Mountains and the German Mind: Translations from Gessner to Messner, 1541–2009 ed. by Sean Ireton and Caroline Schaumann

Abstract

Reviewed by: Mountains and the German Mind: Translations from Gessner to Messner, 1541–2009 ed. by Sean Ireton and Caroline Schaumann Martina Gugglberger Mountains and the German Mind: Translations from Gessner to Messner, 1541–2009. Edited by Sean Ireton and Caroline Schaumann. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2020. Pp. vii + 361. 28 illustrations. Cloth $90.00. ISBN 978-1640140479. Mountaineering sports enjoy great popularity in Europe and the US. Besides activities on rock and ice, mountaineering is known as one of the most literary of sports. [End Page 398] Achievements and experiences in alpine areas have been printed in books and journals even before the beginning of what is called modern alpinism. These narratives reached many readers and influenced views of and discourses on not only mountains and mountain sports but also social and environmental issues in these areas. This book gathers thirteen key German nonfiction texts on mountains and mountaineering written by authors from German-speaking regions such as Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and South Tyrol in Italy. With translations and introductions by relevant scholars, these texts are now accessible to English-speaking readers. The translated texts span a period of four hundred and fifty years from early modern to postmodern times and include treatises, travel diaries, book chapters, and excerpts from longer texts. The selections offer different views of mountain landscapes and are devoted to geographical descriptions as well as philosophical and aesthetic observations and autobiographical climbing narratives. In the introduction, the two editors explain that the texts "illuminate the wide range of motivations, perspectives, and ideological contexts vis-à-vis mountains and mountaineering in Germanophone cultural history" and can "therefore safely be subsumed under the title Mountains and the German Mind" (5). Whereas the notion of a "German mind" appears clear in the four texts related to national social ideology, in the other texts the connecting thread seems to be primarily the German language. The volume begins with texts from the renowned Swiss naturalists Conrad Gessner (1516–1565) and Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672–1733). Gessner's texts, introduced by Dan Hooley, were originally written in Latin and prefigure the Romantic attraction to mountain landscapes for their beauty but also their physical and spiritual challenges. Approximately 150 years later, Scheuchzer contributed a tremendous encyclopedic volume on Swiss landscapes. Excerpts of his work, translated by Jennifer Jenkins and introduced by Christoph Weber, reveal Scheuchzer's enduring fascination with the Alps, which he considered to be proof of a divine architect. For a long time, traveling to alpine regions and writing about it was a male domain. Nevertheless, among such writers are few women are also to be found, such as Sophie von La Roche (1730–1807), who published a travel diary about her journey through Switzerland, presented here by Martina Kopf. La Roche refers to God's omnipotence and human beings as part of a greater system when describing her feelings in the face of mountains. Only a few years later, the philosopher G.W.F. Hegel (1770–1831) visited Switzerland and wrote a travel diary about his seven-day walk through the Bernese Alps. He was skeptical about a sublime view of mountains and reflects on the limitations of freedom for those who live in alpine areas. Another well-known representative of this period is Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), who attempted to climb several Andean mountains during his expedition to the Americas. Caroline Schaumann reveals unpublished diary excerpts of his endeavors on Chimborazo and Antisana in 1802. In contrast to Hegel, Humboldt is enthusiastic about the [End Page 399] surrounding nature and mountain landscapes, which he scientifically considered as microcosms of the earth. During the nineteenth century, the number of visitors to the Alps increased as motives shifted from scientific interests to recreational and adventure incentives. Hermann von Barth (1845–1876) was one of the first peak collectors and promoters of guideless climbing, eventually reaching 250 peaks in the Alps of Bavaria, Tyrol, and Salzburg. Sean Ireton translated two parts of von Barth's influential book on his mostly solo climbs. Sociologist Georg Simmel (1858–1918) represents an entirely theoretical approach, and Jens Klenner introduces Simmel's essay on journeys through the Alps as well as one on aesthetics. Simmel...