AND LATE GERMAN ROMANTISM
E.T.A. Hoffmann (E.T.A. Hoffmann, 1776-1822) is one of the brilliant writers of world literature, a master of fantastic novels and fairy tales, a bright satirist, whose artistic discoveries were reflected in different ways in the work of artists of the word of Russia, France, and the USA. According to family tradition, having received a legal education, Hoffmann served in the judicial institutions of Prussia and Poland. However, his real vocation was art. He was a talented composer, conductor, music critic, graphic artist, decorator, but he gained world fame as a writer.
Hoffmann published his first short story "Cavalier Gluck" ("Ritter Gluk", 1808) when he was already thirty-three years old - in February 1809. For fourteen years, he created several cycles of short stories: "Fantasy in the manner of Callot" ("Phantasiestücke in Callot's Manier", 1808-1814), "Night Studies" ("Nachtstücke", 1815-1817), "The Serapion Brothers" ("Die Serapionsbrüder ", 1819-1821). The last novella, The Corner Window (Des Vetters Eckfenster, 1822), was completed in April 1822, two months before his death.
Hoffmann is a late romantic. He came to literature during the heyday of the Heidelberg Romantics (1805-1808), but was not part of their group. Moreover, his position was closer to the Jena romantics (1798-1802). Unlike the early romantics, who considered it possible to replace reality with a fairy-tale world, Hoffmann believed that such a replacement was impossible. Hence the different perception of the dual world, the change in the ratio of the ideal and reality. G. Heine in the "Romantic School" contrasts Novalis and Hoffmann: if the first "with his perfect images constantly hovering in a blue fog, while Hoffmann, with his caricatures, always and invariably clings to earthly reality. Earthly reality becomes the source material for the creation of Hoffmann's fantasy.
Of the contemporary writers, Hoffmann is close to A. von Chamisso (A. von Chamisso, 1781-1838) and F. de la Mott Fouque (F. de la Mott Fouque, 1777-1843). Choosing similar themes for the image, they still gave them different interpretation. Here, the individual style of E.T.A. Hoffmann is especially pronounced. So, Hoffmann's short story "Adventure in the night under New Year"(1815) is close to Chamisso's story" Amazing story Peter Schlemil (1813) and Fouquet's short story The Inhabitant of Hell (1810). These works are thematically connected and date back to L. Tick's short story "Blond Ekbert" (1796). They are based on fairy tales and legends about harmfulness of dishonest ways for personal enrichment or achieving happiness.
The hero of Hoffmann's short story "Adventure on New Year's Eve" passionately fell in love with an Italian beauty. To achieve reciprocity, he gives his reflection in the mirror. Juliet and Dr. Dapertutto, who accompanies her, then demand that Erasmus the Speaker kill his wife and his son. The awakened hero refuses. Now, abandoned by everyone, he roams the world. Hoffmann's hero even meets Peter Schlemiel, who has lost his shadow. Appeal to an already familiar- a technique that Hoffmann often uses. However, the unfortunate Peter finds himself: he becomes a scientist, a naturalist. The hero Chamisso sees the purpose of life in the pursuit of science. In the short story "Infernal Inhabitant" Fouquet depicts another version of the deal with evil spirits. Reichard becomes the owner of a flask with an infernal inhabitant that fulfills his desires. Like Peter Schlemil, freed from the "master in gray", Reichard also gets rid of the "hellish inhabitant". Erasmus The speaker in Hoffmann is deprived of hope. The tragic finale of "Adventures on the Night of the New year” the author translates into the sphere of the earthly. E.T.A. Hoffman is convinced of the insurmountability of reality.
Hoffmann's short stories are based on strange incidents that happen to unusual people. His heroes are most often people of art. Hoffmann even divided “the entire human race into two unequal parts. One consists only of good people, but bad or not musicians at all, the other of true musicians. Good people, but not musicians, Hoffmann calls philistines. These people may be happy, but they do not understand that their happiness is false. True musicians (Hoffmann also called them enthusiasts) usually do not feel happy in earthly life, but become happy in the world of art or in the realm of dreams and dreams. Musicians can be not only people who are professionally involved in music. The musician is state of soul.
