Measuring the World (German: Die Vermessung der Welt) is a novel by German-Austrian author Daniel Kehlmann, published in 2005 by Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek. The novel re-imagines the lives of German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss and German geographer Alexander von Humboldt—who was accompanied on his journeys by French explorer Aimé Bonpland—and their many groundbreaking ways of taking the world's measure,[1] as well as Humboldt's and Bonpland's travels in America and Humboldt's meeting with Gauss in 1828. One subplot fictionalises the conflict between Gauss and his son Eugene; while Eugene wanted to become a linguist, his father decreed that he study law. The book was a bestseller; by 2012, it had sold more than 2.3 million copies in Germany alone.[2]
 First edition (German) | |
| Author | Daniel Kehlmann |
|---|---|
| Original title | Die Vermessung der Welt |
| Translator | Carol Brown Janeway |
| Language | German |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Rowohlt Verlag Pantheon Books |
Publication date | September 2005 |
| Publication place | Germany |
Published in English | November 7, 2006 |
| Pages | 304 (German hardcover edition) 272 (English hardcover edition) |
| ISBN | 3-498-03528-2 (German hardcover edition) ISBN 0-375-42446-6 (English hardcover edition) |
| OCLC | 61714982 |
| LC Class | PT2671.E32 V47 2005 |
A film version directed by Detlev Buck was released in 2012.[3]
Translations
editThe English translation is by Carol Brown Janeway (November 2006).[4]
Rosa Pilar Blanco translated the book into Spanish.
References
edit- ^ Daum, Andreas W. (2024). Alexander von Humboldt: A Concise Biography. Trans. Robert Savage. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-24736-6.
- ^ Zwei Genies erforschen die Welt – in 3D! Archived 2018-08-19 at the Wayback Machine, bild.de, 25 October 2012
- ^ "Measuring the World IMDb". IMDb. Archived from the original on 2022-03-08. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
- ^ Oort, F. (2008). "Review of Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann, trans. by Carol Brown Janeway" (PDF). Notices of the AMS. 55 (6): 681–684. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-10-08. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
External links
edit
.jpg){kind=small} | This article about a biographical novel of the 2000s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |