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Georg didn't know how to spell George. |
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[[Image:Georg Forster.jpg|right|thumb|180px|Portrait of Georg Forster at age 26, by [[J. H. W. Tischbein]], 1781.]] |
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'''Johann Georg Adam Forster''' ([[November 27]], [[1754]]<ref name="birthdate">Many sources, including the biography of Thomas Saine, list the birthdate as November 26; according to Ulrich Enzensberger, ''Ein Leben in Scherben'', Frankfurt 1996, ISBN 3-423-13248-5, the baptism registry of St Peter in Danzig lists November 27 as date of birth and December 5 as date of baptism</ref> – [[January 10]], [[1794]]) was a [[Germany|German]] [[natural history|naturalist]], [[ethnology|ethnologist]], [[travel literature|travel writer]], [[journalist]], and [[revolutionary]]. At an early age, he accompanied his father on several scientific expeditions, including [[James Cook]]'s second voyage to the [[Pacific]]. His report from that journey, ''A Voyage Round the World'', contributed significantly to the ethnology of the people of [[Polynesia]] and remains a respected work among both scientists and ordinary readers. As a result of the report Forster was admitted to the Royal Society at the early age of 22 and came to be considered one of the founders of modern scientific travel literature. |
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After his return to continental Europe, Forster turned towards academics. From 1778-1784 he taught Natural History at the Collegium Carolinum in [[Kassel]] and continued later at [[Vilnius University|Academy of Vilna]] (1784-1787) until he accepted the position of head librarian at the [[University of Mainz]] in 1788. Most of his scientific work during this time consisted of essays on botany and ethnology, but he also prefaced and translated many books about travels and explorations, including a German translation of Cook's diaries. |
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Forster was a central figure of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] in Germany, and corresponded with most of its adherents, including [[Georg Christoph Lichtenberg]] who was a close friend of his. His ideas and personality influenced strongly one of the greatest German scientists of the 19th century, [[Alexander von Humboldt]]. When the [[France|French]] took control of [[Mainz]] in 1792, Forster became one of the founders of the [[Jacobin]] club there and went on to play a leading role in the [[Mainz Republic]], the earliest republican state in Germany. During July of 1793 and while he was in [[Paris]] as a delegate of the young Mainz Republic, Prussian and Austrian coalition forces regained control of the city and Forster was declared an outlaw. Unable to return to Germany and separated from his friends and family, he died in Paris of illness in early 1794. |
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== Early life == |
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Georg Forster was born in the small village of [[Mokry Dwór|Nassenhuben]] ({{lang-pl|Mokry Dwór}}) near [[Gdańsk|Danzig]] (''Gdańsk''), in the [[Poland|Polish]] province of [[Royal Prussia]]. |
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He was the oldest of seven surviving children of [[Johann Reinhold Forster]] and Justina Elisabeth (''née'' Nicolai). His father was a naturalist, scientist and a [[Lutheran]] [[pastor]]. In 1765, the Russian [[tsarina]] gave the pastor an assignment to travel in [[Russia]] on a research journey and investigate the situation of a [[Volga German|German colony]] at the [[Volga River]]. Georg, then ten years old, joined him. They reached the [[Kyrgyzstan|Kirghiz]] [[steppe]] at the lower Volga. On the journey, they discovered several new species.<ref name="intro">Introduction to: George Forster: ''A voyage round the world'', ed. by Nicholas Thomas and Oliver Berghof, University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu 2000. ISBN 0-8248-2091-6</ref> The young Forster learned there how to conduct scientific research and how to practise cartography. He also became fluent in [[Russian language|Russian]]. |
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The report from this journey, which included sharp criticism of the governor of [[Saratov]], was not well-received at the court, and the Forsters did not obtain fair payment for their work<ref name="Reintjes">{{de icon}} Heinrich Reintjes, ''Weltreise nach Deutschland'', Progress-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1953.</ref> and had to move house. They chose to settle in England in 1766. The father took up teaching at the [[Dissenter]]'s Academy in [[Warrington]]<ref name="boreham">Ian Boreham, ''John Reinhold Forster''. In: Cook's Log, page 368, volume 8, number 3 (1985) [http://www.captaincooksociety.com/ccsu4129.htm]</ref> and also translation work. The young Forster, only thirteen years old, published his first book: an English translation of [[Lomonosov]]'s history of Russia,<ref name="Saine">Thomas P. Saine: ''Georg Forster''. Twayne Publishers, New York, NY, 1972. ISBN 0-8057-2316-1</ref> which was well-received in scientific circles.<ref name="Voegel">{{de icon}} Gerhard Steiner and Ludwig Baege (ed.): ''Vögel der Südsee''. Insel-Verlag, Leipzig 1971, p. 53</ref> |
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== Around the World with Captain Cook == |
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[[Image:Captainjamescookportrait.jpg|thumb|200px|James Cook, portrait by Nathaniel Dance, c. 1775, [[National Maritime Museum]], Greenwich]] |