Art and artist theme is leading in the work of E.T.A. Hoffmann. The hero of the novel "Cavalier Glitch" - great composer, who became a Knight of the Order of the Golden Spur in 1756 and died in 1787, turns out to be in the real city of Berlin in the late autumn of 1808. Hoffmann shows the loneliness of the hero among the motley string of philistines walking along Unter den Linden. However, the conflict between the musician and the philistine society is not the main one. The hero is accustomed to "languishing in the realm of dreams": "There, right there! I found myself in a luxurious valley and listened to what flowers sang to each other. Only the sunflower was silent and mournfully bowed down to the valley with a closed corolla. Invisible ties drew me to him. He raised his head - the rim opened, and from there an eye shone towards me. And the sounds, like rays of light, stretched from my head to the flowers, and they eagerly absorbed them. The sunflower petals opened wider and wider - streams of flame poured out of them, engulfed me - the eye disappeared, and I found myself in the cup of the flower. flower symbol, which describes creative inspiration, is significant for German Romanticism, starting with the blue flower of Novalis.
However, in the short story "Cavalier Glitch" there is not only the traditional conflict of discord between the composer, the creative person and society, earthly life. Hoffmann shows that the composer suffers to a greater extent not from a misunderstanding of others, but from the “imperfection” of his works: life goes on, but his creations remain unchanged, he would like to make changes to them, but cannot. In E.T.A. Hoffmann's novel "Don Juan" (1812), the performer of the role of Donna Anna also suffers not so much because of a misunderstanding of others, but because she feels better on stage, in a fictional world, and not in real life.
Musical short stories by E.T.A. music life composer Josef Berglinger" (1796), which became the first work with the symbol "short story about the artist". W.Wackenroder (1773-1798) introduces a prayer composed by Berglinger, poetry and writing into the narrative. They vividly reflect the agonizing state of the protagonist, who is in a "bitter contradiction" between "natural enthusiasm and the inevitable participation in a life destined for everyone, forcibly tearing out of the world of dreams" . Most of the short story is a presentation in chronological order of the life of a man endowed with "heavenly enthusiasm". Other conflicts characteristic of this genre variety were also formulated here: between the composer and listeners, performers; between the desire for creativity and everyday, earthly concerns; between the idea and the possibilities of its practical implementation.
The romantic musical novel will become very popular in Germany. After W. Wakenroder and E. T. A. Hoffmann, this genre will be addressed by: G. Heine (“Florentine Nights”), E. Merike (“Mozart on the way to Prague”), R. Wagner (“Pilgrimage to Beethoven”) and etc.
The short story by V. Wakenroder and his other works were included by L. Tieck (L. Tieck, 1773-1853) in the book “On Art and Artists: Reflections of a Hermit, a Lover of the Fine, published by L. Tieck” (1799). It began with a chapter written by W. Wakenroder, "The Vision of Raphael." It talked about how the hermit found in the library of the monastery a record of Raphael's oral story about his vision of the image of the Mother of God in his dream. On the wall, Rafael allegedly saw something that he could not convey on the canvas for a long time. “He woke up as if reborn into the world; the vision was forever clearly imprinted in his soul, and now he always managed to portray the Mother of God as she was seen by his inner gaze, and since then he himself has looked at his own paintings with reverence. A miraculous dream, a vision through which the artist unconsciously completes the creation of a miracle, will be found more than once in the treatises and works of art of the German Romantics.
On the basis of the legend of Raphael, the theme of the artist-creator, considered within the framework of the romantic worldview, sounded in a new way. In addition, the country of Raphael is presented here as a calling land, a promised land of art. The novel by L. Tick "The Wanderings of Franz Sternbald" (1798), created under the influence of W. Wakenroder, tells the story of a German artist, a student of Dürer, who travels from Germany to Italy to master the skill of Raphael. Starting with these works, German literature formed opposition Italy is my native country. She is often present in short stories about German artists.
