University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository History ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 7-12-2014 Bayard Taylor and his Transatlantic Representations of Germany: A Nineteenth- Century American Encounter John Kemp Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds Recommended Citation Kemp, John. "Bayard Taylor and his Transatlantic Representations of Germany: A Nineteenth-Century American Encounter." (2014). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds/38 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in History ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. John Stephan Kemp Candidate History Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Dr. Melissa Bokovoy , Chairperson Dr. Eliza Ferguson Dr. Margaret Connell-Szasz Dr. Peter White I BAYARD TAYLOR AND HIS TRANSATLANTIC REPRESENTATIONS OF GERMANY: A NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN ENCOUNTER BY JOHN STEPHAN KEMP B.A., History, University of New Mexico, 1987 M.A., Western World to 1500, University of New Mexico, 1992 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy History The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico May, 2014 II DEDICATION In memory of Chuck Preston, my UNM English 102 instructor, who passed away in 1985 - his confidence in my ability kept me in college when I considered dropping out To My parents, John and Hilde Kemp, without whose unwavering support and encouragement I would have faltered long ago To My daughters, Josefa, Amy, and Emily, who are the lights of my life. III Acknowledgements I acknowledge and thank my committee chairperson, Dr. Melissa Bokovoy, for her patience and guidance throughout this long process. Her insights and constructive criticisms were invaluable aids in my research and writing. My appreciation is extended also to the members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Eliza Ferguson, Dr. Margaret Connell-Szasz, and Dr. Peter White, for their time and assistance. I must include Dr. Jane Slaughter in the expression of my gratitude. Her professional example, mentorship, and strength for the past thirty years have helped maintain my desire to become an historian. I also have to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Donald Sullivan, Associate Professor Emeritus: Department of History and Dr. Helen Damico, Professor Emerita: Department of English, who fueled my interest in and love for medieval history and culture and laid a foundation of scholarship and study that has sustained my academic pursuits. I also acknowledge and thank the faculty, staff, administrators, and my history department colleagues at Truckee Meadows Community College for their friendship, support, and professional collaboration. There are far too many to list but I especially thank Dr. John Reid, Dr. Sharon Lowe, Dr. Joseph Gonzalez, Dr. Marie Murgolo-Poore, and Charlotte Lee for reading drafts, technical assistance, and their unshakable optimism and encouragement. A debt of gratitude is extended also to the librarians and staff of the Special Collections departments at Cornell University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Virginia, and Chester County Historical Society. Their professionalism and expertise were indispensable. Here too I must include a thank you to the University of New Mexico Zimmerman Library Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery Department and Access Services Department staff whose assistance made the resources of the UNM Library available to me in Reno, Nevada. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their support, inspiration, and love. IV BAYARD TAYLOR AND HIS TRANSATLANTIC REPRESENTATIONS OF GERMANY: A NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN ENCOUNTER By John Stephan Kemp B.A., HISTORY M.A., WESTERN WORLD TO 1500 Ph.D., EUROPE ABSTRACT Bayard Taylor was a nineteenth-century American writer, traveler, lecturer, and diplomat well-known in his lifetime. Although active in many areas, he acquired fame chiefly through his adventures as a globetrotting news correspondent to exotic non- western regions at a time in which the United States was becoming aware of itself as a nation in a global context. In the process, his travels and representations of foreign lands contributed to the formation of nineteenth-century American national identity. Taylor’s American identity defined who he and his American readers were and also informed what and how he observed societies and cultures in his travel writings. His travel-related writings on and connection to German-speaking Central Europe from1844-1878 are of particular interest in relation to his American identity. Although typical in his male Euro- American views, Taylor gained a reputation as a transatlantic figure through frequent contact with Europe as part of his American traveler image. This dissertation examines one prominent feature of Taylor’s transatlantic persona – his place as an American everyman inside Germany who believed that the United States and Europe shared a common heritage and thereby recognized similarities and made connections with German activities and developments in his travel-related writings and representations in ways that illuminated layers of his American national identity. Taylor’s individual American encounter with German society, culture, and politics at a time of momentous change for V both Germany and the United States is historically significant because it is inscribed within and, in a conspicuous way, touches many contact points of the broader German- American encounter during the nineteenth century. In the process, his representations reflected how Americans imagined themselves as a nation from a transatlantic perspective. VI CONTENTS DEDICATION………………………………………………………………………III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………….IV ABSTRACT………………………………………………………..……………...V-VI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS………………………………….……………………..X CHAPTER 1. REVIEW OF SCHOLARSHIP…………………………………………….1 Introduction Bayard Taylor and Germany Review of Scholarship on Bayard Taylor The German – American Encounter in the Nineteenth Century and Bayard Taylor Methodology Chapter Emphases 2. BAYARD TAYLOR AND GERMANY: EARLY LIFE THROUGH 1846……………………………………………………………..48 Chapter Introduction Bayard Taylor : A Nineteenth-Century American Everyman Early Life, 1825-1843 Bayard Taylor and his Grand Tour, 1844-46 Taylor’s American Identity and his Connection with Germany VII 3. COSMOPOLITE AND IMPERIALIST: MIDDLE-CLASS SOCIAL IDENTITY AND TRANSATLANTIC REPRESENTATIONS OF GERMAN GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORATION, 1851-1874……………………………………………………….77 Chapter Introduction World Traveler, Noted Correspondent, and Lecturer 1846-1860 Taylor’s transatlantic attachment to Germany in the 1850s Bayard Taylor: the American Middle-class Traveler and his Transatlantic Encounter with German Geographic Science Bayard Taylor and Alexander von Humboldt Social Identity defining Transatlantic Representation: Humboldt and Cosmopolitanism Social Identity defining Transatlantic Representation: Taylor’s Imperialist Views and German Geographic Exploration Chapter Conclusion 4. ENCOUNTERS WITH GERMAN LITERATURE, 1844-78: CULTURAL IDENTITY AND LEVELS OF TRANSATLANTIC COMMUNICATION……………………………………………….129 Chapter Introduction Bayard Taylor: Diplomat and Scholar, 1861-1878 German Literary Culture and America in the Nineteenth Century The Footing for Bayard Taylor’s Transatlantic Cultural Brokerage: Learning the Language and Translating Culture Chapter Conclusion 5. TRANSATLANTIC BROKERAGE OF FRIEDRICH SCHILLER AND JOHANN VON GOETHE, 1844-78………………...…………160 Chapter Introduction Nineteenth-century American Reception of Goethe and Schiller VIII Taylor’s representation of Goethe and Schiller, 1844-45 Taylor’s representation of Goethe and Schiller, 1856-58 Taylor’s representation of Goethe and Schiller, 1861-71 – Translation of Faust The Goethe-Schiller Joint Biography Project, 1871-78 Chapter Conclusion 6. TRANSATLANTIC ENCOUNTERS WITH GERMAN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS, 1844-78……………………..............……215 Chapter Introduction Bayard Taylor and a Nineteenth-century American Political Identity American Encounters with German Political Developments Taylor and the politics of the German University Student Organizations Taylor and German Liberal Constitutional Reform and Unification, 1848-59 The American Civil War and Taylor’s changing political perspectives on Germany, 1860-61 Taylor, Prussian Unification of Germany, and Prince Otto von Bismarck, 1862-78 Chapter Conclusion 7. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………….269 APPENDIX 1: Map of the German Confederation, 1815-1866……………………….284 APPENDIX 2: Map of the World Travels of Bayard Taylor………………………….285 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………..286 IX List of Abbreviations Taylor’s Works HA1……………At Home and Abroad, 1st Series. New York: G.P. Putnam, 1859. HA2……………At Home and Abroad, 2nd Series. New York: G.P Putnam, 1862. Byways…………Byways of Europe. New York: G.P. Putnam, 1889 [1st published 1869]. Views………… Views Afoot. New York: G.P Putnam, 1891 [1st published 1846]. Life and Letters……………Hansen-Taylor, Marie. Life and Letters of Bayard Taylor. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1884. Selected Letters………...Selected Letters of Bayard Taylor, ed. Paul Wermuth. Cranbury, New Jersey: Associated University Presses, 1997. Unpublished Letters……Unpublished Letters of Bayard Taylor, ed. John