The Phantastic Travels of Adelbert von Chamisso.
On January 30 1781 German poet and naturalist of French Origin Adelbert von Chamisso was born. Some of his lyrics ballads and romances rank among the finest in German literature. He took part in Captain Kotzebue Russian polar expedition (1815-18) and his 1835 published account of it ranges among the classics of travel. In the same way as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe one of Germany best known poets Adelbert von Chamisso was as well a scientist as an author and artist Today unfortunately, almost all Germans might have heart of Goethe but only a few are familiar with Chamisso. On the other hand, Chamisso has his own island: Chamisso Island a small island in Kotzebue Sound Alaska. While Goethe travels only led him to Italy once in a lifetime or to some Bohemian spas for health treatments, Chamisso as a botanist travelled to the other side of the world collecting specimens. And as far as I know, Goethe has never written a science fiction story like Chamisso 'Miraculous Story'. Adelbert von Chamisso was born as Louis Charles Adélaïde de Chamissot at Ante, in Champagne, France Driven out by the French Revolution his parents settled in Berlin, where in 1796 young Chamisso obtained the post of page-in-waiting to the Prussian queen, and in 1798 entered a Prussian infantry regiment as ensign. He had little education and while in the Prussian military service in Berlin assiduously studied natural science for three years. In 1803 incollaboration with Varnhagen von Ense he founded the Berliner Musenalmanach in which his first verses appeared. Unfortunately, this enterprise was a failure and, interrupted by the war, it came to an end in 1806 However, it brought him to the notice of many of the literary celebrities of the day and established his reputation as a rising poet Shortly thereafter, upon the Peace of Tilsit in 1807 signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Russian Tsar Alexander I, Chamisso family was permitted to return to France Nevertheless, young Chamisso remained in Germany and continued his military career. He had become lieutenant in 1801 and in 1805 accompanied his regiment to Hameln where he shared in the humiliation of its treasonable capitulation in the following year Placed on parole, he went to France but both his parents were dead. In 1808 returning to Berlin he obtained his release from the service. Homeless and without a profession he lived in Berlin until 1810 when, by intermediation of an old friend of the family, Chamisso was offered a professorship at the lycée at Napoléonville in the Vendée. On his way to France, he joined the intellectual circle of Madame de Staël one of Napoleon principal opponents, and followed her in her exile in Switzerland where he devoted himself to botanical research. After his return to Berlin he published his famous narrative 'about a man who sold his shadow to the devil for a bottomless wallet which has been translated into most European languages. The story, intended for children was widely read and the character became a common cultural reference in many countries. People generally remembered the element of the shadow better than how the story ended, simplifying Chamisso lesson to the idiom "don't sell your shadow to the Devil. In 1815 Chamisso was appointed botanist to the Russian ship Rurik which Otto von Kotzebue commanded on a scientific voyage round the world. His diary of the expedition (Tagebuch, 1821 is a fascinating account of the expedition to the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea During this trip Chamisso described a number of new species found in what is now the San Francisco Bay Area. Several of these, including the California poppy Eschscholzia californica were named after his friend Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz the Rurik's entomologist. In return, Eschscholtz named a variety of plants including the genus Camissonia after Chamisso. On his return in 1818 he was made custodian of the botanical gardens in Berlin and was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences. In 1827 he published Views and Remarks on a Voyage of Discovery, and Description of a Voyage Round the World Chamisso travels and scientific researches restrained for a while the full development of his poetical talent, and it was not until 1829 that he turned back to literature. In collaboration with Gustav Schwab and Franz von Gaudy he brought out the Deutscher Musenalmanach in which his later poems were mainly published. As a poet Chamisso reputation stands high. Frauenliebe und -leben (a cycle of lyrical poems set to music by Robert Schumann by Carl Loewe and by Franz Paul Lachner is particularly famous. He died in Berlin at the age of 57. At yovisto you can learn more about Adelbert von Chamisso who took part in a Russian expedition around the world on board the sailing ship Rurik from 1815 to 1818 in the video from the Natural History Museum Berlin