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In 1772, Forster's father Johann became a member of the [[Royal Society]]. This and the withdrawal of [[Joseph Banks]]<ref name="Saine" /> resulted in his invitation by the [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] [[admiralty]] to join [[James Cook]]'s [[James Cook#Second voyage (1772-1775)|second expedition]] to the [[Pacific]] (1772–1775). Georg Forster joined his father in the expedition again and was appointed as a draughtsman to his father. Johann Forster's task was to work on a scientific report from the journey that was to be published after their return.<ref>Richard P. Aulie, ''The Voyages of Captain James Cook'', chapter ''The triumphant voyage'', [http://www.captaincooksociety.com/ccsu2524.htm on-line version]</ref> |
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They embarked on the ''[[HMS Resolution (Cook)|HMS Resolution]]'' on [[July 13]], [[1772]] in [[Plymouth]]. The route led first to the [[Atlantic Ocean|South Atlantic]], then through the [[Indian Ocean]] and the [[Southern Ocean]] to the island of [[Polynesia]] and finally around [[Cape Horn]] back to England, where the expedition arrived on [[July 30]], [[1775]]. During the three year journey, the explorers visited [[New Zealand]], the [[Tonga]] islands, [[New Caledonia]], [[Tahiti]], the [[Marquesas Islands]] and [[Easter Island]]. They went further south than anybody before them, almost discovering [[Antarctica]]. The journey conclusively disproved the ''[[Terra Australis]] Incognita'' theory, which claimed there was a big, habitable continent in the South.<ref name="intro" /> |
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Supervised by his father, Georg Forster first took up the studies of [[zoology]] and [[botanics]] of the southern seas, mostly by drawing animals and plants. However, Georg also pursued his own interests which led to completely independent explorations in comparative [[geography]] and [[ethnology]]. He quickly learned the languages of the [[Polynesia]]n islands. His reports on the people of Polynesia are approved even to this day, as they show Forster's endeavours to describe the habitants of the southern islands with empathy, sympathy and largely without [[Western culture|Western]] or [[Christianity|Christian]] prejudices.<ref name="Ackerknecht">Erwin H. Ackerknecht, ''George Forster, Alexander von Humboldt, and Ethnology'', In: ''Isis'', University of Chicago Press, Vol. 46, No. 2, pp. 83-95. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-1753%28195506%2946%3A2%3C83%3AGFAVHA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D Digital version] at [[JSTOR]]</ref> |
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[[Image:Hodges, Resolution and Adventure in Matavai Bay.jpg|left|thumb|230px|''[[HMS Resolution (Cook)|Resolution]] and [[HMS Adventure (1771)|Adventure]] in Matavai Bay'' by [[William Hodges]]]] |
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Unlike [[Louis Antoine de Bougainville]], whose reports from a journey to Tahiti a few years earlier had initiated uncritical ''[[noble savage]]'' romanticism, Forster had a very sophisticated picture of the [[Society|societies]] of the south Pacific islands.<ref name=Ackerknecht>Ackerknecht, page 86</ref> He described various [[social structure]]s and [[religion]]s that he encountered on the [[Society Islands]], the [[Easter Island]] and in [[Tonga]] and [[New Zealand]], and ascribed this diversity to the difference in living conditions of these people. At the same time he also observed that the languages of these fairly widely-scattered islands are quite similar. About the habitants of the Nomuka islands (in the Ha'apai island group of present-day Tonga), he wrote that their languages, vehicles, weapons, furniture, clothes, tattoos, style of beard, in short all of their being matched perfectly with what he had already seen while studying tribes on Tongatapu. However, he wrote, "''we could not observe any subordination among them, though this had strongly characterised the natives of Tonga-Tabboo, who seemed to descend even to servility in their obeisance to the king.''"<ref name="VTW TT">Georg Forster, ''A Voyage Round the World'', Book II, Chapter VIII.</ref> |
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The [[ethnography|ethnographical]] items that were collected by Georg and Reinhold Forster are currently presented as the ''Cook-Forster-Sammlung'' (''Cook-Forster Collection'') in the [[Sammlung für Völkerkunde]] anthropological collection in [[Göttingen]]<ref name="goettingen">[http://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/sh/28899.html Ethnographical Collection of the University of Göttingen]</ref>. Another collection of items collected by the Forsters is on display at the [[Pitt Rivers Museum]] in Oxford.<ref name="oxford">by Jeremy Coote, Peter Gathercole, and Nicolette Meister: ''"Curiosities sent to Oxford": The Original Documentation of the Forster Collection at the Pitt Rivers Museum'', in Journal of the History of Collections, Vol. XII, no. 2 (2000), pp. 177–92. [http://projects.prm.ox.ac.uk/forster/curios-sent.html]</ref> |
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The journey was rich in scientific results. However, the relations between the Forsters and Captain [[James Cook|Cook]] and his officers were often problematic, both due to the elder Forster's fractious temperament<ref name="intro" /><!-- it would be great to have some quotes from Michael Hoare: "The Tactless Philosopher", a bio of JR Forster--> and Cook's refusal to allow more time for botanizing and other scientific observation. Cook refused scientists on his third journey after his experiences with the Forsters.<ref name="Saine">Saine, p. 22</ref> |
