The victims of science
The victims of science is a satirical novel that Julius Stinde (1841–1905) had published in 1878 by Barth in Leipzig.
Emergence
In an essay entitled "How I made the acquaintance of Frau Wilhelmine Buchholz", he reports on the occasion and intention of the book, which Stinde published under the pseudonym "Alfred de Valmy". Stinde writes:
“At that time the educated world and those who counted themselves were enjoying the theoretical rushes to which the teaching of Darwin's imaginative scholars gave rise; In the solemn enlightenment round to insert the funny person who has not yet been found, I tried with Professor Desens, who in the booklet 'The Victims of Science' with the most serious face draws even more astonishing conclusions on the natural-philosophical path than his colleagues on this side of the Rhine finished. Professor Desens was intended to be a Frenchman, and since the spelling was aimed at creating the impression that the book had not been translated properly from French, both the content of the book and its pathetic tone tempted savvy literary connoisseurs to the pseudonymous author (Alfred de Valmy) for a French. Since everything foreign is particularly popular, a new edition soon became necessary, in which the authorship was also right on the title page, after it had become known in specialist circles soon after the first edition was published. "
When Stinde wrote this, the book was first published 19 years ago. The subject occupied him for many years, up to 1899.
History of the book
It all started with newspaper articles that appeared in the Hamburg newspaper Reform from 1874 under the pseudonym "Alfred de Valmy". Stinde writes about the content, form and intention of this article:
“But Darwinism , which arose and was abused to cause confusion, caused me to treat a number of natural philosophical fallacies satirically, and under the pseudonym Alfred de Valmy I made fun of excesses of semi-science in the form of little narratives that appeared , to be translated from the French, and as foreign goods enjoyed the liveliest reprints. They were later published as a book entitled 'The Victims of Science'. They amused and contributed to the prudent appreciation of the discoveries of Darwin, whose disciples began to respect the laws of nature and the web of fantasy. "
The first edition of the book that emerged from these articles has the following title:
Alfred de Valmy: The victims of science or the consequences of applied natural philosophy. Three books from the life of Professor Desens. Communicated by Alfred de Valmy . (Published in Leipzig by Johann Ambrosius Barth 1878, 90 pages)
The first edition in 1878 was followed the following year by the “Second Illustrated and Differentiated Edition”, for which Franz Skarbina had provided the illustrations. The book was again published by Leipzig Verlag Barth, the volume had grown to 138 pages. From this second edition there was an unchanged “New Cheap Edition” in 1886, which was published by Freund & Jeckel in Berlin.
In 1879 another series of seven Valmy articles appeared in the Berlin Monday newspaper under the common title “The Soul Seekers or The Man with Two Heads”. These articles, illustrated by Richard Knötel , were included in the third edition of the book, which was published under the following title:
The victims of science or the consequences of applied natural philosophy. According to the confessions of Mr. Alfred de Valmy. Communicated by Julius Stinde . Third, increased edition with illustrations by F. Skarbina and R. Knötel. (Berlin: Freund & Jeckel 1898. VII, 158 pp.)
Two more texts from this Valmy-Desens complex appeared that were not included in the book editions:
- Alfred de Valmy: The Secrets of the Antiquarian . In: Schorers Familienblatt 6,1885, 232–233.
- The pug cat. From the posthumous papers of Prof. Desens . In: Almanach des Kladderadatsch . 1900. A funny gift at the turn of the century. With the participation of well-known German humorists and illustrators, ed. by Johannes Trojan . Berlin: Hofmann 1900, pp. 46–54.
content
Alfred de Valmy must be thought of as a French writer who zealously seriously reports on the life and deeds of a professor of natural sciences by the name of Desens (in German: from the senses!), Whose theories, findings and practical experiments are to be made known to the world . Just as Darwin , Haeckel , Carl Vogt and Ludwig Büchner introduced the natural sciences to the Germans , Valmy wants to propagate the teachings of Professor Desens in France. Stinde came up with this scientist Desens and his abstruse teachings in order to combat the popular Darwinian literature, which at the time was abundantly rampant, and which presented natural philosophical and ideological speculations with a predominantly proclamatory tone and touted the new teachings as a substitute for religion.
The individual episodes have a great deal of cruelty and horror mixed in, as can be seen from the individual chapter headings: the victims of spectral analysis; the blood regimen; the artificial apparent death; the vengeance of the sandblower; eaten by plants, etc. Franz Skarbina, in addition to pictures that reveal the hideous without make-up, gave contemporary readers extra fun by giving Alfred de Valmy, who took the record, the features of the author Stinde in his drawings. On the title illustration of the first book, Valmy / Stinde is seen in the role of the reporter, who records on a notepad what the professor tells him from a catheter in a gesture-rich speech, while the laurel wreath hovers over Desens' head in Minerva's hand. Franz Skarbina has placed further portraits of Stinde in various places in the book: Alfred de Valmy / Stinde and Professor Desens in Chinese costume and Alfred de Valmy / Stinde listening to the confessions of a beautiful lady.
Impact history
In literary studies, The Sacrifice of Science is rated as a learned satire and an early example of German-language science fiction , in which the influences of Jules Verne can also be demonstrated.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Julius Stinde: How I made the acquaintance of Frau Wilhelmine Buchholz . In: Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte , Vol. 12 (1897/98), Volume 1, pp. 65–69.
- ↑ From the apprenticeship of a newspaper writer. Memories of Julius Stinde . In: Über Land und Meer 86 (1901), pp. 751–753.
Web links
- Website for Julius Stinde's pseudonym "Alfred de Valmy" ( Memento from June 6, 2011 in the web archive archive.today )
- Digitized version of the first 1878 edition of the Bavarian State Library