Dr. G. Blde vs. Far West:
The Philosophical Debate in
Christian Essellen's Atlantis
Cora Lee Nollendorfs
University ofWisconsin-Madison
Without a doubt, one of the most ambitious undertakings in
the history of the German-American press was Christian Essellen's
Atlantis, which appeared in the United States from late in 1852, the
year Essellen arrived here as a refugee from the Revolution of 1848,
until late in 1858, six months before his death. Nevertheless, there
has been no major attempt to describe and assess his contribution,
and that which is available is rendered useless by misinformation
and gross errors.
Depending on which source one reads, Essellen is either
a German-American poet and writer, or an editor whose own
works were "numerous poems filled generally with a materialistic
pessimism."I At least two biographers proclaim with regret that
a long dramatic poem by Essellen remained unfinished after the
appearance of a few fragments, whereas in fact this work is readily
available in its entirety.2All attempts to list his literary contributions
remain dismally incomplete.3 In addition, the facts of Essellen's life
are clouded in mystery: two different cities in Westphalia are given
as his place of birth, and the circumstances of his early death at the
age of 36 remain unclear.4
Likewise, when scholars have tried to characterize the journal
Atlantis, they have come up with widely differing conclusions.
Heinrich Armin Rattermann, whose 40-page study of 75 years
ago remains perhaps the most complete work on Essellen, calls
it an unusual work in which the intellectual disputes of Germans
in America were carried on, while Rudolf A. Koss refers to it
as the first and only scientific journal in the German language in
America.5 Carl Wittke, on the other hand, cites Atlantis primarily