Ottmar Ette

THE SCIENTIST AS WELTBÜRGER: ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT AND THE BEGINNING OF COSMOPOLITICS

Abstract Starting from Alexander von Humboldts always ambivalent attitude towards Potsdam, the city which made him an honorary citizen and where he conceived large parts of his Cosmos, this contribution tries to show, through a broad analysis of Humboldts early letters and later writings, the complex relation between world image and world travel, between science and cosmopolitanism. Humboldts innovative concept of science, at the same time transdisciplinary and intercultural, connects in its ethical dimension with ideas of Immanuel Kant, as Kant had presented them in his “Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht.” In this respect it becomes evident that the evolution of Humboldtian science is not possible without considering his understanding of cosmopolitanism, just as it is not possible to understand the specific kind of cosmopolitics which makes the Prussian scientist, author and intellectual an important connecting link for the actual definition of cosmopolitanism and cosmopolitics. The realization of world-wide communication networks between the most different sciences and scientists should, as the material infrastructure, be the presupposition of a global thinking which can be seen as part of a project of the (European) modernity. The biographical as well as the historical background of Alexander von Humboldts deliberations should, however, not be forgotten.

Alexander von Humboldt in Daniel Kehlmanns Welt

Zusammenfassung Wie stark sich im Verlauf des zuruckliegenden Vierteljahrhunderts der Bekanntheitsgrad Alexander von Humboldts in der deutschsprachigen Offentlichkeit verandert hat, zeigen nicht nur Fernsehumfragen zu den beruhmtesten Deutschen, in denen Alexander von Humboldt mittlerweile figuriert, oder Fernsehserien, die uber aktuelle Expeditionen berichten und auf Humboldts Namen zuruckgreifen. Am deutlichsten vielleicht belegt dies der enorme Erfolg von Daniel Kehlmanns Roman Die Vermessung der Welt , der ohne die zuvor skizzierte Entwicklung nicht denkbar gewesen ware. Es ist vor diesem Hintergrund nicht nur reizvoll, sondern aufschlusreich, sich mit dem grosen Erfolg dieses kleinen Romans zu beschaftigen. Worum geht es in Die Vermessung der Welt ? Und wie last sich das „Phanomen Kehlmann“ aus etwas groserer Distanz erklaren? Abstract In the last 25 years, Alexander von Humboldt‘s popularity has radically changed in the german-speaking public opinion. Proof of this are not only television surveys about the most famous germans - in which Alexander von Humboldt now regularly figures - or television series about contemporary expeditions, which constantly refer to Humboldt‘s name; perhaps what most clearly verifies this change is the great success of Daniel Kehlmann‘s novel Die Vermessung der Welt . Without the recent developments outlined above, this novel‘s degree of impact would have been unimaginable. To study the great success of this text against this backdrop is not only attractive, but also revealing. What is Die Vermessung der Welt really about? And how can we explain the „Kehlmann phenomenon“ from a greater distance? Resumen La popularidad de Alejandro de Humboldt ha cambiado profundamente dentro del ultimo cuarto de siglo en la opinion publica de habla alemana. Prueba de esto son no solo las encuestas televisivas sobre los alemanes mas famosos, dentro de las cuales figura en estos momentos Alejandro de Humboldt, o programas de television sobre expediciones actuales, en los que continuamente se retoma el nombre de Humboldt; quizas la comprobacion mas clara de este cambio es el exito enorme de la novela Die Vermessung der Welt de Daniel Kehlmann. Exito que seria impensable sin el proceso esbozado mas arriba. Ante este trasfondo, estudiar el gran exito de esta pequena novela resulta no solo atractivo, sino ademas revelador. ?De que se trata Die Vermessung der Welt ? ?Como se puede explicar el „fenomeno Kehlmann“ desde una distancia relativamente mayor?

Urbanity and Literature – Cities as Transareal Spaces of Movement in Assia Djebar, Emine Sevgi Özdamar and Cécile Wajsbrot

Transarea studies focus upon spaces as created by the movements that criss-cross them. From this point of view, from its very beginnings, literature is closely interrelated with a vectorial (and much less with a purely spatial) conception of history – and with urbanity, which plays a decisive role in Gilgameshs travels through a (narrative) cosmos centered upon the city of Uruk. This article explores the city as a transareal space of movement in three examples of literature, with no fixed abode, around the turn of the millennium, i.e. Assia Djebars Les Nuits de Strasbourg , Emine Sevgi Oezdamars Istanbul-Berlin Trilogy , and Cecile Wajsbrots L’ile aux musees . These three writers project, in a very specific way, cities in motion as anagrammatic and fractal structures.