The favorite book of the hero of the short story by E.T.A. Hoffmann "The Choice of the Bride" (1820 ) are Franz Sternbald's Wanderings. Edmund even "liked to recognize himself in the hero of this novel." The novel revered by Hoffmann is projected onto the fate of the hero of the novel. The attitude to art, to the skill of the painter, to beautiful Italy unites the heroes of early romanticism and Hoffmann. However, relationships with women are built differently. L.Thick's novel depicts an exalted, mysterious stranger. Edmund's bride is very down to earth and practical. After parting with her artist fiancé, who went to Italy, Albertine quickly found a replacement for him in the form of a courteous speaker on court cases.
In Hoffmann's short story "Arthur's Court" (1819), the comparison of Germany and Italy is plot-forming. Aspiring businessman Traugot is a bright creative person. "The Motherland of Art" appeared before him in " magic light". The vocation of the artist and love for the Italian Dorina forever leave the employee of the company in Italy.
Departs for Italy and a young German artist from Hoffmann's short story "The Church of the Jesuits in G." (1816). Berthold for a long time failed to understand the essence of things. Once in a dream, as if in reality, he sees the Great Martyr Catherine, radiating heavenly light. Under the influence of the contemplation of the angelic face of the saint, creative inspiration finally comes to him, as to Wackenroder's Raphael.
Italy Theme for E.T.A. Hoffmann is not as unambiguous as for the Jena romantics. Italy is not only the "promised land of the arts", but country of danger for romantic dreamers. Italy is the birthplace of not only Raphael, but also Count Cagliostro, to whom Hoffmann was extremely negative. It is in Italy that the German artist Erasmus Speaker (short story "Adventure on New Year's Eve") meets the fatal Italian beauty and Dr. Dapertutto accompanying her. Italy is a country of demonic figures, all kinds of sorcerers, alchemists, pseudoscientists, as well as talented, beautiful, but destructive women. Thus, in Hoffmann's short story The Sandman (1815), the creators of the puppet with lively eyes, with which the German dreamer Nathanael falls in love, have Italian surnames - Professor Spalanzani and Coppola, the seller of barometers. One of Hoffmann's most sinister heroes who colluded with Satan is Dr. Trabacchio from the novel Ignaz Denner (1814). He invented miraculous drops, which he made “from the heart of a child who is nine weeks old, nine months old or nine years old, while it is necessary that the child be handed over to the healer voluntarily. The closer the child is to him by kinship, the more invigorating the balm, he is able to bestow rejuvenation, and with his help you can make artificial gold.
In contrast to the art-devoted German musicians E.T.A. Hoffmann describes Italian prima donnas in the short stories Counselor Crespel (1818) and Fermata (1819). Councilor Crespel is called an eccentric. He is a learned lawyer and a maker of the finest violins. The adviser ended up in Italy in search of rare violins. In Venice, he heard the famous singer Angela L., who struck him with her art and angelic beauty. The hobby ended with a wedding. However, behind the angelic appearance of the brilliant singer, the features of a tyrant and tormentor were hidden. A sincere passion for the Italian prima donna ends with a break in all relations with her. In the short story "Fermata" mysterious and charming Italian singers awakened the composer's talent in a nineteen-year-old German youth. Theodore leaves his native places and goes with them. However, insight soon comes. At first he was offended by the capricious Lauretta, and then became a casual listener of the sisters' conversation with an Italian tenor, in which they mercilessly mocked the naive young man. Like Councilor Crespel, who managed to make a quick decision, so Theodore forever leaves the Italians who insulted and humiliated him.
For E.T.A. Hoffmann, Italy was also fabulously elevated country. He made plans several times to travel to Italy, but never visited it. However, Hoffmann clearly imagined this country by works of art, primarily by the art world his favorite writer C. Gozzi (1720-1806). In the short story "Doge and Dogaressa" (1819), the space of Italy is presented by Hoffmann in a halo of grandeur and destruction. Moonlight, running waves, enchanting melodies, towers and palaces of beautiful Venice create an atmosphere of fabulous mystery and anxiety. The rebellious natures of the aged Doge Mariino Faglieri, as well as the father and uncle of his young wife Annunziata, are the product of a fairy-tale world in which passions are obligatory: they were executed. Fantastic events, mysterious coincidences and accidents connect the Italian dogaressa and the German youth, who turned out to be toys in the hands of the conspirators against the signoria. Antonio, together with Annunziata, set off for Germany, but a storm arose and the "bottomless abyss" swallowed up the young people. Despite the tragic ending of the lives of young people, the love that was sent down to them from above united them before death and made them immensely happy.