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== A founder of modern travel literature == |
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These conflicts continued after the journey when the problem of who should write the official account of the travels arose. [[John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich|Lord Sandwich]], although willing to pay the promised money, was irritated with Johann Reinhold Forster's opening chapter and tried to establish an editor over him. However, Forster did not want to have his writing corrected "like a theme of a School-boy," and stubbornly refused any compromise in this direction.<ref name="aulie1">Richard P. Aulie:''The Voyages of Captain Cook''. [http://www.captaincooksociety.com/ccsu2524.htm Online version of chapter]</ref> As a result, the official account was written by Cook, and the Forsters were deprived of the right to compile the account and did not obtain payment for their work. During the negotiations, the younger Forster decided to release an unofficial account of the travel. In 1777, the book ''A Voyage round the World in His Britannic Majesty's Sloop Resolution, Commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the Years, 1772, 3, 4, and 5'' was published. This report was the first account of Cook's second voyage (it appeared six weeks before the official publication) and was intended for the general public. The English version and his own translation to German (published 1778-1780) earned the young author real fame. The poet [[Christoph Martin Wieland]] praised the book as the most important one of his time, and even today it remains one of the most important journey descriptions ever written. The book also had a significant impact on German literature, culture and science. For instance, [[Alexander von Humboldt]] was under its great influence<ref name="Smith">Alexander Smith: ''Explorers of the Amazon'', p. 218. [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0226763374&id=3VP8usYq7XEC&pg=PA218&lpg=PA218&printsec=8&dq=georg+forster&sig=hYQZu_ebtf3-AbMgT1fIwVAuoa8]. University of Chicago Press 1990. ISBN 0-226-76337-4</ref> and it inspired many [[ethnology|ethnologists]] of later times. |
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Forster wrote well-polished German prose, which was not only scientifically accurate and objective, but also exciting and easy to read. His work was distinguished from conventional [[travel literature]] in so far as it did not just present a mere collection of data, instead demonstrating coherent, colourful and reliable [[ethnography|ethnographical]] facts that resulted from detailed and sympathetic observation. He often interrupted the description to enrich it with [[philosophy|philosophical]] remarks about the observations.<ref name="voyage preface">N. Thomas and O. Berghof, Preface to ''A Voyage round the World''</ref> His main focus was always on the people he encountered: their behaviour, their customs, habits, religions and forms of social organisation. In ''A Voyage round the World'' he even presented the songs sung by the people of [[Polynesia]], complete with lyrics and [[musical notation|notation]]. The book is one of the most important sources concerning the societies of the Southern Pacific from the times before European influence had become significant there. |
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Both Forsters also published descriptions of their South Pacific travels in the ''Magazin von merkwürdigen neuen Reisebeschreibungen'' ("''Magazine of strange new travel accounts''") in Berlin, and Georg published a translation of "''A Voyage to the South Sea, by Lieutenant [[William Bligh]], London 1792''" in 1791-1793. |
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== Forster at universities == |
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The publication of ''A Voyage round the World'' brought Forster scientific recognition all over Europe. The respectable [[Royal Society]] nominated him as a member on [[1777-01-09]]<ref name="Roysoc">List of Fellows of the Royal Society [http://www.royalsoc.co.uk/downloaddoc.asp?id=778 (PDF)] </ref> although he was not even 23 years old. He was granted similar titles from Academies ranging from [[Berlin]] to [[Madrid]].<!-- IMO this link http://www.captaincooksociety.com/ccsu24.htm is enough to establish the fact, but not enough to make a reference from that --> These achievements did not give him money though. In 1778, he went to Germany to take a teaching position as a [[Natural History]] professor at the Collegium Carolinum in [[Kassel]], where he met [[Therese Huber|Therese Heyne]], a classical [[philology|philologist]]'s daughter. She later became one of the first independent female writers in Germany. They married in 1785 (which was after he left Kassel) and had three children, but their marriage was not happy. From the time in Kassel on, Forster was in active correspondence with important figures of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], including [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing|Lessing]], [[Johann Gottfried Herder|Herder]], [[Christoph Martin Wieland|Wieland]] and [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]]. He also initiated cooperation between the Carolinum in Kassel and the University of Göttingen where his friend [[Georg Christoph Lichtenberg]] worked. Together, they founded and published the scientific and literary journal ''Göttingisches Magazin der Wissenschaften und Litteratur''.<ref name="Saine">Saine, p. 27</ref>. Forster's closest friend, [[Samuel Thomas von Sömmering]], arrived in Kassel shortly after Forster, and both were soon involved with the [[Rosicrucian]]s in Kassel. |
