Through Alien Eyes - Mornin, Edward
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During the month of October 1816, San Francisco received a visit from the Russian brig Rurik, only the third non-Spanish vessel to call at what was then a small colonial garrison and mission town on the extreme edge of Spanish North America. In this book the author provides English translations of reports of the visit (originally in German and French) by the ship's captain Otto von Kotzebue, naturalist Adelbert von Chamisso, and on-board artist Louis Choris. Eleven illustrations by Choris are also reproduced, including celebrated scenes and portraits of California mission Indians. Edward…mehr

Produktbeschreibung
During the month of October 1816, San Francisco received a visit from the Russian brig Rurik, only the third non-Spanish vessel to call at what was then a small colonial garrison and mission town on the extreme edge of Spanish North America. In this book the author provides English translations of reports of the visit (originally in German and French) by the ship's captain Otto von Kotzebue, naturalist Adelbert von Chamisso, and on-board artist Louis Choris. Eleven illustrations by Choris are also reproduced, including celebrated scenes and portraits of California mission Indians. Edward Mornin provides biographical sketches of the three reporters, a historical account of Rurik's round-the-world voyage, and a critical discussion of the observations of Kotzebue, Chamisso, and Choris, with their ideological and cultural determinants, especially with regard to the Indians under the control of the Spanish missionaries. The book shows how the narrative accounts of Kotzebue, Chamisso, and Choris, together with Choris's graphic record, continue to fascinate not only for their engaging portrayal of San Francisco's early inhabitants and the circumstances of their lives, but as shadow portraits of the reporters themselves and of the European cultures that produced them.
Autorenporträt
The Author: Edward Mornin is Emeritus Professor of Germanic Studies at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He has published widely in the field of 19th-century German-language literature, especially Romantic literature, and is also the author of two books on the Scottish-German anarchist writer John Henry Mackay. A notable focus of his research, and of the present book, has been the Franco-German poet and scientist Adelbert von Chamisso.
Rezensionen
"Informative and well-organized, the book will be a useful introduction to the history and ethnography of the California coast in the early nineteenth century." (Richard Pierce, International Journal of Maritime History)
"...Mornin's book is a nice addition to the growing body of literature in English on Russian impressions of North America and offers some useful information about the conditions in Spanish California during this very tumultuous time in Spanish history." (Lee A. Farrow, The Russian Review)