CHAMISSO

chamisso, adelbert von [louis charles adelaide de] (1781-1838), german poet and botanist, was born at the chateau of boncourt in champagne, france, the ancestral seat of his family, on the 30th of january 1781. driven from france by the revolution, his parents settled in berlin, where in 1796 young chamisso obtained the post of page-in-waiting to the queen, and in 1798 entered a prussian infantry regiment as ensign. his family were shortly afterwards permitted to return to france; he, however, remained behind and continued his career in the army. he had but little education, but now sought distraction from the soulless routine of the prussian military service in assiduous study. in collaboration with varnhagen von ense, he founded in 1803 the _berliner musenalmanach_, in which his first verses appeared. the enterprise was a failure, and, interrupted by the war, it came to an end in 1806. it brought him, however, to the notice of many of the literary celebrities of the day and established his reputation as a rising poet. he had become lieutenant in 1801, and in 1805 accompanied his regiment to hameln, where he shared in the humiliations following the treasonable capitulation of that fortress in the ensuing year. placed on parole he went to france, where he found that both his parents were dead; and, returning to berlin in the autumn of 1807, he obtained his release from the service early in the following year. homeless and without a profession, disillusioned and despondent, he lived in berlin until 1810, when, through the services of an old friend of the family, he was offered a professorship at the _lycee_ at napoleonville in la vendee. he set out to take up the post, but drawn into the charmed circle of madame de stael, followed her in her exile to coppet in switzerland, where, devoting himself to botanical research, he remained nearly two years. in 1812 he returned to berlin, where he continued his scientific studies. in the summer of the eventful year, 1813, he wrote the prose narrative _peter schlemihl_, the man who sold his shadow. this, the most famous of all his works, has been translated into most european languages (english by w. howitt). it was written partly to divert his own thoughts and partly to amuse the children of his friend hitzig. in 1815 chamisso was appointed botanist to the russian ship "rurik," which otto von kotzebue (son of august von kotzebue) commanded on a scientific voyage round the world. his diary of the expedition (_tagebuch_, 1821) affords some interesting glimpses of england and english life. on his return in 1818 he was made custodian of the botanical gardens in berlin, and was elected a member of the academy of sciences, and in 1820 he married. chamisso's travels and scientific researches restrained for a while the full development of his poetical talent, and it was not until his forty-eighth year that he turned again to literature. in 1829, in collaboration with gustav schwab, and from 1832 in conjunction with franz von gaudy, he brought out the _deutsche musenalmanach_, in which his later poems were mainly published. he died on the 21st of august 1838. as a scientist chamisso has not left much mark, although his _bemerkungen und ansichten_, published in an incomplete form in o. von kotzebue's _entdeckungsreise_ (weimar, 1821) and more completely in chamisso's _gesammelte werke_ (1836), and the botanical work, _ubersicht der nutzbarsten und schadlichsten gewachse in norddeutschland_ (1829) are esteemed for their careful treatment of the subjects with which they deal. as a poet chamisso's reputation stands high, _frauen liebe und leben_ (1830), a cycle of lyrical poems, which was set to music by schumann, being particularly famous. noteworthy are also _schloss boncourt_ and _salas y gomez_. in estimating his success as a writer, it should not be forgotten that he was cut off from his native speech and from his natural current of thought and feeling. he often deals with gloomy and sometimes with ghastly and repulsive subjects; and even in his lighter and gayer productions there is an undertone of sadness or of satire. in the lyrical expression of the domestic emotions he displays a fine felicity, and he knew how to treat with true feeling a tale of love or vengeance. _die lowenbraut_ may be taken as a sample of his weird and powerful simplicity; and _vergeltung_ is remarkable for a pitiless precision of treatment. the first collected edition of chamisso's works was edited by j.e. hitzig, 6 vols. (1836); 6th edition (1874); there are also excellent editions by m. koch (1883) and o.f. walzel (1892). on chamisso's life see j.e. hitzig, "leben und briefe von adelbert yon chamisso" (in the _gesammelte werke_); k. fulda, _chamisso und seine zeit_ (1881); g. hofmeister, _adelbert von chamisso_ (1884); and, for the scientific side of chamisso's life, e. du bois-raymond, _adelbert von chamisso als naturforscher_ (1889).