Columbus A literary history of the 'other' and the 'own'
General and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies
Final Report Abstract
The navigator and coloniser Christopher Columbus is not only regarded as the ‘discoverer’ of the New World and thus as the midwife of the modern era and European expansion, but also as the patron saint of science and entrepreneurship, as well as being the central figure in a number of popular myths (Columbus' egg). The research project traces this person as a figure through literary history. For the figure of Columbus has always been superimposed on the historical person, and while many biographical details of the historical person remain obscure, the attributions to the literary figure have flourished all the more colourfully for centuries. It is the thesis of this work that Columbus, as he is anchored in the collective memory of different societies, is above all a product of narrative, primarily literary fictionalisation. The history of this fictionalisation takes place simultaneously with the history of European expansion. Without reducing literature to a merely reactive system alongside history, the project of literary history underpins an examination of colonial history. It can be observed, for example, that in modern times the heroic figure of Columbus initially reaches its zenith around the 400th anniversary of the ‘discovery’ of America at the Chicago World's Fair, which bears the title ‘World's Columbine Exhibition’, i.e. at the moment when the USA begins to emerge as a great power and prepares to conquer the last Spanish colonies (Cuba and the Philippines), while, conversely, the decidedly comic Columbus figure emerged in German literature after the German colonies were lost in 1919. So without forcing an equation with historical processes, it is obvious to include historical events in the literaryhistorical development of the Columbus figure in this way. On the other hand, it is literary preparations that predestine Columbus to be read as an epochal symbol in this way in the first place. The idealistic-heroic Columbus figure in Schiller and the psychopathological one in Jakob Wassermann have not only been received internationally, but they also pave the way for other, new interpretations. Of course, such a literary history cannot be written solely from a Germanic perspective; rather, it is necessary to transcend national literary boundaries. Above all, works from Spanish and English literature are included here, as well as Italian, French and Yiddish texts. Not only is there a polyphonic ‘work on the myth’ of Columbus, but also a permanent examination of issues relating to land conquest, slavery, world trade and modern science.
Publications
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Gerechte Annexion? Kolumbus und Magellan im literarischen Urteil der Zwischenkriegszeit. In: Michaela Holdenried/Anna-Maria Post (Hg.): „Land in Sicht!“ Literarische Inszenierungen von Landnahmen und deren Folgen. Berlin: ESV 2021, S. 73–91.
Hans-Christian Riechers
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Ceuta und Melilla, Städte zwischen den Kulturen. Interkulturelle Germanistik, 207-226. transcript Verlag.
Riechers, Hans-Christian
