Wilhelm Bölsche (writer)

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Wilhelm Bölsche 1908 on a photograph by Nicola Perscheid

Wilhelm Karl Eduard Bölsche (born January 2, 1861 in Cologne , † August 30, 1939 in Schreiberhau , Lower Silesia Province ) was a German writer .

family

He was the son of the editor Carl Bölsche (March 16, 1813 - April 14, 1891); in his first marriage he was married to Adele Bertelt (1860–1942), the marriage was divorced in 1896. In his second marriage, Bölsche married Johanna Walther (1863–1923), a childhood friend. The couple had three children: Ernst Wilhelm Julius (1898–1899), Karl Erich Bruno (1899–1977) and Johanna Alwine Elisabeth (1900–35). He died on August 30, 1939 and was buried in the evangelical cemetery of Nieder-Schreiberhau in Section F 3 next to his wife Johanna (the grave is no longer recognizable due to the later devastation of the cemetery).

Life

Memorial plaque on Müggelseedamm house 254, in Berlin-Friedrichshagen

Wilhelm Bölsche studied philosophy , art history and archeology at the University of Bonn from 1883 to 1885 and lived in Berlin from autumn 1887 . From 1890 to 1893 he edited the " Free Stage " for the publisher S. Fischer ; The green notebooks were considered the most important cultural-political journal in Germany and an organ of naturalism . The authors met "in the open". From the summer of 1890 Bölsche lived in different places of residence in Berlin-Friedrichshagen : first at Scharnweberstrasse 73, from spring 1891 at Wilhelmstrasse 72 (since 1951: Peter-Hille-Strasse 66), from 1894 at Ahornallee 19. From October 1893 he lived in Zurich, where he met Franz Blei and Anita Augspurg, among others . In 1894 he returned to Friedrichshagen. He became - alongside Bruno Wille - the central figure of the Friedrichshagener poet circle and was considered the "soul and spirit of Friedrichshagen". Bölsche became a member of the Free Religious Community in Berlin and was a co-founder of the German Monist Association in 1906 and a member of the Society for Racial Hygiene since the beginning in 1905 .

In 1918 Bölsche moved permanently to Schreiberhau in the Giant Mountains, where he lived for many years in the "Villa Carmen" in Ober-Schreiberhau and in the 1930s in the so-called tower villa in Winklerstrasse 736 (today's ul. 1 Maja 33).

Bölsche published the works of well-known German writers, such as Heinrich Heine (1887), Wilhelm Hauff (1888), Ludwig Uhland (1893), Christoph Martin Wieland (1902), Novalis (1903) as well as individual writings by Alexander von Humboldt and Ludwig Büchner , Carus Sterne and Angelus Silesius . Although most of Bölsche's writings deal with scientific topics, he was not a scientist, but rather popularized scientific topics as a writer : As an expert layman, Bölsche wrote for laypeople. With his book Das Liebesleben in der Natur (1898), Bölsche is considered the creator of the modern non-fiction book . He was also an initiator of Germany's first adult education center and gave important impulses for the life reform movement .

The freethinker , monist and evolutionary popularized the knowledge of his time in dozens of books and "Kosmos" volumes , especially the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin and Ernst Haeckel . He wrote biographies about Darwin, Haeckel and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . He was also the editor of numerous authors. The Free University of Berlin is currently preparing an edition of his works and letters.

Quotes

Bölsche expressed it in his book, entitled “The Natural Science Foundations of Poetry” (1887), as follows: “ The poet ... is in his own way an experimenter, like the chemist who mixes all kinds of substances, in certain degrees of temperature brings and observes the success. Of course: the poet is looking at people, not chemicals. But ... these people also fall into the field of natural sciences. Their passions, their reaction to external circumstances, the whole game of their thoughts follow certain laws which the researcher has fathomed and which the poet has to observe in free experiments as well as the chemist when he creates something sensible and not a worthless mishmash wants, must calculate the forces and effects in advance, before he goes to work and combines substances. "

The aim is to achieve a true mathematical penetration of the whole way of acting of a person and to let figures grow before our eyes that are logical, like nature.

Memberships

Wilhelm Bölsche became a member of the Paleontological Society in 1912, the year it was founded .

Honors

A mountain ridge in the Giant Mountains , an island in Spitzbergen , a school in Berlin and streets in several German cities, including Bölschestrasse in Berlin-Friedrichshagen , have been named in honor of Bölsche .

In January 2001 the planetoid 1998 FC127, discovered on March 31, 1998 in the Drebach ( Ore Mountains ) public observatory, was named after Bölsche. It now bears the official name (17821) Bölsche and moves between the planets Mars and Jupiter around the sun.