Everything is interrelated, even the errors in the system: Alexander von Humboldt and globalization

Abstract This article is an English version of the final chapter of Ettes Alexander von Humboldt und die Globalisierung: das Mobile des Wissen, published by Insel in 2009.

Unterwegs zu einer Weltwissenschaft? Alexander von Humboldts Weltbegriffe und die transarealen Studien

Zusammenfassung Alexander von Humboldts Weltbegriffe schreiben sich ein in die Reflektionstradition Uber die zweite Phase beschleunigter Globalisierung, die sich uber die gesamte zweite Halfte des 18. Jahrhunderts erstreckte. Die polyseme Struktur von Begriffen wie Weltbewusstsein ist Teil einer Wissenschaftsvision und -praxis, die am besten beschrieben werden kann als transdisziplinar, interkulturell, demokratisch popularisierend, kosmopolitisch, fraktal und transregional. Alexander von Humboldts neuer Diskurs uber die Neue Welt lasst sich verstehen als ein wegweisendes Beispiel fur TransArea Studies durch die Betonung regionenspezifischer Merkmale anhand der Entwicklung ihrer jeweils spezifischen Beziehungen und Dynamiken innerhalb eines weltweiten Netzwerkes von Informationen, Abhangigkeiten, Austauschprozessen und Korrespondenzen. Abstract Alexander von Humboldts world concepts inscribe themselves in the tradition of a reflexion on the second period of accerelated globalization during the second half of the 18th century. The polysemic structure of concepts like world consciousness (Weltbewusstsein) is embetted in a vision, understanding and practice of science that can be described as transdisciplinary, intercultural, democraticaly popularizing, cosmopolitan, fractal and transregional. Alexander von Humboldts new discourse on the Americas can be best understood as a fine example for TransArea Studies highlighting an areas characteristics by developing its relationships and dynamics within a worldwide network of informations, dependencies, exchanges and correspondances. Resumen Los conceptos del mundo que Alexander von Humboldt desarollo se inscriben en la tradicion de una reflexion acerca de la segunda fase de una globalizacion accelerada durante la segunda mitad del siglo 18. La esctructura polisemica de conceptos como conciencia universal (Weltbewusstsein) es el fundamento de una vision, un saber y una practica de la ciencia que puede ser clasificada como transdisciplinaria, intercultural, democraticamente popularizante, cosmopolitica, fractal y transregional. Su nuevo discurso de las Americas deja mejor comprenderse como una muestra ejemplar para TransArea Studies subrayando las caracteristicas de un area a traves del desarollo de sus relaciones y dinamicas desde adentro de una red planetaria de informaciones, dependencias, intercambios y correspondencias.

Die Humboldtsche Wissenschaft

Wer sich den Werken Alexander von Humboldts annahert und sich einen ersten Uberblick verschafft, ist zunachst von der uberraschenden Vielzahl an unterschiedlichen Wissenschaften beeindruckt, auf deren Wissen der Verfasser des Amerikanischen (s. Kap. 5) und des Asiatischen Reisewerkes (s. Kap. 7) zuruckgreift. Von Altamerikanistik und Anthropologie, Astronomie und Archaologie, Biologie und Botanik, Chemie und Dendrologie reicht das Spektrum uber Geographie und Geologie, Geschichtswissenschaft und Gesellschaftswissenschaft, Klimatologie und Kulturgeschichte, Kunst und Kameralistik, Mathematik und Meteorologie bis hin zu Physik und Philologie, Philosophie und Pflanzengeographie, Sprachwissenschaft und Sternenkunde, Vulkanologie und Zoologie, ohne daruber fur ihn so wichtige Wissenschaften wie Bergbaukunde oder Geognosie, Kartographie oder Literaturgeschichte, Okonomie oder Seefahrtskunde, Verwaltungswissenschaft oder Wissenschaftsgeschichte zu vergessen. Ist in eine solch offene Liste, in eine derartige disziplinare Komplexitat, die uns aus heutiger Sicht als lebenswissenschaftlich und okologisch avant la lettre erscheint, uberhaupt Ordnung oder Systematik zu bringen?

