About Alexander von Humboldt, Writings in English:

Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), German naturalist, anthropologist and travel writer, is well-known for his explorations of the Americas and of Russia, for his ascension of Mount Chimborazo, and for his contributions to the understanding of man-made climate change. Though he is cited today as the “father of environmentalism,” many of his works have not been accessible since his death, especially his numerous papers, articles, and essays published in journals, newspapers, and magazines all over the world. Humboldt’s international reception was unparalleled during his time, with publications spanning across five continents in fifteen languages, and his work influenced generations of writers—from Darwin, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman to Carpentier, Reyes, Aira, Galeano, and García Márquez.
Humboldt’s corpus consists of 750 individual texts, published in 3,600 versions and translations across more than 1,200 periodicals during his lifetime, with 250 of theses texts now appearing in English with the American Philosophical Society in two volumes. Containing groundbreaking scientific insights into tropical ecosystems, postcolonial societies, and the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples, Humboldt’s work not only inspired research within the halls of academia but also informed the discourse of thinkers, writers, and natural scientists worldwide.

About the speaker:

Oliver Lubrich is Professor of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Bern. Previously, he was Junior Professor of Rhetoric at the Peter Szondi Institute of Comparative Literature and the Cluster of Excellence “Languages of Emotion” at Freie Universität Berlin. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Chicago; California State University, Long Beach; Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico; and Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil; and a research fellow in Freiburg and Berlin. He published books on Shakespeare’s Self-Deconstruction (2001) and Post-Colonial Poetics (2004, 2009), Botany in Motion (2019, with the botanist Adrian Möhl), Emotions on Expeditions (2019, with the anthropologist Thomas Stodulka) and Alexander von Humboldt (2022).

Date and Time: Tuesday, September 9, 6:00pm - 7:30pm

Location: Deutsches Haus at NYU, 42 Washington Mews, New York, NY 10003

More Information: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/alexander-von-humboldt-the-whole-world-in-250-essays-tickets-1607194896199?aff=oddtdtcreator