The first scholarly English translations of thirteen vital texts that elucidate the central role mountains have played across nearly five centuries of Germanophone cultural history.

The first scholarly English translations of thirteen vital texts that elucidate the central role mountains have played across nearly five centuries of Germanophone cultural history.

Mountains have occupied a central place in German, Swiss, and Austrian intellectual culture for centuries. This volume offers the first scholarly English translations of thirteen key texts from the Germanophone tradition of engagement with mountains. The selected texts span over 450 years, ranging from the early modern period to the postmodern era, and encompass several discursive modes of the mountain experience including geographical descriptions, philosophical meditations, aesthetic deliberations, and autobiographical climbing narratives. Well-known figures covered in this translational sourcebook include Conrad Gessner, Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, G.W.F. Hegel, Alexander von Humboldt, Georg Simmel, Leni Riefenstahl, and Reinhold Messner. Each text is accompanied by a critical introduction that places the translated text within a broader cultural context. The dual translational-interpretational approach offered in this volume is intended to stimulate new international and interdisciplinary dialogue on the cultural history of mountains and mountaineering.

Contributors: Paul Buchholz, Sean Franzel, Gundolf Graml, Kamaal Haque, Harald Höbusch, Dan Hooley, Sean Ireton, Jennifer Jenkins, Jens Klenner, Martina Kopf, Seth Peabody, Caroline Schaumann, Christoph Weber, Wilfried Wilms.

Sean Ireton (University of Missouri) and Caroline Schaumann (Emory University) are also the editors ofHeights of Reflection: Mountains in the German Imagination from the Middle Ages to the Twenty-First Century (2012).

The Changing Mountain Discourses - a Germanphone Perspective - Sean Ireton and Caroline Schaumann
Conrad Gessner, "Letter to Jacob Vogel on the Admiration of Mountains" (1541) and "Description of Mount Fractus, Commonly Called Mount Pilate" (1555) - Dan Hooley
Johann Jakob ScheuchzerThe Natural History of Switzerland (1716) - Excerpts - Jennifer Jenkins
Johann Jakob ScheuchzerThe Natural History of Switzerland (1716) - Excerpts - Christoph Weber
Sophie von la RocheDiary of a Journey Through Switzerland (1787) - Excerpts - Martina Kopf
G.W.F. HegelTravel Diary Through the Bernese Alps (1796) - Sean Franzel
Alexander von Humboldt, Failed Ascents of Antisana and Chimborazo - Two Excerpts fromTravel Diaries (1802) - Caroline Schaumann
Hermann von BarthFrom the Northern Limestone Alps (1874) - Excerpts - Sean Ireton
Georg Simmel, "Alpine Journeys" (1895) and "On the Aesthetics of the Alps" (1911) - Jens Klenner
Eduard Pichl, "Autobiographical Sketch" (1914) and "The Alpine Association and German Purity" (1923) - Wilfried Wilms
Leni RiefenstahlStruggle in Snow and Ice (1933) - Excerpts - Seth Peabody
Arnold FanckHe Directed Glaciers, Storms and Avalanches: A Film Pioneer Recounts (1973) - Excerpts - Kamaal Haque
Hans ErtlMy Wild Thirties (1982), Chapter 7: "The Film Gets Colorized - But the Himalaya Still Looks Bleak" - Harald Höbusch
Max Peintner, "The Dam" (1981) - Paul Buchholz
Reinhold MessnerWestwall: The Abyss Principle (2009) - Excerpts - Gundolf Graml
Works Cited
Index