ABSTRACT
German fiction has given an imaginative nuance to the general postmodern critique of the Enlightenment by parodying some of its leading adherents. This chapter examines Die Vermessung der Welt primarily in order to show how such caricature serves a purpose prominent in contemporary German letters: the skewering of the German Enlightenment. It looks at work of Alexander von Humboldt fiction: Christoph Hein’s epistolary tale “Die russischen Briefe des Jagers Johann Seifert”, part of the collection Einladung zum Lever Bourgeois, to show how Humboldt fiction can uphold Enlightenment discourse. The chapter explores Huizing’s book not only to show how another work of contemporary imaginative biography broadly calls Enlightenment values and methodologies into question, but also, briefly to contrast Immanuel Kant’s theoretical geography with Humboldt’s applied Kantian treatment of this domain as reflected in Daniel Kehlmann’s book. Ottmar Ette takes Kehlmann to task for distorting Humboldt by making him appear as a humorless adherent of the Enlightenment.
