Adelbert von Chamisso

Born in 1781 at the Château de Boncourt in Champagne, Adelbert von Chamisso fled France with his family during the French Revolution and eventually made his life in Germany. That mix of exile, displacement, and reinvention helped shape his writing and gives much of it its distinctive emotional pull.

He became famous for Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte (The Wonderful History of Peter Schlemihl), the strange and haunting story of a man who sells his shadow. Chamisso also wrote poetry that stayed alive far beyond his own lifetime; his cycle Frauenliebe und -leben was later set to music by Robert Schumann, and many other composers were drawn to his verse.

Chamisso was more than a poet and storyteller. He also built a respected career as a botanist, worked at the Berlin Botanical Garden, and joined a scientific expedition that traveled around the world. That rare combination of Romantic imagination and close attention to the natural world makes him an especially interesting figure for modern readers.