Swiss novelist and short-story writer who powerfully portrayed rural and small town life and values and warned against the influences of modern mass civilization. Educated at the universities of Neuchâtel, Geneva, and Bern, he was awarded (1948) the Schiller Prize of the Swiss Schiller Foundation. His works include Grand Hotel Excelsior (1927), Jugend eines Volkes (1933; “Youth of a Nation”), Die graue March (1935; “The Gray March”), Schweizerspiegel (1938; “Mirror of Switzerland”), Die Lawine (1947; “The Avalanche”), Werner Amberg (1949), Urwang (1954), Besuch aus dem Jenseits (1961; “Visit from the Other World”), Erlenbüel (1965), Drei Männer im Schneesturm, und andere Geschichten (1970; “Three Men in a Snowstorm, and Other Tales”), and Notizen des Jägers (1973; “Notes of the Hunter”).