Single issues

Love in the World of Life (Hungarian Edition)
History of the Development of Science (Hungarian Edition)
Wilhelm Müller-Schönefeld : Illustration to the love life in nature
  • Paul. Novel from the time of Emperor Marcus Aurelius , 2 vols., 1885
  • The Magic of King Arpus , Roman, 1887
  • The scientific foundations of poetry. Prolegomena of a realistic aesthetic , 1887
  • Heinrich Heine. Attempt at an aesthetic-critical analysis of his works and his worldview , 1888
  • The Poetry of the Big City , 1890 Digitized text
  • The midday goddess. A novel from the intellectual struggle of the present , 3 vols., Roman, 1891
  • Free religious new year thoughts. Lecture given on January 1, 1893 in the Free Religious Community in Berlin , 1893
  • The history of the development of nature , 2 vols., 1894–1896
  • The love life in nature , 1898–1903
  • Goethe in the twentieth century. A lecture , 1900
  • Animals of the primeval world , 1900 (Illustration: Heinrich Harder ) Digitized copy
  • Ernst Haeckel. A picture of life , 1900
  • The theory of evolution (Darwinism) , 1900
  • From the bacillus to the ape-man. Scientific chats , 1900
  • Behind the cosmopolitan city. Friedrichshagen Thoughts on Aesthetic Culture , 1901
  • The Conquest of Man , 1901
  • The theory of evolution in the 19th century , 1901
  • Of suns and sun dusts. Cosmic Wanderings , 1903
  • From the snow pit. Thoughts on natural research , 1903
  • Worldview. Thoughts on Nature and Art , 1904
  • Natural secret , 1905
  • The victory of life , 1905
  • The days of creation. Outlines for a History of the Development of Nature , 1906
  • In the coal forest , 1906
  • On the trail of the tropical ice age , 1907
  • What is nature , 1907 (Illustration: Marie Gey-Heinze )
  • Animal book. A popular natural history (illustration: Heinrich Harder ), Berlin, Bondi 1908–1911
    • Vol. 1: 1908
    • Vol. 2: The horse and its history , 1909
    • Vol. 3: The stag and its history , 1911
  • Darwin, its importance in the struggle for worldview and worth living. 6 articles , 1909
  • On the human star. Thoughts on nature and art , 1909
  • Man in the Tertiary Period and Diluvium , 1909
  • Comet and the end of the world , 1910
  • Hours in Space , 1910
  • Lands and seas through the ages , 1913
  • Die and become! Scientific and cultural chats , 1913
  • Animal migrations in the primeval world , 1914 (Illustration: Heinrich Harder )
  • The man of the future , 1915
  • Of miracles and animals. New naturwiss. Chats , 1915
  • The family tree of insects , 1916
  • New worlds - the conquest of the earth in depictions of great naturalists. German Library, Berlin, 644 S, 1917
  • Protective and defensive alliances in nature , 1917
  • Ice Age and Climate Change , 1919
  • Natural philosophical chats , 1920
  • Animal soul and human soul , 1924
  • About dragons and magic coasts. Adventure from the struggle with the unknown in nature , 1925
  • Immigrated German geology. Saxon Switzerland , 1925
  • The Lineage of Art , 1926
  • In the Amber Forest , 1927
  • Dragons. Saga and science. A popular illustration , 1929
  • The termite state. Description of a mysterious people , 1931
  • The life of the primeval world. From the days of the great dinosaurs . Dollheimer, Leipzig 1931 a. Torch bearer, Hanover no year (approx. 1955).
  • What the new German man of science and religion must demand . Lecture, 1934

editor

  • Christoph Martin Wieland's selected works , 4 vols., 1902
  • Novalis. Selected works , 3 vols., 1903
  • Des Angelus Silesius Cherubian Wanderer , 1905

editor

Complete edition

Wilhelm Boelsche. Works and letters . Scientific edition. Edited by Hans-Gert Roloff . Berlin: Weidler Buchverlag 2005 ff.

