Raisbeck, Joanna; (2025) Planetary Awareness in Adelbert von Chamisso. Modern Language Notes (MLN) , 140 (3) pp. 634-653. 10.1353/mln.2025.a972230.

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Abstract

The critical reception of Adelbert von Chamisso's work, best known for Peter Schlemihl, has recently started to draw attention to his importance as a naturalist and botanist. His participation in the Rurik expedition between 1815–18 can be viewed through categories of the global, as it cannot be extricated from colonial politics and attempts to forge economic networks. The following argument reads Chamisso's later account of this journey, Reise um die Welt, through the lens of the planetary. This reveals how his text is replete with metacritical observations about the production of scientific knowledge and is shot through with a keen awareness of the fragility of humankind in its imbrication with the non-human world. Whilst Chamisso may not represent a radical or revolutionary position vis-à-vis scientific practices and discourses, Reise um die Welt opens up the question of how to legitimately gather knowledge—as well as the epistemological uncertainty brought forth by scientific habits of thought.

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