However, in general, the image of Italy by E.T.A. Hoffmann and the later Romantics is fundamentally different from the Wackenroder-Tik tradition. In place of "delightful Italy" with "beautiful skies", "invigorating air" comes demonic-chaotic the country. If earlier she inspired the heroes of the Jena romantics, now the departure of the heroes from Rome is a turning point in their fate, preparing a happy denouement. The hero of E.T.A. Hoffmann's novel Elixirs of Satan (1816) travels to Rome. Medard is driven to Italy by the spirit of his ancestors. Only after returning back to the monastery of St. Linden, located in East Prussia, he, like his ancestor Francesco once, finds peace. Hoffmann associates with his native country the idea not only of true music, but also of true religion.
J. Eichendorf (J. Eichendorf, 1788-1857) - a late German romantic - in the short story "From the Life of a Loafer" (1826) also depicts the hero's journey to Rome and back. Eichendorff's hero, after meeting Italy, gives her the following description: "I firmly decided to leave treacherous Italy forever, its crazy artists, Pomeranians and maids ...". The emotionally elevated tone of W. Wakenroder and L. Tieck (sometimes Hoffmann) when depicting Italy changes in J. Eichendorff to grotesque comic.
The theme of the intervention of "hostile forces" in human life interested in E.T.A. Hoffmann throughout his career. According to the writer, a person often turns out to be powerless against the dark forces, which he calls the "hostile principle." This topic is considered by Hoffmann in different directions.
Especially popular in the Romantic era was the legend of man's pact with the devil. Since the Middle Ages in Germany, the most famous was the legend of Dr. Faust. The motive of a contract between a man and the devil is vividly depicted in Hoffmann's short stories with the help of veiled fiction. In the short story "Magnetizer" (1814), the Danish major's contract with the devil is exempted from the author's certificate: this an important event tied to the past. Therefore, the story about him is translated into the form of rumors and assumptions. The old baron tells about his meetings in his youth with the Danish major: “The disabled old man, assigned to me as a servant, declared with all confidence that the matter was not clean with the major, and that many years ago the devil appeared to him at sea, promising salvation from death and superhuman strength to work miracles, and he accepted this, thereby surrendering to Satan ... ". E.T.A. Hoffmann usually depicts representatives of other nations as making a deal with the devil. So, in the short story "The Elemental Spirit" (1822), Major O'Malley enters into an agreement with the evil spirit. Very tall, clumsy, Irish by origin, with wide-set glassy eyes. He owed his life to Victor von P., felt affection for a young friend, calling him "my son." A grateful O'Malley makes a teraph or salamander doll for a romantically inclined Victor, which turns into a female creature that delights: "I have never seen such a gentle noble figure, nor such a beautiful face, even in a dream." Victor called the mysterious stranger Aurora and dreamed of an alliance with her. However, icy horror seized him when he had to pay the price of bliss in the afterlife for the possession of Aurora. The hero feels himself "fallen into the claws of the devil": "The major laughed after me. It seemed to me in this laughter the mocking laughter of Satan himself. The "devilish art" of evoking elemental spirits is called the "black art". The demonic force that invaded the life of Viktor von P. brings suffering, but does not lead the hero to death. A faithful servant comes to his aid. As a result, Victor von P. does not sell his soul to the devil, although he realizes that he has entered into an alliance with demonic forces. This distinguishes the hero from the heroes of "The History of Peter Schlemil" by A. von Chamisso and "Adventures on New Year's Eve" by E.T.A. Hoffmann. Peter Schlemiel sells his shadow to the “Mr. in Grey”, and Erasmus Spyker sells his reflection in the mirror.
