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Article ID: CBB052952300

“eine Propaganda der Liebe und des Lichtes…”: On the Reception of Haeckel’s Popularization of Science in California around 1900 : The San Francisco ‘Bohemians’ as Haeckel’s American Disciples (2023)

John Christopher Vivian (Author)

Acta Historica Leopoldina
Volume: 84
Pages: 53-99

DOI: 10.26164/leopoldina_10_00828

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History of science, as a discipline Science and literature 20th century 19th century San Francisco (California) Americas Haeckel, Ernst

This article looks at the literary and cultural reception of Ernst Haeckel (1834 –1919) by American poets, writers, artists and scientists, who were all members of the San Francisco Bohemian Club. It pays particular attention to the San Franciscan architect and poet, Herman George Scheffauer (1876 –1927), who after a visit to Haeckel in Jena in 1904 became a friend and American disciple, documented in their unpublished correspondence. Scheffauer brought with him news that a new school of American poetry inspired by Haeckel’s writings on evolution and monism was emerging in California, where, as self-styled monist poets, they were attempting to combine poetry and science. George Sterling’s (1869 –1926) poem, ‘The Testimony of the Suns’, was acclaimed in a Californian literary magazine in 1904 as “the embodiment of Haeckelian philosophy”. The writer Jack London (1876 –1916) also sent one of his evolutionary novels to Haeckel. Scheffauer published articles and poems on Haeckel in America and Britain, as well as translating him. At the outbreak of WWI, when Haeckel dramatically severed all relations with England, Scheffauer remained his only loyal disciple living in London. In 1915 moving to Germany, with Haeckel’s assistance, he became the literary editor of a Berlin based newspaper for Americans, The Continental Times. As a later translator of Thomas Mann (1875 –1955) and with him co-editor of a literary project Romane der Welt (1927f.), he continued the Haeckelian role of popularising not only science but literature as well. Dieser Artikel befasst sich mit der literarischen und kulturellen Rezeption von Ernst Haeckel (1834 –1919) durch amerikanische Dichter, Schriftsteller, Künstler und einen Wissenschaftler, die alle Mitglieder des San Francisco Bohemian Clubs waren. Ein besonderes Augenmerk gilt dem Architekten und Dichter Herman George Scheffauer (1876 –1927), der 1904 Haeckel in Jena besuchte und ein Freund und treuer Schüler wurde, was sich in ihrem bislang unveröffentlichten Briefwechsel niederschlägt. Scheffauer brachte die Nachricht mit, dass eine neue amerikanische Schule der Poesie, inspiriert von Haeckels populären Schriften über Evolution und Monismus, in Kalifornien entstanden sei, wo sie als selbsternannte monistische Dichter versuchten, Poesie und Wissenschaft zu verbinden. George Sterlings (1869 –1926) Gedicht ‚The Testimony of the Suns‘ wurde 1904 in einer kalifornischen Literaturzeitschrift als „Verkörperung der Haeckelschen Philosophie“ gepriesen. Auch Jack London (1876 –1916) schickte Haeckel einen seiner Evolutionsromane. Scheffauer veröffentlichte weiterhin Übersetzungen von Haeckels Schriften sowie Artikel und Gedichte über Haeckel sowohl in Amerika als auch in Großbritannien. Bei Ausbruch des Ersten Weltkriegs, als Haeckel alle persönlichen Beziehungen zu England abbrach, blieb Scheffauer sein einziger treuer Schüler, der zu dieser Zeit in London lebte und schließlich 1915 nach Deutschland zog, wo er die literarische Redaktion der deutsch-amerikanischen Propagandazeitung The Continental Times aufnahm. Als späterer Übersetzer von Thomas Mann (1875 –1955) und Mitherausgeber des literarischen Projekts Romane der Welt (1927f.) setzte er die Haeckelsche Rolle der Popularisierung nicht nur in der Wissenschaft, sondern auch in der Literatur fort.

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