Trente ans d'exil en Suisse. José Herrera Petere (Genève, 1947-1977)

In 1946, the writer José Herrera Petere (Guadalajara, 1909-Geneva, 1977), in exile in Mexico, accepted a lucrative contract as civil servant of ILO (International Labour Organization). He arrived in Geneva in february 1947. He stayed thirty years in Switzerland. Far from the most influential circles of exiled people and of the Spanish public, he was separated from the humus which nurtured him. Then, he sought the company of Swiss writers, in particular that of the « Geneva poets ». He soon joined the circle of Swiss progressive literary reviews, written in French, such as Rencontre and Jeune Poésie, and he collaborated. These new circles influenced his work deeply. He no longer wrote novels. The poems he published are bilingual, usually translated by the poets who were friends with him. He was recognized in Switzerland, but what he expected was a call from Spain, which never came. It is an original experience in the republican diaspora.