In the short story The Sandman (1815), Hoffmann describes in detail the intervention of "hostile forces" in the life of a German dreamer. According to the author, it is the enthusiastic personality that is especially susceptible to the influence of demonic forces. Nathanael is perniciously affected by "the image of the disgusting barometer salesman Coppola". Devilish power in the guise of heroes with Italian surnames (Coppola and Spalanzani) helps them become the creators of the automaton puppet. Nathanael fell in love with Olympia, not knowing that it was an elaborate mechanical doll. Hoffmann refers to "hostile forces" as " demonic mechanics, creating a cynical likeness of a person. In the context of this topic, optical instruments are also described - glasses, mirrors. They can distort the perception of the world, as happened with Nathanael. A pocket spyglass zooming in on objects distorted Olympia's appearance: her eyes, which seemed dead and motionless, now seem to radiate moonlight.
He was the first to introduce the image of an automaton replacing real person, German romantic of the Heidelberg group A. von Arnim (A. von Arnim, 1781-1831). The story "Isabella of Egypt" (1812) uses the image of a golem - a clay man. Here the golem is Isabella's double and rival.
Double motif also associated with the "hostile principle." The barometer salesman Coppola is the counterpart of the old lawyer Coppelius, who, in turn, in Nathanael's imagination, goes back to the image of the Sandman from the nanny's fairy tale: “he was a disgusting ghostly sorcerer who, wherever he appeared, brought sorrow, attack - temporary and eternal death". Associated with the motif of duality incredible story the little freak Tsakhes from the short story by E.T.A. Hoffmann “Little Tsakhes, nicknamed Zinnober” (1819). The double arrogates to itself the social position and merits of others. Everyone around is blinded by visibility. For them, Tsakhes-Zinnober is smart, handsome, endowed with many talents.
The motif of duality is already present in L. Tick's short story "Blond Ekbert" (1797). The doubles of the old woman who took revenge on Bertha and Ekbert are Philip Walter and Hugo von Wolfsberg, who eventually lead to the death of the heroes.
The gloomy coloring in the depiction of the duality motif unites E.T.A. Hoffmann, A. von Arnim and L. Tiek. However, in the view of Novalis, the author of the novel Heinrich von Ofterdingen (1802), a positive interpretation can also be associated with the images of twins.
E.T.A. Hoffman became the creator of an exemplary romantic novel. Although he often entered into polemics with his predecessors and contemporaries, "life in a dream", "life in poetry" was more important for him. Therefore, he transfers his favorite heroes to imaginary fairy tale countries. Happy Anselm and Serpentina, the heroes of the short story The Golden Pot (1814), end up in Atlantis. E.T.A. Hoffman gives the reader the right to choose: one can take seriously the fabulous mythological fiction as opposed to the squalor of the surrounding life, or one can come to terms with its illusory nature. But the dreamer Hoffmann himself, in an address to the reader, calls: “Try, benevolent reader, in that magical kingdom full of amazing miracles, causing the greatest bliss and the greatest horror with mighty blows ... Try, I say, benevolent reader, to recognize there long-familiar faces and images, surrounding you in an ordinary or, as they say, Everyday life, and you will believe that this wonderful kingdom is much closer to you than you think ... ".
List of used literature
1. Heine G. Romantic school // Heine G. Collected works: In 10 vols. - M., 1976. - V.6. - P.219.
Hoffman E.T.A. Diaries // Hoffman E.T.A. Kreislerian. Worldly views of the cat Murr. Diaries. - M., 1972. - P. 467.
Hoffman E.T.A. Cavalier Gluck / Per. N.Kasatkina //Hoffman E.T.A. Kreislerian. Worldly views of the cat Murr. Diaries. - M., 1972. - P.13.
Wackenroder V.G. The noteworthy musical life of the composer Josef Berglinger. A. Alyavdina // Selected Prose of the German Romantics: In 2 vols. - M., 1979. - T.1. - P.34.
About art and artists; Reflections of a hermit, a lover of the elegant, published by L. Thicke / Per. S. Shevyreva. - M., 1826. - P.15.
Hoffman E.T.A. The choice of the bride / Per. I.Tatarinova // Hoffman E.T.A. Novels / Comp. N.A. Zhirmunskaya. - L., 1990. - P. 446.
Hoffman E.T.A. Ignaz Denner / Per. B. Khlebnikova // Hoffman E.T.A. Collected Works: In 6 vols. - M., 1994. - V.2. - P.363.
Eihendorf J. From the life of a loafer / Per. D. Usova // Life overflows. Tales and stories of German romantics / Comp. I. Solodinina. - M., 1991. - P.536.
Hoffman E.T.A. Magnetizer / Translated by A. Slavinskaya // Hoffman E.T.A. Novels. - L., 1990. - P.28.
Hoffman E.T.A. Elemental spirit / Per. A.Sokolovsky //Hoffman E.T.A. Serapion brothers. Works: In 2 vols. - Minsk, 1994. - V.2. - P.247.
Hoffman E.T.A. Sandman / Translated by A. Morozov // Hoffman E.T.A. Collected Works: In 6 vols. - M., 1994. V.2. - P.304.
Hoffman E.T.A. The Golden Pot / Per. In Soloviev // Hoffman E.T.A. The Golden Pot and Other Stories. - M., 1981. - P.89.
A. Mickiewicz as the founder of Polish romanticism. Features of the cycle "Crimean Sonnets"
Polish romanticism is associated with the peculiarities of the historical situation. In the 20s of the XIX century unfolded vigorous activity Polish conspiratorial organizations. Romanticism is considered as a direction capable of expressing new social moods.
Sentimentalism played an important role in the preparation of the "romantic turning point". Kazimierz Brodzinski in his article "On the Classical and Romantic, and also on the Spirit of Polish Poetry" (1818) suggests a "middle" path, since there are advantages and disadvantages in classicism and romanticism. The "middle" path is associated with the use national tradition associated with folklore. Theoretical developments of the new art system presented in the works of Maurycy Mochnatsky, a critic and a member of a secret society. He relied on the philosophy of F. Schelling and considered national literature as a means of "self-knowledge of the nation in its essence", defended the principles of the artist's creative freedom, demanded that literature reflect reality.
Adam Mitskevich (1798 - 1855) - a native of Belarus, the son of a lawyer, graduated from Vilna University. He was an active member of the secret societies "philomancers" (= friend of science) and "philarets" (= friends of virtue), for his activities in 1824 he was expelled from Lithuania, where at that time he worked as a teacher in Kovno. He spent four years in Russia - St. Petersburg, Odessa, Moscow; became close to the future Decembrists, with A.S. Pushkin, was engaged to Karolina Janisch. In 1829 he left Russia, but did not return to his homeland, he lived in Europe, mainly in Paris.
The collection "Poetry" (1822) by A. Mickiewicz is considered a manifesto of Polish romanticism. In the preface, he talks about historical roots romantic poetry. The condition for the flourishing of literature considers it to be true national character, focus on the people, not on the elect. The basis of the cycle is "Ballads and Romances". In these genres, the passion for folklore, the enrichment of the language at the expense of common dialects, was clearly manifested. Mickiewicz uses motifs folk art, rethinks, highlighting the moral aspect; actively uses fantasy: supernatural forces protect innocence, punish crimes. The influence of the invisible world on human life is associated with a romantic dual world.
Mickiewicz's work is divided into two periods: I - 1817 - 1831: the dramatic poem "Dzyady" (dzyady is a Belarusian folk rite of commemoration of the dead; the choir of peasants pronounces judgments about morality and duty, calling the spirits of the dead to court and pronouncing their sentence on their actions), the romantic poem "Grazhina" (depicting the time of the struggle of the Lithuanians with the Teutonic Order), "Crimean Sonnets", the poem "Konrad Wallenrod" (the era of the wars with the Crusaders, the hero is of the Byron type); II - 1831-1855: the poem "Pan Tadeusz" (a panorama of the life of the Polish gentry at the beginning of the 19th century), etc.
The collection "Crimean Sonnets" (1826) was written during the "Russian period" of Mickiewicz's work. He is united by the theme of the homeland and the unity of the hero. Pushkin wrote in Onegin's Journey:
Inspired Mickiewicz sang there.
And, in the middle of the coastal rocks,
I remembered my Lithuania ...
