{{Short description|Swiss writer (1901–1998)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}} {{Infobox person | name = Alice Rivaz | image = File:Alice-Rivaz 09 R4 lowres AssociationAliceRivaz ALS.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Alice Golay | birth_date = 14 August 1901 | birth_place = Rovray, Switzerland | death_date = {{death date and age|1998|02|27|1901|08|14|df=y}} | death_place = Genthod, Switzerland | other_names = }} '''Alice Rivaz''' (14 August 1901 – 27 February 1998) was a Swiss writer and feminist.

== Life == She was born '''Alice Golay''' in the small Swiss municipality of Rovray, in the Canton of Vaud, the only child of Paul Golay and Ida Ettler, both strong Calvinists. Her mother had been a deaconess before deciding to leave that life to marry, while her father was a school teacher at the time of her birth. With a growing embrace of socialism, he later gave up that career and became a writer for the leftist periodical, ''Le Grutléen'', for which the family moved to Lausanne.

Alice Rivaz' later writings are thought to reflect the conflict the couple experienced as a result of their differing points of view, with her mother's piety butting up against her father's political convictions.<ref name=MLN>{{cite journal|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/mln/summary/v116/116.5schlossman.html|work=MLN|first=Beryl|last=Schlossman|title=Alice Rivaz and the Subject of Lost Time|volume=116|pages=1025–1044|year=2001}}</ref>

At the age of 25 Rivaz moved to Geneva, where she spent the rest of her life. She originally studied music, training to become a pianist. After several years of work with the International Labour Organization she turned to writing, and became one of the foremost French language writers of Switzerland.<ref name=MLN/> She died in that city at the age of 96 and was buried at the prestigious Cimetière des Rois in the Plainpalais district. thumb|Alice Rivaz – Cimetière des Rois In her birthplace there is a commemorative plaque. In Geneva a street and a College were named after her. And since 2002 there is even an Intercity train called Alice Rivaz.

== Writing == Rivaz began working on her first novel around 1937, which came to be titled ''Nuages dans la main'' (''Clouds in your Hands''), published in 1940. Her novel ''Jette ton pain'' (''Cast your Bread''), published in 1979, is considered her finest work.<ref name=MLN /> Her writings are known for dealing with women in art and in the family, as well as having feminist themes. Along with novels, short stories, essays and diaries she also did a study of poet Jean-Georges Lossier.

==Bibliography== * ''[https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/26/en/publication/nuages-dans-la-main Nuages dans la main]'' novel, (1940) trans. ''Clouds in your Hands'' * ''[https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/32/en/publication/comme-le-sable Comme le sable]'', novel (1946) * ''[https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/34/en/publication/la-paix-des-ruches La Paix des ruches]'', novel (1947) trans. ''The Peace of the Beehive'' * ''[https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/43/en/publication/sans-alcool Sans Alcool]'' (1961), short stories, trans. ''Without Alcohol.'' * ''[https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/60/en/publication/comptez-vos-jours Comptez vos jours]'' (1966) * ''[https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/41/en/publication/le-creux-de-la-vague Le Creux de la vague]'', novel (1967) * ''[https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/61/en/publication/l-alphabet-du-matin L'Alphabet du matin]'', novel (1968) * ''[https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/47/en/publication/de-memoire-et-d-oubli De Mémoire et d'oubli]'', short stories (1973) * ''[https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/42/en/publication/jette-ton-pain Jette ton pain]'', novel (1979), trans. ''Cast your Bread'' * ''[https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/62/en/publication/ce-nom-qui-n-est-pas-le-mien Ce Nom qui n'est pas le mien]'', essays (1980) * ''[https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/63/en/publication/traces-de-vie Traces de vie]'', diaries (1983) * ''[https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/67/en/publication/jean-georges-lossier-poesie-et-vie-interieure Jean-Georges Lossier. Poésie et vie intérieure]'', essay, 1986 * ''L’Homme et son enfant. Sans alcool. Le Canari'', short stories, 1996 * ''[https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/70/en/publication/creuser-des-puits-dans-le-desert-lettres-a-jean-claude-fontanet Creuser des puits dans le désert]'' Letters to Jean-Claude Fontanet, 2001 * ''[https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/71/en/publication/les-enveloppes-bleues-correspondance-1944-1951 Les Enveloppes bleues. Correspondance 1944–51]'' (with {{ill|Pierre Girard (writer)|lt=Pierre Girard|fr|Pierre Girard}}), 2005 * ''[https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/72/en/publication/pourquoi-serions-nous-heureux-correspondance-1945-1982 Pourquoi serions-nous heureux? Correspondance 1945–1982]'' (with Jean-Georges Lossier), 2008

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == *{{Commons category-inline|Alice Rivaz}} * {{Helveticat}} * {{Helveticarchives|id=165123}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080515195956/http://www.filahome-stamps.com/stamps/0103alicerivaz.htm The filahome-stamps.com website] * [https://www.alice-rivaz.ch Alice Rivaz official website] in English. [https://www.alice-rivaz.ch/web.php/30/en/page/the-association The Alice Rivaz Association]

{{Schiller Prize winners}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivaz, Alice}} Category:1998 deaths Category:1901 births Category:People from Jura-North Vaudois District Category:Swiss women novelists Category:Swiss feminist writers Category:Burials at Cimetière des Rois Category:20th-century Swiss novelists Category:20th-century Swiss women writers Category:Writers from Geneva Category:20th-century women novelists