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However, by 1783 Forster saw that his involvement with the Rosicrucians not only led him away from real science, but also deeper into debt<ref name="Saine">Saine, p. 33</ref> (he had never been very good at managing his own expenses<ref name="intro"/>); for these reason Forster was happy to accept a proposal by the Polish [[Komisja Edukacji Narodowej]] (Commission of National Education) and became Chair of [[Natural History]] at [[Vilnius University]] in 1784<ref name="Reintjes">Reintjes, p. 50</ref>. Initially, he was accepted well in [[Vilnius]], but he felt more and more isolated with time. Most of his contacts were still with scientists in Germany; especially notable is his dispute with [[Immanuel Kant]] about the definition of [[race]].<ref name="Saine">Saine, pp. 43-48</ref> In 1785, Forster travelled to [[Halle]] where he submitted his thesis about the plants of the South Pacific for a doctorate in medicine.<ref name="aulie2525">Richard P. Aulie: ''The Voyages of Captain Cook''. [http://www.captaincooksociety.com/ccsu2525.htm Online version of chapter]</ref> Back in Vilnius, Forster's ambitions to build a real natural history scientific centre could not get appropriate financial support from the Polish authorities. Moreover, his famous speech on natural history in 1785 went almost unnoticed and was not printed until 1843. These events led to high tensions between him and the local community.<ref name="Bodi">Leslie Bodi, ''Georg Forster: The "Pacific Expert" of eighteenth-century Germany'', in ''Literatur, Politik, Identität - Literature, Politics, Cultural Identity'', pp. 29+54, Röhrig Universitätsverlag, St. Ingbert 2002</ref> Eventually, he broke the contract six years short of its completion as [[Catherine II of Russia]] had given him an offer to take part in a journey around the world for a high honorarium and a position as a professor in [[Saint Petersburg]]. This resulted in a conflict between Forster and the influential Polish scientist [[Jędrzej Śniadecki]]. However, the Russian proposal was withdrawn and Forster left Vilnius. He then settled in [[Mainz]], where he became head librarian of the [[University of Mainz]], a position his friend [[Johannes von Müller]] had held before, who made sure Forster would succeed him when Müller moved to the administration of Elector [[Friedrich Karl Josef von Erthal]].<ref name="Saine">Saine, p.59</ref> |
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Forster regularly published essays on the scientific and discovery expeditions of his times and continued to be a very prolific translator; for instance, he wrote about [[James Cook|Cook's]] third journey to the South Pacific, and about the [[Mutiny on the Bounty|Bounty]] expedition, as well as translating Cook's and Bligh's diaries from these journeys into German. From his London years, Forster was in contact with the private scholar Sir [[Joseph Banks]], the initiator of the Bounty expedition and a participant in Cook's first journey. |
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Another field of his interest was [[indology]] (One of the main goals of his failed expedition to be financed by Catherine II had been to reach [[India]]). He translated the [[Sanskrit]] play [[Shakuntala]] using a [[Latin]] version provided by Sir [[William Jones (philologist)|William Jones]]: this strongly influenced [[Johann Gottfried Herder|Herder]] and triggered German interest in the culture of India.<ref name="Ackerknecht">Ackerknecht, p.85</ref> |
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[[Image:Cathedral Arch.jpg|thumb|left|One of the entrances of [[Cologne cathedral]], which was praised in ''Ansichten vom Niederrhein''.]] |
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== ''Views from the Lower Rhine'' == |
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In the spring of 1790, Forster and the young [[Alexander von Humboldt]] started from Mainz on a long journey through the [[Southern Netherlands]], [[Holland]], and [[England]], which eventually finished in Paris. The impressions from the journey were described in a three volume publication ''Ansichten vom Niederrhein, von Brabant, Flandern, Holland, England und Frankreich im April, Mai und Juni 1790'' (''Views of the Lower Rhine, from Brabant, Flanders, Holland, England, and France in April, May and June 1790''), published 1791-1794. Goethe said about the book: "''One wants, after one has finished reading, to start it over, and wishes to travel with such a good and knowledgeable observer.''" The book includes considerations in the field of the [[history of art]] that were as influential for the discipline as ''A Voyage round the world'' was for [[ethnology]]. Forster belongs, for example, to the first writers who gave just treatment to the [[Gothic architecture]] of [[Cologne Cathedral]]<ref name="Saine">Saine, p. 103</ref>, which was widely perceived as "barbarian" at that time. <!-- Unsourced statement removed:The book also expressed early ideas of [[Romanticism]].{{fact}}--> |
