After spending time as an apprentice in a commercial house and farming in Saxony, Gerstacker went to America in 1837. Over the next six years he travelled extensively throughout the country, sending pages from his diary home to his mother who had them published in the Rosen magazine. When he returned to Germany in 1843, he found that he was famous as an author. He then collected the articles into book-form and published them as Streif und Jagdze durch die Vereinigten Staaten Nordamerikas in 1845. He also published his first novel, Die Regulatoren in Arkansas, that year. From 1849 to 1852, he travelled around the world and returning to Germany, he settled in Leipzig. In 1860, he undertook a mission to South America and reported his findings in 1862. He then travelled to Egypt and Abyssinia with the duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and on his return wrote a number of novels with this backdrop. In 1867, he again undertook a long journey, visiting North America, Venezuela and the West Indies. Gerstacker's travel novels were immensely popular at the time. He also produced a number of short stories and novellas, the most memorable of which is Germelshausen, which was used as a basis for the Lerner and Lowe musical Brigadoon in 1947. In 1868, he settled for a while in Dresden before finally moving to Brunswick where he died of a cerebral haemorrhage in 1872. His other works include Mississippi Pictures (1847), Mississippi Pirates (1848), Travels (1852-54), To America (1855), Under the Equator (1860), The Colonies (1864) and In Mexico (1871). |
