Adelbert von Chamisso

Adelbert von Chamisso ( born January 30, 1781 Castle Boncourt at ante, Chalons-en -Champagne, France; † August 21, 1838 in Berlin, originally Louis Charles Adélaïde de Chamissot de Boncourt ) was a German naturalist and poet of French origin. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Cham. ".

Although French Chamisso was mother tongue, he managed to create immortal works in the German language. Most famous are certainly Peter Schlemihls wondrous story (1814 ) and the poem The Giant Toy (1831 ) on the Nideck castle in Alsace.

Robert Fischer described him in his autobiography as " early citizens of Europe ", which was looking for " experience the contrasts of two nations and to unite in his life ." "His interest in nature and the consistency with which he finally made ​​his passion into a profession, the experience of the world traveler as a participant in a Russian expedition of discovery; the liberal views that coming from an old noble family of the poet who until his last years into kept taking a look for social ills and remained for everything new unlocked back his life, which ended more than 150 years ago. in an amazingly current light "

Life

Childhood and youth

Adelbert was born as the fourth son of seven children of Count Louis Marie de Chamissot on the ancestral home of the family, the Boncourt castle in Champagne. As secured only his baptismal date, January 31, 1781, as he himself writes in his journey around the world.

In 1790, the impoverished nobility parents Bert von Chamisso left only her ancestral castle and in 1792 France. On the run from the Revolutionary armies they passed through the Netherlands and southern Germany until 1796 in Berlin settled where the two older brothers accepted positions as a tutor. In Berlin Chamisso students founded by Huguenots in 1689 the French school was ( Collège Français de Berlin) and 1796 Page Luise Friederike of Prussia in Berlin.

Military service and beginnings as a poet

From 1798 to 1807 made ​​Chamisso military service in the Prussian army. In 1801 he became a lieutenant; he called himself Ludwig von Chamisso.

From 1804, he issued the Berlin Musenalmanach with the friends of the romantic poetry circle "North Star League " and changed his name to Adelbert von Chamisso. This circle also included Julius Eduard Hitzig, Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, Karl August Varnhagen von Ense, whose sister Rosa Maria and Friedrich Wilhelm Neumann. With Rosa Maria Varnhagen von Ense whom he had a platonic friendship; they botanisierten together and translated the Old French poetry of the troubadours.

In 1805 he was transferred with his regiment to Hameln, where he witnessed the humiliation of betrayal made ​​possible by surrender of the city against Napoleon Bonaparte's troops the following year. Then traveled from Chamisso as a prisoner on parole to France, until he finally 1807 ( some sources say 1806) from the army service was eliminated.

In 1807, Adelbert von Chamisso was included in " the lodge in Chalons- sur -Marne " as a Freemason. He probably visited in Berlin Masonic Lodges, was there but - contrary to other information - not a member.

From 1810 to 1813, he remained in France and Switzerland, then again in Berlin. He belonged to the literary circle of friends by ETA Hoffmann, the " Serapion Brothers ". In Switzerland, he began to science, at first mainly in botany turn.

Chamisso as a naturalist

In the years 1815-1818 he participated as a scientist ( " Titulargelehrter " ) on a circumnavigation in part (see Rurik expedition ). This expedition of the Russian captain Baltic German descent Otto von Kotzebue, son of the poet August von Kotzebue, funded by the Russian Chancellor, Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev, explored the Pacific Polynesia and Hawaii and should especially find the fabled Northwest Passage. Chamisso charted large parts of the coast of Alaska, captured the flora of Alaska (according to him there was the newly discovered Chamisso Island named), describing the habits of the Eskimos and Aleuts. ( Curiosity: The well-known garment parka appears in the German language for the first time with him in his book trip around the world This is actually a lined cape with hood in the Chukchi. . ) He sharply criticized the local Russian colonial rule. Moving and captivating are his unprejudiced and humanistic representations of the residents of Hawaii and Polynesia.

After university, he had become (on the site of today Kleist Park ) awarded him an honorary doctorate and Second curator at the Royal Herbarium, married Chamisso 1819 the much younger Antonie Piaste ( 1800-1837 ), adopted daughter of his friend Hitzig, with which he portrayed children Ernst (* 1820), Max ( * 1822), Adélaide (* 1827), Johanna (* 1829), Adolph (* 1830), Hermann ( * 1832), Adelbert (* 1835) begat. In the same year 1819 he was elected a member of the Scholars Academy Leopoldina. After the departure Schlechtendals 1833 he was first curator and remained there until shortly before his death. A job which his financial future was assured. At the suggestion of Alexander von Humboldt Chamisso was elected on May 7, 1835 as a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences.

Chamisso 1831 published his first volume of poetry with older poems. New poetry, he wrote only rarely. In 1833 he wrote the poem The right barber. In 1837 he published his previous trip studies in the Hawaiian language. With his socially critical pamphlet poem The old washerwoman ( in the second version ), he collected donations for 1838 "Mother Schulz ," a Berlin woman in distress, and took a 150 thalers.

He died on 21 August 1838 in Berlin from lung cancer. His grave honor the city of Berlin lies in the cemetery of the church of Jerusalem III and New Church in Berlin- Kreuzberg in the Division 3/1.

Honors

Located in the northern part of the Bering Strait Island Chamisso Iceland was named as part of the Rurik expedition to Adelbert von Chamisso.

In his honor, the genera Chamissoa HBK were from the plant family Amaranthaceae ( Amaranthaceae ), Khamis Sonia Endl. from the plant family Onagraceae and Chamissoniophila fire (now a synonym of Antiphytum DC. Meisn ex. ) named from the plant family Boraginaceae. Furthermore, were named over 150 species of plants and some animal species in his honor.

In Berlin 's Kreuzberg district is named after him Chamissoplatz. On 31 January 2006 a memorial plaque for Chamisso was on Friedrichstrasse 235 at the point where until 1908 stood his house, revealed.

The so far the only literary award for German -speaking immigrant literature bears his name. With the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize authors of non-German mother tongue are awarded in Germany since 1985.

2010 was founded in Kunersdorf ( State of Brandenburg, district Maerkisch or country) in the so-called Musenhof the world's first Chamisso society. In Musenhof there is also an exhibition on the life and work of Chamisso. Chamisso had Peter Schlemihls wondrous story written in the summer of 1813 during a stay at the castle Kunersdorf. He was friends with the owners of Friedland and from Itzenplitz.

Works

  • Adel Bert's fable, 1806
  • Fortunati luck Eckel and Wunschhütlein, 1806
  • The rights Barbier, 1806
  • . Schlemihls Peter wondrous story, Nuremberg 1814 digitized and full text archive in the German text ( setting: P. Ronnefeld, ballet 1956)
  • Comments and views of an expedition, 1821
  • The sun brings it to light ( ballad ), 1827
  • Salas y Gomez ( ballad ), 1829
  • Songs. In: Kugler, French sketchbook. Berlin:. Reimer, 1830 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Dusseldorf
  • The giant toy 1831
  • Poems, Leipzig 1831
  • The Wives of Winsperg, 1831
  • Eds The German Musenalmanach, since 1832 (together with Gustav Schwab )
  • Travel around the world in the years 1815-1818 ( diary), 1836. EText
  • About the Hawaiian Language, 1837. Title page
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