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Forster's main interest, however, was again focused on the social behaviour of people, as 15 years earlier in the Pacific. The national uprisings in [[Flanders]] and [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]] and of course the [[French Revolution|revolution in France]] sparked his curiosity. The journey through these regions, together with the Netherlands and England, where citizens' freedoms were equally well developed, in the end helped him to sort out his own political judgements. From that time on he started to be a confident opponent of the [[ancien régime]]. Similarly to other German scholars, he welcomed the outbreak of the revolution as a clear consequence of the Enlightenment. As early as [[July 30]], [[1789]], shortly after he heard about the [[Storming of the Bastille]], he wrote to his father-in-law, philologist [[Christian Gottlob Heyne]] that it was beautiful to see what philosophy had nurtured in people's minds and then had realized in the state. To educate people about their rights in this way, he wrote, was after all the surest way; the rest would then result as if by itself. <ref name="zeit">{{de icon}} Jörg Schweigard: ''Freiheit oder Tod!''. In: [[Die Zeit]] 29/2001, [http://www.zeit.de/2001/29/200129_a-14_juli_xml online version]</ref> |
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[[Image:Freiheitsbaum.jpg|thumb|right|Liberty pole at the border to the [[Republic of Mainz]]. Watercolor by [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]].]] |
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== Life as a revolutionary == |
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=== Foundation of the Mainz Republic === |
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The French revolutionary army under [[General Custine]] gained control over [[Mainz]] on [[October 21]], [[1792]]. Two days later, Georg Forster joined others in establishing a [[Jacobin]] club called "Freunde der Freiheit und Gleichheit" ("Friends of Freedom and Equality"). From early 1793 he was actively involved in organizing the [[Mainz Republic]]. This first republic located on German soil was constituted on the principles of [[democracy]], and encompassed areas on the left bank of the [[Rhine]] between [[Landau]] and [[Bingen am Rhein|Bingen]]. Forster became vice-president of the republic's temporary administration and a candidate in the elections to the local parliament, the ''Rheinisch-Deutscher Nationalkonvent'' (''Rhenish-German National Convention''). From January to March of 1793, he was an editor of ''Die neue Mainzer Zeitung oder Der Volksfreund'' (''The new Mainz newspaper or The People's Friend''). In his first article he wrote: |
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{{cquote|Die Pressefreiheit herrscht endlich innerhalb dieser Mauern, wo die Buchdruckerpresse erfunden ward.<ref name="SZ">{{de icon}} Wolf Lepenies: ''Freiheit, das Riesenkind''. [[Süddeutsche Zeitung]], [[2003-03-17]]. [http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/artikel/811/9802/ Online version]</ref>}} |
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("''The [[freedom of the press]] finally reigns within these walls where the [[printing press]] was invented.'') |
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The freedom did not last too long, though. The Mainz Republic existed only until the retreat of the French troops in July 1793 after the Siege of Mainz. |
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Forster was not present in Mainz during the siege. As representatives of the Mainz National Convention, he and [[Adam Lux]] had been sent to [[Paris]] to apply for Mainz — which was unable to exist as an independent state — to become a part of the [[French First Republic|French Republic]]. The application was accepted, but had no effect, since Mainz was conquered by Prussian and Austrian troops, and the old order was restored.<ref name="WHKMLA">[http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/germany/mainzrep.html The Mainz Republic] at WHKMLA</ref> |
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[[Image:Gillray Pinnacle.png|thumb|left|The Pinnacle of liberty, A satire by [[James Gillray]]]] |
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=== Death in revolutionary Paris === |
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Based on a [[decree]] by Emperor [[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis II]] inflicting punishments on German subjects who collaborated with the French revolutionary government, Forster was declared an outlaw in the name of the Emperor (under the [[Reichsacht]]), a prize of 100 ducats was set on his head and he could not return to Germany.<ref name="Saine">Saine,p. 154</ref> Devoid of all means of making a living and without his wife, who had stayed in Mainz with their children and her later husband [[Ludwig Ferdinand Huber]], he remained in Paris. At this point the revolution in Paris had entered the stage of the [[Reign of Terror]] introduced by the [[Committee of Public Safety]] under the rule of [[Maximilien Robespierre]]. Forster had the opportunity to experience the difference between the promises of the revolution of happiness for all and its cruel practice. In contrast to many other German supporters of the revolution, like for instance [[Friedrich Schiller]], Forster did not turn back from his revolutionary ideals under the pressure of the terror regime. He viewed the events in France as a force of nature which could not be slowed down and which had to release its own energies to avoid being even more destructive.<ref name="Saine">Saine, p. 152</ref> |
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Yet before the reign of terror reached its climax, Georg Forster died of a [[stroke]] after a rheumatic illness<ref name="Reintjes" /> in his small attic apartment at Rue des Moulins<ref name="hr2">{{de icon}} [http://www.hr-online.de/servlet/de.blueorange.xred.util.GetFile/04-165.rtf?db=hrmysql&tbl=int_xredfile&key=id&keyval=11787328&imgcol=xred_file Radio script] (RTF) to Christa Schell: ''Die Revolution ist ein Orkan''</ref> in Paris in January 1794, at the age of 39. |
