring this figure emerged; we talked about it around us and, in April 2019, we found ourselves at my house, around ten people with disparate profiles. It was then a matter of understanding how to realize our ambitions and with what tools. Several scenarios arose, we could have organized a large event to celebrate the man or turned to the design of a specially dedicated application. In the end, we told ourselves, the seven people who remained attached to the project, that we had to do something more lasting.”

To achieve this, the “survivors” first immerse themselves in the four novels and the autobiographical stories, dividing the works among themselves. For everyone, a single mission: to identify in these thousands of pages all the occurrences in Geneva, the presence of streets, buildings or significant places in the urban perimeter.

“In the novels alone, we have identified more than 300 elements and we have listed around fifteen places where he resided,” notes architect Noémie Sakkal Miville, also co-author of the guide. The mass of information collected was subsequently placed on a map, “reflections followed by observing the arrangement of points in the city. That’s when we said to ourselves that we needed to offer guided tours to the public,” adds Bruno Racalbuto.

A thorough introduction

This was done in October 2021, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the writer’s death, with notable success in attendance. So much so that, in the process, the collective decided to turn to print. “The publication of a guide lent itself perfectly to the coexistence of several pens, several styles and professional profiles,” underlines Bruno Racalbuto.

The six strolls included in the program connect a total of twenty-nine significant places. They are all accompanied by historical notices, quotes taken from the works of Albert Cohen and are preceded by a fluid and well-documented introduction, signed Thierry Maurice, which opens the doors to the character, his life and his work.

The biographical dimension of the writer born in Corfu in 1895 – who also lived in Paris, Marseille and London – posed quite a few pitfalls. Before his death, Albert Cohen destroyed and had destroyed his epistolary exchanges as well as the traces of his long creative processes. Thus, no study on the phylogenesis of his works has seen the light of day. And no solid biography, devoid of hagiographic excesses and praise, has been published.

The collective of authors has put these few flaws into perspective, with a critical eye. And he drew on what he discovered in previously unpublished archives to build a thrilling work, which can be read both while moving and comfortably seated on your sofa.

Three significant places in the work of Albert Cohen

Rocco Zacheo joined the editorial staff of the Tribune de Genève in 2013; he deals with classical music and opera and devotes himself, on an ad hoc basis, to literary news and disparate cultural events. Previously, he worked for nine years at the newspaper Le Temps and worked with RTS La Première.More info

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