Representations of Algeria’s Image in German Travel Literature: J.O. Hebenstreit and Heinrich von Maltzan as Case Studies

Abstract

In recent years, travel literature has garnered increasing scholarly attention due to the cultural and epistemic insights it offers into peoples’ perceptions and their representations of the Other. This literary genre rests upon diverse methodological foundations, most notably those related to imagology, which is concerned with the study of stereotypes and the representations of societies as constructed by writers and travelers. Within this framework, the present paper examines the image of Algeria as portrayed by German travelers, drawing upon multiple textual samples in an attempt to uncover their underlying significations, assess the extent of their correspondence with Algerian reality, and identify the intellectual and cultural frameworks underpinning the German travelers’ construction of the Algerian Other.
Among the most prominent German travelers who visited Algeria and recorded their observations are J.O. Hebenstreit and Heinrich von Maltzan, both of whom offered in their writings a composite image of Algeria oscillating between admiration and fascination. The central research question may thus be formulated as follows: How was the image of the Other represented in the writings of the German travelers Hebenstreit and Heinrich von Maltzan? What intellectual and cultural frameworks did they adopt in constructing the image of the Algerian Other? And to what extent did these representations correspond to the reality of Algerian society?