Ferdinand Amersin

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Ferdinand Amersin (born April 12, 1838 in Großlobming in Styria ; died after 1894) was an Austrian writer and doctor. He wrote political and philosophical writings and the science fiction The Land of Freedom (1874).

Life

The graduate of the Imperial State High School in Graz became a junior doctor in the 4th Battalion of the Tyrolean Jägerregiment in 1862 . In 1865 he was transferred to Infantry Regiment No. 32, soon after which he resigned from military service. From 1870 he can be verified as a ship's doctor in Trieste, as such he was active as a writer in the following years. In the 6th volume of his traveling book by an engineer , Max Eyth incidentally mentions that he met Amersin as a ship's doctor in December 1880, and referred to him as a "hashish doctor". Amersin had a brochure Haschischgenuss im Abendland in 1879in which he promoted the use of cannabis. Eyth reports that Amersin sold this brochure on board along with a "hashish tincture" that he made, which he advertised as an "oriental means of feeling transported to Mohammed's paradise for a few hours". In 1882, the distribution of his utopian novel The Land of Freedom , in which he presented the ideal of a republic without religion, was banned in Austria, which was described as “semi-communist” in reviews . Amersin is said to have worked as a dental assistant in Vienna in 1890 ; this reminds us that as early as 1874, when he was looking for a job in Vienna, he could be reached at the address of a dentist in the inner city. In 1893 he is said to have worked as a doctor in Metnitz in Carinthia . In the 1890s, "Theer-Rum", a hair loss remedy developed by Amersin, was marketed; in corresponding advertisements Amersin was referred to as "kk marine doctor". Further life dates, in particular the date of death, are not known.

The land of freedom

The novel appeared as the second part of Wisdom and Virtue of Pure Humanity , the first part of which was a popular exposition of Amersin's philosophy. The second part was supposed to illustrate Amersin's wisdom and science doctrine poetically in the form of a novel . The novel is divided into three books (The Founder of Freedom; The Visit to Freiland; The Sent Out) and is a utopia based on a belief in progress and an optimistic view of mankind .

The protagonist Heinrich, a wealthy young man, finds no satisfaction in the materialistic world, withdraws from it with his partner Agnes and founds an educational institution in the garden of his house. With a convincing demeanor, the couple succeeds in adopting around 20 "healthy, strong, clever and cheerful children" from their parents. When the upbringing project provoked offense from the neighbors, the couple moved with the children to a lonely, uninhabited island, which became "open land" on which a model society developed within a generation. When the island's population increased rapidly, “missionaries” were sent out into the world, who, with the help of noble princes, gradually succeeded in winning Germany and ultimately the whole world over to building an ideal society. Even the Pope is converted.

Friedrich Kleinwächter refused to classify it as a novel of the state in 1891 because it contained "no trace of a description of the state constitution or the economic system". Birgit Affeldt-Schmidt, who differentiates “progress utopia” from “future utopia” in her work, sees Amersin's novel as the first German progress utopia.

bibliography

  • Wisdom and virtue of pure humanity: presented in the forms of teaching and poetry. Leykam-Josefsthal, Graz.
  • The enjoyment of hash in the West: Instructions for knowing and using the finest and strangest luxury item. 1879.
  • In the free state, or the law and custom of freedom. Safe socialist plans for the future. L. Herrmannstorfer, Trieste 1880.
  • The free league of like-minded nobles as a contemporary replacement for church and freemasonry. Trieste 1880.
  • Common wisdom teaching. (Truth, wisdom and taste theory) together with three supplements: Work plan for the constitution of a… compilation of all sciences and arts… overview table of sciences and arts and definition of terms. Julius Dase, Triest 1881 (revised version of wisdom and virtue of pure humanity , part 1: Popular philosophy: or common wisdom and science teaching for all educators ).

literature

  • Birgit Affeldt-Schmidt: Utopias of progress: From the change of utopian literature in the 19th century. Dissertation Kiel 1989. JB Metzler, Stuttgart & Weimar 1991 (Metzler study edition), ISBN 978-3-476-00787-2 , p. 108 f. and passim.
  • Lucian Hölscher: The discovery of the future. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1999, p. 135.
  • Georg H. Huntemann: Utopian image of man and utopian consciousness in the 19th and 20th centuries: History of utopias from E. Cabet to G. Orwell as a history of utopian self-understanding. Dissertation Erlangen 1953, pp. 55-64.
  • Arthur von Kirchenheim : Schlaraffia politica: History of the poetry of the best state. Ms. Wilh. Grünow, Leipzig 1892, p. 264.
  • Friedrich Kleinwächter: The state novels: A contribution to the doctrine of communism and socialism. Liberac, Amsterdam 1967 (= Breitenstein, Vienna 1891), pp. 104-107.
  • Robert Leucht: Dynamics of Political Imagination: The German-Language Utopia from Stifter to Döblin in its International Contexts, 1848–1930. Studies and texts on the social history of literature Volume 143. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-043491-0 , sections 1.1.2, 4.1.1.
  • Rudi Palla : The Art of Kneading Children: A Recipe Book of Pedagogy. Eichhorn, Frankfurt am Main 1997 (The Other Library), pp. 65–76.
  • Erna Reich: The German utopian novel from 1850 to the present. Dissertation Vienna 1927, pp. 143–144.
  • Nessun Saprà: Lexicon of German Science Fiction & Fantasy 1870-1918. Utopica, 2005, ISBN 3-938083-01-8 , p. 33.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The press. July 1, 1874, p. 9.
  2. ^ Army News. May 15, 1862, p. 79.
  3. ↑ New Military Journal. Issue 4, 1865. p. 144.
  4. ↑ New Military Journal. Issue 1, 1867. p. 18.
  5. ↑ Max Eyth: An engineer's traveling book. Vol. 6: Foreign and home. Heidelberg 1884, p. 130http: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Dbub_gb_tm3fAAAAMAAJ~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3Dn141~ double-sided%3D~LT%3DS.%20130~PUR%3D .
  6. ↑ Neues Wiener Tagblatt. October 11, 1874, p. 21.
  7. ↑ Hans-Edwin Friedrich: Science Fiction in the German-Language Literature: A Referat zur Forschungs bis 1993. Max Niemeyer, Tübingen 1995 (International Archive for Social History of German Literature; 7th Special Edition), pp. 143, 148, 153.
  8. ^ Affeldt-Schmidt: Utopias of Progress. Metzler, 1991, p. 108.
personal data
SURNAME Amersin, Ferdinand
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian writer and doctor
DATE OF BIRTH April 12, 1838
PLACE OF BIRTH Großlobming , Styria
DATE OF DEATH after 1894