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== Views on nations and their culture == |
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Forster had partial Scottish roots and was born in Polish [[Royal Prussia]]. He worked in Russia, England, Poland and in several German countries of his times. Finally, he finished his life in France. He worked in different milieus and travelled a lot from his youth on. It was his view that this, together with his scientific upbringing based on the principles of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], gave him a wide perspective on different ethnic and national communities: |
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[[Image:Forsterundsohn.jpg|right|thumb|170px|[[Johann Reinhold Forster]] and Georg Forster in [[Tahiti]], by [[John Francis Rigaud]] (1742-1810), 1780.]] |
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{{cquote|All peoples of the earth have equal claims to my good will..., and my praise and blame are independent of national prejudice.<ref>Forster, Johann Georg, ''Georg Forsters Werke'', 11, 13-14.</ref>}} |
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In his opinion all human beings have the same abilities with regard to reason, feelings and imagination, but these basic ingredients are used in different ways and in different environments, which gives rise to different cultures and civilisations. According to him it is obvious that the culture on Tierra del Fuego is at a lower level of development than the European culture, but he also admits that the conditions of life there are much more difficult and this gives people very little chance to develop a higher culture. Based on these opinions he was classified as one of the main examples of 18th century German [[cosmopolitanism]].<ref>Pauline Kleingeld, ''Six Varieties of Cosmopolitanism in Late Eighteenth-Century Germany'', in Journal of the History of Ideas, 1999 ([http://www.filosofie.leidenuniv.nl/content_docs/publicaties/Kleingeld/six_varieties_of_cosmopolitanism.pdf Text as PDF])</ref> |
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In contrast to the attitude expressed in these writings and to his Enlightenment background, he used insulting terms expressing prejudices against Poles in his private letters during his stay in Vilnius and in a diary from the journey through Poland,<ref>{{de icon}} Lawaty, Andreas, ''„Polnische Wirtschaft“ und „deutsche Ordnung“: Nachbarbilder und ihr Eigenleben'', in: Der Fremde, Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zu Aspekten von Fremdheit, Hg. Bernhard Oestreich, Peter Lang Verlag 2003, p. 156–166.</ref><ref>{{de icon}} Krause, Hans-Thomas, ''Georg Forster und Polen. In: Georg Forster (1754-1794). Ein Leben für den wissenschaftlichen und politischen Fortschritt'', in: Wissenschaftliche Beiträge der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg T 42, Beiträge zur Universitätsgeschichte). Halle/S. 1981, p. 79-85.</ref><ref>[http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sarmatia/902/223books.html ''BOOKS and Periodicals Received''] (accessed on September 1st, 2005). In the review of: ''"Czarna legenda Polski: Obraz Polski i Polaków w Prusach 1772-1815" (The black legend of Poland: the image of Poland and Poles in Prussia between 1772-1815)'', by Dariusz Łukasiewicz. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk, 1995. Vol. 51 of the history and social sciences series (English and German summaries). ISBN 83-7063-148-7.</ref> but he never published any manifestation of this attitude.<ref>{{de icon}} Bömelburg, Hans-Jürgen, ''Georg Forster und das negative deutsche Polenbild. Ein Kosmopolit als Architekt von nationalen Feindbildern?'', in: Mainzer Geschichtsblätter 8 (1993), p. 79-90.</ref> These insults only became known after his death, when his private correspondence and diaries were released to the public. Since Forster's published descriptions of other nations were seen as impartial scientific observations, Forster's disparaging description of Poland in his letters and diaries was often taken at face value in Imperial and Nazi Germany, where it was used as a means of science-based support for a purported German superiority.<ref>Michael Burleigh, Wolfgang Wippermann, ''The Racial State: Germany 1933-1945'', Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-39802-9</ref> The spreading of the ''"Polnische Wirtschaft"'' (Polish economy) stereotype<ref>{{de icon}} Hubert Orłowski: ''"Polnische Wirtschaft": Zum deutschen Polendiskurs der Neuzeit'' (Studien der Forschungsstelle Ostmitteleuropa an der Universität Dortmund). ISBN 3-447-03877-2. {{pl icon}} Also in Polish as ISBN 83-900380-8-0</ref> is most likely due to the influence of his letters.<ref>{{de icon}} Stasiewski, Bernhard, ''"Polnische Wirtschaft" und Johann Georg Forster, eine wortgeschichtliche Studie.'', in: Deutsche Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift im Wartheland 2 (1941), H. 3/4, p. 207-216.</ref><ref name="Salmonowicz">{{pl icon}} Salmonowicz, Stanisław: ''Jerzy Forster a narodziny stereotypu Polaka w Niemczech XVIII/XIX wieku''. In: ''Zapiski Historyczne'' 52 (1987), vol. 4, 135-147. - Germ.: ''Georg Forster und sein Polenbild: Kosmopolitismus und nationales Stereotyp.'' Medizinhistorisches Journal 23 (1988), 277-290.</ref> |