Languages about Languages: Two Brothers and one Humboldtian Science

Abstract In the history of Humboldt research both brothers have been traditionally seen as representing the dichotomy between the humanities and the natural sciences. Today however, their similar approach to using and forming scientific language could be used as a starting point for conceiving a university, museum and even forum under one single Humboldtian science. Zusammenfassung In der Vergangenheit sah die Humboldt-Forschung beide Bruder als Vertreter gegenteiliger wissenschaftlicher Ansatze. Heute jedoch kann ihr ahnlicher Zugang zu wissenschaftlicher Sprache als Ausgangspunkt fur die Konzipierung einer Universitat, eines Museums und Forums unter einer einzigen Humboldtschen Wissenschaft genutzt werden. Resumen En la investigacion humboldtiana, los hermanos tradicionalmente representaban la oposicion entre las humanidades y las ciencias naturales. Hoy, en cambio, su enfoque similar de usar y construir las lenguas y los discursos de sus respectivas disciplinas se puede usar como punto de partida en concebir una universidad, un museo y un forum desde una sola ciencia humboldtiana. Lecture held on the occasion of Leibniz Day, 2017 of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Worldwide - "weltweit": De la vida en mundos transarchipiélicos

En el presente trabajo se pretende ilustrar el islario y la isla desde diversos enfoques —historico, cultural y lirico— para revelar la complejidad circunstancial de su tratamiento y el intento por descubrir su presencia en las literaturas del mundo, a traves de un minucioso estudio de la obra de la escritora alemano-japonesa, Yoko Tawada. Por encima de las diferencias historico-culturales desveladas en los acercamientos a autores tan disimiles como Benedetto Bordone, Edouard Glissant, Jose Lezama Lima y Khal Torabully prevalecen las similitudes: la relacionalidad, el movimiento, el imaginario y la resistencia a lo establecido.

“Tout comprendre, c’est tout pardonner?” The “Case of Jauss”

Hans Robert Jauss cannot simply be excluded from the history of Romance Studies, or from the history of literary science in 20th century Germany: the attractive power of his style of thought, writing and scholarship was too profound, his machine de guerre too powerful. If the “case of Jauss” is now on its way to becoming the “paradigm of Jauss,” it is time to examine scientifically the text and work, the impact and the reception of the author of Asthetische Erfahrung und literarische Hermeneutik (“Aesthetic Experience and Literary Hermeneutics”), and to illuminate them from the perspective of Romance Studies. The considerations put forth in this essay should in no way diminish the undeniable merits of the founder of “Reader-response criticism”. With him and with his words, one may surely hold on to the hope that “the triadic relationship of technology, communication, and world view” can be brought “once more into equilibrium.” Hans Robert Jauss—to use the words of Jorge Semprun—traveled the very short, and at the same time very long, path from Buchenwald to Weimar: a path that first led him into the most abysmal, reprehensible, and rational form of human barbarism, which he wished to leave behind him as quickly as possible after the end of the war. His path to Weimar, as the symbol of a “refined” western culture, was extremely short: indeed, all too short.

Khal Torabully. “Coolies” and corals, or living in transarchipelagic worlds

ABSTRACT Khal Torabully creates poetry and a poetics for those forgotten by history, a theorem and theory which construct a tangible and sensual landscape, allowing for an empathetically shared experience and expressing the dramatic climax of the third phase of accelerated globalization: a project that would be unthinkable without the cultural theory we now have at our disposal in the present surge of globalization. In his poetic and theoretical texts, he has paid a literary tribute to the Coolies, usually from India, but also China and many other countries. Given Torabullys Mauritian roots, but also the worldwide migration of the Coolies themselves, the world of Coolitude is culturally and linguistically extremely diverse, making the act of translation very relevant and giving it multiple meanings. Literature brings these forgotten lives back to life and allows us to share this experience thanks to its aesthetic force. It traces the movements, which sketch trajectories functioning to this day as palimpsest-like vectors of our own paths and trajectories. The author of Chair Corail, Fragments Coolies breaks the chain of mutual exclusions, replacing it with a type of writing belonging to a wider array of expressive modes which in diasporic situations unleash polylogical and archipelagic imaginaries.