Quite often, Rousseau was instrumentalised, reinvented and “helvetised” by Switzerland’s cultural diplomacy; he was used to reinforce the image of an alpine, sheltered Switzerland, land of the free, land of pedagogues.  The philosopher’s many facets were put to use for the export of a positive image of the country.

The advent of modern diplomacy saw a new figure emerge: the writer-diplomat, straddling the worlds of chancelleries and of literature. Writing is at the centre of their twofold activity; ideally report writing and literary writing feeding off each other.  Travelling of course, is water on the mill of the author, and literary writing, accordingly sharpened, and allows for the composition of precise and pertinent reports for the ministry.

The Swiss Institute in Rome is the first Swiss arts centre abroad.

Until the 1960s, Pro Helvetia rarely considered contemporary literature in its international activities.

Hugo Loetscher’s career as a writer and journalist eloquently illustrates the literary dimension of Switzerland’s cultural policy abroad.

In 1977, the writer Etienne Barilier, born in the canton of Vaud in 1947, published Le Chien Tristan. In this novel, the story of a double murder in the Swiss Institute in Rome is combined with contemplation of the arts, aesthetics, and the quest for beauty. Spurred on by the momentum that inspired German Romantic music, the book’s main characters, Swiss PhD students living at the institute, go as far as to take over the great composers’ identities.

From the beginning, Pro Helvetia used the translation of books considered to represent the country as a tool to promote Swiss culture abroad.