Title: Between and Beyond the Nations: Alexander von Humboldt and French Literature

Abstract: Alexander von Humboldt, as a scientist and diplomatically mediating chamberlain to the Prussian king, played a bridging role between France and Prussia. He can hardly be claimed by one single national literary "tradition," yet his close ties to France, especially to Paris, his place of residence and work for many years, as a central, if not the literary capital of European modernity, give an idea of how important the Prussian scholar's connections to France and its literature were. A broader understanding of Humboldt's relationship to writers such as Chateaubriand, Balzac and Hugo, and of Humboldt as a source of inspiration for French literature, provides a deeper insight into Humboldt’s own writing and his place within the literary field of 19th-century France. Alexander von Humboldt is connected to French literature in many different and surprising ways, but until now there has been no systematic examination of the connections between French writers and the writing of the Prussian cosmopolitan. This article provides a new approach to this subject.

Keywords: René de Chateaubriand, Honoré de Balzac, Jules Verne, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Bernardin de St. Pierre, French Literature, Alexander von Humboldt

Author: Markus A. Lenz, Research Assistant, Institute of Romance Literature, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany.

 Between and Beyond the Nations.pdf