Draft:Views of Nature
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Last edited by RussBot (talk | contribs) 6 days ago. (Update) |
| Author | Alexander von Humboldt |
|---|---|
| Original title | Ansichten der Natur |
| Language | German |
Views of Nature (German: Ansichten der Natur) is a collection of essays on science and nature by the German polymath Alexander von Humboldt. It was originally published in 1807, with Humboldt releasing updated and expanded editions in 1826 and 1849.
y'all this book is a big deal!
humboldt's favorite thing he wrote
some of the best prose is hidden in the scientific annotations
written for both a general (essays) and scientific (notes) audience
wildly popular
"With Views of Nature, Humboldt created a completely new genre — a book that combined lively prose and rich landscape descriptions with scientific observation in a blueprint for much of nature writing today."[1]
"This was a scientific book unembarrassed by lyricism ... poets had engaged with such ideas but never a scientist."[1]
Background
[edit]written after he got back from the americas and describes a lot of his time there
used writing to escape from the fact that napoleon was being a poopoo head (humboldt felt "buried in the ruins of an unhappy fatherland")
worked on several manuscripts at the same time
Publication
[edit]first edition 1807
his publisher wasn't allowed to change anything so the "melody" wouldn't get messed up[1]
second edition 1826 - added essays 5 and 6
third edition 1849 - added essay 7, came after the success of the first two cosmos volumes
lots of unauthorized translations (many of which humboldt didnt read)
eventually translated into eleven languages (what are they?)
victorian-era translation into english was lowkey garbage (Jackson and Walls say about Person: "Comparing his translation with the two previous English versions, we couldn't help but think that he was scraping a mass of thick, sometimes garish Victorian paint off a profoundly beautiful piece of art." the old translations "took Victorian liberties with Humboldt's prose and didn't do justice to his vision or to his artistry.")
2014 mark w. person translation is pretty cool so far[2]
Content
[edit]Preface
[edit]dedicated to his brother: "The author dedicates this work to Wilhelm von Humboldt, his very dear brother in Rome."
1807 preface is one of my favorite things I've read
To embattled minds particularly, these pages are dedicated. "Who saves himself from life's stormy wave" will follow me gladly into the thickets of the forest, into the immeasurable steppes, and out upon the spine of the Andes range. Unto him speaks the world-directing chorus:
In the mountains is freedom! The breath of the tomb
Cannot climb up to the purest air's home,
The world is perfect anywhere,
If Humanity's anguish has not entered there.— Alexander von Humboldt, Views of Nature, Preface to the First Edition
Concerning the Steppes and Deserts
[edit]looooooooooong
electric eels!
Concerning the Waterfalls of the Orinoco near Atures and Maypures
[edit]The Nocturnal Wildlife of the Primeval Forest
[edit]Ideas for a Physiognomy of Plants
[edit]this one is a seriously big deal!
Concerning the Structure and Action of Volcanoes in Various Regions of the Earth
[edit]added in 1826
looooooooooong
this dude just really loves volcanoes (who doesn't?)
The Life Force, or The Rhodian Genius
[edit]added in 1826
"commentary and addendum" instead of annotations and additions
The Plateau of Cajamarca, the Old Residential City of the Inca Atahualpa; First Sight of the Pacific from the Ridge of the Andes Chain
[edit]added in 1849
Reception and legacy
[edit]"Humboldt’s best-known and most influential work"[3]
cited by Thoreau as a model for his own work
goethe was a massive fan (wrote to humboldt and said it was so good "that I plunged with you into the wildest regions")
Emerson, Darwin, and Verne all read it and took inspiration from it
"written for a general audience rather than for scientists in their ivory towers."[4]
wulf biography reference notes:[5]
- p155-156: writing it
- p224: popular appeal
- p265: Darwin requests a copy
- p273: "gradual transformations of species"
- p305/308: Thoreau reads it
- p319: revised edition
- p355/358: Haeckel reads it
- p379/383-384: Muir reads it
1850 english translation (project gutenberg - what does the handwritten letter say? it's french and I'm not)[6]
project gutenberg description page[7]
2014 person translation (archive.org)[8]
Humboldt's legacy[9]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Wulf, Andrea (2015). The invention of nature: Alexander von Humboldt's new world. New York: Vintage Books. pp. 154–157. ISBN 978-0-385-35066-2.
- ^ Humboldt, Alexander von; Jackson, Stephen T.; Walls, Laura Dassow (2014). Views of nature. Chicago (Ill.) London: University of Chicago press. ISBN 978-0-226-92318-5.
- ^ Humboldt, Alexander von (ed.). Views of Nature. Translated by Jackson, Stephen T.; Person, Laura Dassow WallsTranslated by Mark W. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
- ^ Wulf, p.224.
- ^ Wulf, Andrea (2015). The invention of nature: Alexander von Humboldt's new world. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-385-35066-2.
- ^ "The Project Gutenberg eBook of Views of Nature, by Alexander Von Humboldt". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2025-05-04.
- ^ Humboldt, Alexander von (2022-03-22). Views of nature: or Contemplations on the sublime phenomena of creationwith scientific illustrations. Translated by Bohn, Henry G. (Henry George); Otté, E. C. (Elise C. ).
- ^ Humboldt, Alexander von (2014). Views of nature. Internet Archive. Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-92318-5.
- ^ "Humboldt's legacy". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 3 (9): 1265–1266. September 2019. doi:10.1038/s41559-019-0980-5. ISSN 2397-334X.