Works

  • Wilhelm Boelsche. Stories and novels 1st ed. By Hans-Gert Roloff and Gerd-Hermann Susen. Berlin: Weidler Buchverlag 2012 (Contains: Lenzritter; Apollodorus ; Paulus; Der Zauber des Königs Arpus )
  • Wilhelm Boelsche. Novels 2nd ed. By Gerd-Hermann Susen. Berlin: Weidler Buchverlag 2005 (Contains: The midday goddess )

Letters

  • Wilhelm Boelsche. Correspondence with authors of the Freie Bühne . Edited by Gerd-Hermann Susen. Berlin: Weidler Buchverlag 2010 (letters and comments)
  • Wilhelm Boelsche. Correspondence with Carl and Gerhart Hauptmann . Edited by Edith Wack. Berlin: Weidler Buchverlag 2018 (letters and comments)

literature

  • Antoon Berentsen: From primeval fog to future state. On the problem of the popularization of the natural sciences in German literature (1880–1910). (= Studies on the German past and present; 2). Oberhofer, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-925410-02-3
  • Andreas W. Daum: Science popularization in the 19th century. Civil culture, scientific education and the German public, 1848–1914 . 2nd, supplementary edition, Oldenbourg, Munich 2002, ISBN 978-3-486-56551-5 .
  • Fritz Bolle :  Bölsche, Wilhelm. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 400 ( digitized version ).
  • Wolfram Hamacher: Science, literature and finding meaning in the 19th century. Studies on Wilhelm Bölsche. (= Epistemata; Series Literary Studies; 99). Königshausen and Neumann, Würzburg 1993, ISBN 3-88479-775-1
  • Christoph Kockerbeck: A thinker between Darwin and Haeckel. To the publicist, editor, novelist and natural philosopher Wilhelm Bölsche on the 70th anniversary of his death . In: Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau 62 (9), 2009, ISSN  0028-1050 , pp. 459-469
  • Rolf Lang: Wilhelm Bölsche and Friedrichshagen. On the “must-go of the hobby”. (= Frankfurt colored books; 6). Kleist Memorial and Research Center, Frankfurt (Oder) 1992
  • Rudolf Magnus: Wilhelm Bölsche - a biographical-critical contribution to the modern worldview. Berlin 1909.
  • Rosemarie Nöthlich (ed.): Ernst Haeckel - Wilhelm Bölsche. Correspondence 1887–1919 . (= Ernst Haeckel Haus Studies, Vol. 6.1). VWB-Verlag for Science and Education, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-86135-485-3
  • Gerd-Hermann Susen / Edith Wack: Working report on the edition of Wilhelm Bölsche's correspondence. In: Editio 2010, pp. 241–247
  • Gerd-Hermann Susen / Edith Wack (ed.): "What we weed out in our minds comes back in dreams." Wilhelm Bölsche 1861–1939 . Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 2012
  • Edith Wack: From the Rhine to the Spree. Wilhelm Bölsche's literary beginnings. In: “What we weed out in our minds comes back in dreams.” Wilhelm Bölsche 1861–1939 . Edited by Gerd-Hermann Susen and Edith Wack. Würzburg 2012, pp. 17–54

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Bölsche  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Wilhelm Bölsche  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ullrich Junker: Grave site book from Schreiberhau in the Riesengebirge, Hirschberg district. Copy of the original manuscript, 1998
  2. ↑ Erik Lehnert: "Deep mind, clear mind and brave cultural work". Bruno Wille and the Friedrichshagener Dichterkreis as the starting point for monistic cultural policy in the empire. In: Darwin, Haeckel and the consequences. Past and present monism. Edited by Arnher E. Lenz and Volker Mueller, Angelika Lenz Verlag, Neustadt am Rübenberge 2006, 247–273, p. 248
  3. ^ Franz Blei, Tale of a Life , with an afterword by Ursula Pia Jauch. Vienna 2004, Paul Zsolnay Verlag, ISBN 3-552-05310-7 , p. 233, p. 489.
  4. ↑ Contribution by Dr. Przemysław Wiater on Wilhelm Bölsche
  5. ^ Palaeontological Journal 1, Issue 1, March 1914
  6. ↑ The Asteroid (17821) Bölsche ( Memento from July 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Contains among other things: Whether natural research and poetry harm each other? - The world as the work of our desire.- The man who makes nature moral.- From image to reality.- Unity in spirit.- The unpredictable in nature.- When that Electricity stopped? - The third eye.- The credit of nature.- The escape from the city.- On the historical philosophy of the bee state.- News about the family tree of man.- Five fairy tales of life.- Thoughts about the school.- From the old Spirit of humanism.- The mass invasion of knowledge.- Protective adaptations of our mind.- The association memory.- The new front of aesthetic demands
  8. ↑ Grottewitz drowned in Müggelsee in 1905. Source: Antiquariat Frankenland, ZVAB. Last accessed on July 18, 2009.
personal data
SURNAME Boelsche, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bölsche, Wilhelm Karl Eduard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer and naturalist
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1861
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH August 30, 1939
Place of death Schreiberhau , Province of Lower Silesia