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Forster's attitude brought him into conflict with people of different nations he encountered and made him welcome nowhere, as he was too revolutionary and antinational for Germans,<ref>Gordon A. Craig, ''Engagement and Neutrality in Germany: The Case of Georg Forster, 1754-94'', The Journal of Modern History, Vol 41, no 1, March 1969, p. 1-16; page 2</ref> proud and opposing in his dealings with Englishmen,<ref>Allan Arlidge, ''Cook As A Commander - Cook and His Supernumeraries'', In: ''Cook's Log'', [http://www.captaincooksociety.com/ccsu4199.htm the on-line version]</ref> too unconcerned about Polish science for Poles,<ref>{{pl icon}} Wanda Grębecka, ''Stanisław Bonifacy Jundziłł'' (1761-1847), Warszawa-Lida 2003, Retro-Art </ref><ref name="Salmonowicz"/> and too insignificant politically and ignored while in France.<ref>Gordon A. Craig, ''Engagement and Neutrality in Germany: The Case of Georg Forster, 1754-94'', The Journal of Modern History, Vol 41, no 1, March 1969, p. 1-16; page 12</ref> |
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== Heritage == |
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After Forster's death his works were mostly forgotten, except in professional circles. This was partly due to his involvement in the French revolution. However, his reception changed with the politics of the times, with different periods focusing on different parts of his work. In the period of rising nationalism after the Napoleonic times he was regarded in Germany as a "traitor to his country", overshadowing the perception of his work as an author and scientist. This attitude rose even though the philosopher [[Friedrich Schlegel]] wrote about Forster at the beginning of 19th century: |
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{{cquote|Among all those authors of prose who are justified in laying claims to a place in the ranks of German classics, none breathes the spirit of free progress more than Georg Forster.<ref name="Schlegel">Friedrich Schlegel, ''Kritische Schriften'', ed. W. Rasch, 2nd ed., Munich: Hanser 1964, translated by T. Saine in the preface to ''Georg Forster''</ref>}} |
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Some interest in Forster's life and revolutionary actions was revived in the context of the liberal sentiments leading up to the [[Revolutions of 1848 in the German states|1848 revolution]].<ref name="Saine">Saine, introduction</ref> |
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Remembering Forster was ostracised in the Germany of [[Wilhelm II of Germany|Wilhelm II]] and more so in the [[Third Reich]],<ref name="hr">{{de icon}} Christa Schell: ''Die Revolution ist ein Orkan''. [http://www.hr-online.de/website/specials/wissen/index.jsp?key=standard_document_2830788&rubrik=6558]</ref> where interest in Forster was limited to his stance on Poland from his private letters. Later, the [[East Germany|GDR]], in turn, tried to profit from his memory by connecting him to its tradition as a scientist and revolutionary. For instance, the GDR research station in [[Antarctica]] that was opened on [[1987-10-25]] was named after Forster.<ref name="polarpost">{{de icon}} [http://forster-station.tripod.com/ Philatelic history of the GDR research in Antarctica]</ref> In West Germany, the search for democratic traditions in German history also lead to a more diversified picture of him in the 1970s. A scholarship program of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation for foreign scholars from developing countries is named after him.<ref name="avh">[http://www.humboldt-foundation.de/EN/programme/stip_aus/gf.htm Georg Forster research fellowships]</ref> His reputation as one of first and most outstanding German [[ethnology|ethnologists]] is indisputable, and his works are seen as crucial in the development of ethnology in Germany into a separate branch of science.<ref name="Bast">{{de icon}} Bianca Bast, ''Georg Forster - Die Wiederentdeckung eines Genies''. [http://www.uni-protokolle.de/nachrichten/id/61496/]</ref> |
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==Works== |
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*''A Voyage round the World in His Britannic Majesty's Sloop Resolution, Commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the Years, 1772, 3, 4, and 5'' (1777) |
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*''Journal of travels in Poland'' (August-November, 1784), The Warsaw Voice, 1990 31 8-9 |
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*''Dissertatio botanico-medica de plantis esculentis insularum oceani Australis'' (1785) |
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*''Essays on the moral and natural geography, natural history and phylosophy'' (1789-1797) |
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*''Views of the Lower Rhine, Brabant, Flanders'' (three volumes, 1791-1794) |
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*''Letters'' (posthumous compilation of his correspondence, 1828) |
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* ''Werke in vier Bänden'', Gerhard Steiner (editor). Leipzig 1971 |
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* ''Ansichten vom Niederrhein'', Gerhard Steiner (editor). Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1989. ISBN 3-458-32836-X |
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* ''Reise um die Welt'', Gerhard Steiner (editor). Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1983. ISBN 3-458-32457-7 |
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* ''Über die Beziehung der Staatskunst auf das Glück der Menschheit und andere Schriften'', Wolfgang Rödel (editor). Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1966. – A little collection of political essays, notes, and speeches of republican thinkers and writers. |
