Georg Forster - A Founder of Modern Travel Literature

A Founder of Modern Travel Literature

These conflicts continued after the journey with the problem of who should write the official account of the travels. Lord Sandwich, although willing to pay the promised money, was irritated with Johann Reinhold Forster's opening chapter and tried to have him edited. However, Forster did not want to have his writing corrected "like a theme of a School-boy," and stubbornly refused any compromise in this direction. As a result, the official account was written by Cook, and the Forsters were deprived of the right to compile the account and did not obtain payment for their work. During the negotiations, the younger Forster decided to release an unofficial account of their travels. In 1777, the book A Voyage round the World in His Britannic Majesty's Sloop Resolution, Commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the Years, 1772, 3, 4, and 5 was published. This report was the first account of Cook's second voyage (it appeared six weeks before the official publication) and was intended for the general public. The English version and his own translation into German (published 1778–1780) earned the young author real fame. The poet Christoph Martin Wieland praised the book as the most important one of his time, and even today it remains one of the most important journey descriptions ever written. The book also had a significant impact on German literature, culture and science. For instance, Alexander von Humboldt was greatly influenced by it and it inspired many ethnologists of later times.

Forster wrote well-polished German prose, which was not only scientifically accurate and objective, but also exciting and easy to read. This was different from conventional travel literature of the time, insofar as it present more than a mere collection of data - it also demonstrated coherent, colourful and reliable ethnographical facts that resulted from detailed and sympathetic observation. He often interrupted the description to enrich it with philosophical remarks about his observations. His main focus was always on the people he encountered: their behaviour, their customs, habits, religions and forms of social organisation. In A Voyage round the World he even presented the songs sung by the people of Polynesia, complete with lyrics and notation. The book is one of the most important sources concerning the societies of the Southern Pacific from the times before European influence had become significant.

Both Forsters also published descriptions of their South Pacific travels in the Magazin von merkwürdigen neuen Reisebeschreibungen ("Magazine of strange new travel accounts") in Berlin, and Georg published a translation of "A Voyage to the South Sea, by Lieutenant William Bligh, London 1792" in 1791–1793.