Peak Pursuits
The Emergence of Mountaineering in the Nineteenth Century
Published on 25. August 2020
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-0-300-23194-6 (ISBN)
Description
An interdisciplinary cultural history of exploration and mountaineering in the nineteenth century
European forays to mountain summits began in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries with the search for plants and minerals and the study of geology and glaciers. Yet scientists were soon captivated by the enterprise of climbing itself, enthralled with the views and the prospect of "conquering" alpine summits. Inspired by Romantic notions of nature, early mountaineers idealized their endeavors as sublime experiences, all the while deliberately measuring what they saw. As increased leisure time and advances in infrastructure and equipment opened up once formidable mountain regions to those seeking adventure and sport, new models of masculinity emerged that were fraught with tensions. This book examines how written and artistic depictions of nineteenth-century exploration and mountaineering in the Andes, the Alps, and the Sierra Nevada shaped cultural understandings of nature and wilderness in the Anthropocene.
European forays to mountain summits began in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries with the search for plants and minerals and the study of geology and glaciers. Yet scientists were soon captivated by the enterprise of climbing itself, enthralled with the views and the prospect of "conquering" alpine summits. Inspired by Romantic notions of nature, early mountaineers idealized their endeavors as sublime experiences, all the while deliberately measuring what they saw. As increased leisure time and advances in infrastructure and equipment opened up once formidable mountain regions to those seeking adventure and sport, new models of masculinity emerged that were fraught with tensions. This book examines how written and artistic depictions of nineteenth-century exploration and mountaineering in the Andes, the Alps, and the Sierra Nevada shaped cultural understandings of nature and wilderness in the Anthropocene.
Reviews / Votes
"The most stimulating contribution to current scholarship in mountain studies lies in this book's exposure of the dimly illuminated spots in the great show that is nineteenth-century mountaineering. Peak Pursuits takes interest in the fallen alpinists, the tragedies, the futile climbs, and their social struggles, weakened bodies, and failed marriages. The author also reads the ambivalent success stories of these historic alpinists within a larger social network that is sustained by women and mountain Others who might not always be documented in the writings of celebrated alpinists but are written back into mountaineering history in Peak Pursuits."-Eva-Maria Mueller, Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies"In addition to providing concise and vital histories of canonical modern mountaineering episodes, Peak Pursuits holds important insights for literary scholars, environmental historians and environmentalists, and historians of science alike."-Marc Landry, Austrian History Yearbook
"Makes an important contribution by placing mountain studies as part of the current discussions around ecocriticism, such as new materialisms and the relations between gender, class, and the environment."-Harri Salovaara, Ecozon@: European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment
"Motivated by her own passion for climbing as well as concern about the environmental degradation of high spaces across the world . . . . Schaumann's essential overarching thesis is one that few would substantially dispute."-Vanessa Heggie, Metascience
"There is much current interest in the preservation of mountain and climbing heritage, and this book is a fitting reminder of key figures who helped to shape these, placed in a wider context of cultural, social, and historic trends. . . . Summarising complex ideas about such mountaineers can be elusive, but Schaumann's text is informative, the images fascinating and together they provided a satisfying intellectual and aesthetic experience for the reader."-Mike Huggins, Cultural and Social History
"Peak Pursuits raises critical questions and is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of mountaineering."-Peter Hansen, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
"Schaumann offers important new insights into well-studied subjects, and intervenes into ongoing, vibrant debates about the mountains and human-environment interactions writ large."-Andrew Denning, University of Kansas
"Lyrical and incisive, haunting and urgent, Caroline Schaumann's Peak Pursuits provides an essential reexamination of the history of mountaineering and the resonance of its legacy in our Anthropocene Age."-Katie Ives, editor-in-chief of Alpinist
"A brilliant and beautifully written contribution to the new cultural history of mountaineering. A climber herself, Schaumann takes us from the Alps to the Andes with sensitivity and verve and puts her fascinating cast of characters from Humboldt to Muir in the many varied contexts in which they belong. Here finally is a climbing history for the Anthropocene."-Stewart Weaver, co-author of Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes
"Peak Pursuits significantly enhances our understanding of man's scientific, aesthetic, and material interaction with mountains during the long nineteenth century from a transnational perspective. A major achievement in mountain studies."-Harald Hoebusch, author of Mountain of Destiny: Nanga Parbat and its Path into the German Imagination
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
35 b-w illus.
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-300-23194-6 (9780300231946)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Caroline Schaumann is professor of German studies at Emory University. She is co-editor of Heights of Reflection: Mountains in the German Imagination from the Middle Ages to the Twenty-First Century and author of Memory Matters: Generational Responses to Germany's Nazi Past in Recent Women's Literature.