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* '' Georg Forsters Werke, Sämtliche Schriften, Tagebücher, Briefe'', Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, G. Steiner et al. Berlin: Akademie 1958 |
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*''Georg Forster, Revolutions-Briefe'', Kurt Kersten, Athenaeum Verlag, 1981 |
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{{botanist|G.Forst.|Forster, Georg}} |
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==References== |
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<div class="references-small"> |
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<references /> |
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</div> |
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This article is partly based on a translation of the [[German Wikipedia]] article [[:de:Georg Forster|Georg Forster]]. |
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==External links== |
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*[http://projects.prm.ox.ac.uk/forster/home.html The Forster Collection at the Pitt Rivers Museum] |
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*[http://www.sysbot.uni-goettingen.de/Forster/Seite1.htm The Forster herbarium at Göttingen] |
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*{{de icon}} [http://www.georg-forster-gesellschaft.de/ Georg Forster society in Kassel] |
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*[http://www.royalsoc.co.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=ImageView.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqImage=EC_1776_22.jpg Letter] recommending Georg Forster to the [[Royal Society]] |
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*{{de icon}} [http://www.bbaw.de/bbaw/Forschung/Forschungsprojekte/forster/de/Ueberblick Edition of Forster's works] at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of the Sciences |
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*[http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/online-ex/art-themes/drawingconclusions/more/penguin_more_info.htm Drawing] of a [[Chinstrap Penguin]] by Georg Forster |
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{{featured article}} |
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{{Persondata |
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|NAME=Forster, Johann Georg Adam |
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|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Forster, George |
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|SHORT DESCRIPTION=[[naturalist]] and [[ethnologist]] |
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|DATE OF BIRTH=November [[1754]] |
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|PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Mokry Dwór]] (German: Nassenhuben), near Danzig (Polish: [[Gdańsk]]), [[Royal Prussia]], [[Poland]] |
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|DATE OF DEATH=[[10 January]] [[1794]] |
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|PLACE OF DEATH=[[Paris]] |
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}} |
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[[Category:Botanists with author abbreviations|Forster, Georg]] |
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[[Category:German botanists|Forster, Georg]] |
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[[Category:Botanists active in the Pacific|Forster, Georg]] |
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[[Category:Pteridologists|Forster, Georg]] |
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[[Category:Mycologists|Forster, Georg]] |
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[[Category:German ornithologists|Forster, Georg]] |
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[[Category:Ethnologists|Forster, Georg]] |
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[[Category:Enlightenment scientists|Forster, Georg]] |
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[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society|Forster, Georg]] |
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[[Category:German travel writers|Forster, Georg]] |
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[[Category:German revolutionaries|Forster, Georg]] |
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[[Category:People of the French Revolution|Forster, Georg]] |
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[[Category:Anti-Polonism|Forster, Georg]] |
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[[Category:1754 births|Forster, Georg]] |
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[[Category:1794 deaths|Forster, Georg]] |
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{{Link FA|de}} |
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{{Link FA|fr}} |
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[[de:Georg Forster]] |
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[[es:Georg Forster]] |
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[[eo:Georg Forster]] |
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[[fr:Georg Forster]] |
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[[ja:ゲオルク・フォルスター]] |
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[[pl:Georg Forster]] |
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[[ru:Форстер, Георг]] |
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Revision as of 17:54, 17 October 2006
Georg didn't know how to spell George.