Homesickness- the main mood of the lyrical hero. This is a Polish poet, expelled from his Fatherland, hard going through separation. So, in the sonnet "Akkerman Steppes" he writes:
Wait! What silence! Listen! - away
The invisible ones rustle with the wings of cranes;
I hear - the moth barely shakes the ear,
I hear a snake crawling through the thickets ...
But no... Let's go! no one is calling us
Translation by A.M. Revich
This mood is clearly heard in the sonnet "Pototskaya's Tomb". One of the Crimean legends is associated with the name of a Pole from the Potocki family - the beloved of Khan Kerim-Giray. He erected a monument to his slave.
Daughter of Poland! So I will die in a foreign country.
Oh, if only I were buried with you!
Wanderers will pass here, as they used to pass,
And I will hear my native speech half asleep,
And maybe the poet, coming to your grave,
He will notice a hill nearby, and sing about me.
Translation by A.M. Revich
Looking at the starry sky, the exile is unable to admire the beauty of the eastern night. The stars with dotted lines indicate to him the path to his native land, where his thought rushes:
Why did so many stars sparkle in the darkness
Over there, to the north, over the Polish side?
Or your burning gaze, flying to your native land,
Scattered embers when you were fading?
Translation by A.M. Revich
Homesickness is expressed in opposition south/north. The swamps of the native land appear in the imagination more beautifully than the Crimean gardens with their lush veils.
Lyrical hero - wanderer, who does not bend under the blows of fate, admires the "land of contentment and beauty", but yearns for the Fatherland and loved ones. The lyrical hero expresses an important feature of Polish romanticism - a person is considered not only as an object of application of external forces, but also as a subject that influences circumstances.
In the "Crimean Sonnets" a kind of poetic biography is created, which could coincide with the real one, but was not identical to it.
Orientalism of Mickiewicz arose not only under the direct impression of a trip to the Crimea, but also as art style, which made it possible to express the originality of the wanderer's personality.
At that time, Crimea retained the bright color of Muslim culture. Mickiewicz creates own cosmogony, referring to hyperbolization, using images of Eastern mythology and complicated metaphorical language. The cycle contains lush and colorful descriptions of southern nature. Steppes, sea, mountains are very brightly represented. For example, the sonnet "Chatyrdag":
Great Chatyrdag, O mast of the Crimean mountains!
I kiss with trepidation the foot of the formidable steep.
Universal minaret. Mighty sultan of peaks!
You lifted your head into the sky.
Translation by A.M. Revich
The lyrical hero of the sonnets is constantly trying to overcome the abyss of alienation from nature - to climb to the top of Chatyrdag, to look into the mysterious cleft of the universe, to find peace in the stormy elements of the sea. But the bitterness of memories is always with him. In this tragic discord with reality, main idea"Crimean sonnets".
Sonnets are rich visual observations. For example, Mickiewicz dedicates several sonnets to Bakhchisarai - "Bakhchisarai Palace", "Bakhchisarai at night", he describes Alushta in sonnets - "Alushta by day", "Alushta by night".
Each of Mickiewicz's sonnets has been translated into Russian many times. So, one and the same fragment of the sonnet "Bakhchisarai at night" looks like this:
The harem of heaven is embroidered with lamps of the stars;
Between them a cloud floats slowly,
Like a swan dozing on the blue of the bay, -
The steep chest is white, the wing, like heat, burns ...
Translation by A.M. Revich
In the harem of the sky - millions of stars shine;
In the blue ether there floats among them
Just one cloud, like a sleepy swan,
The chest is white - the edges are rimmed with gold...
Translation by Y.I. Poznansky
The firmament lit up with a harem of stars,
Only one cloud in the azure ether,
Like a white swan in the mirror expanse,
A twisted golden border floats ...
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Life and creative way THIS. Hoffmann. Analysis of the main motives of creativity, its place in literature. The superiority of the poetic world over the world of real everyday life in the writer's works. The principle of duality in the fairy tale "Little Tsakhes".
test, added 01/27/2013
Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann is wonderful German writer. Koenigsberg: City of childhood and youth. Son of Koenigsberg: The Fantastic World of Hoffmann. The legacy of E. T. A. Hoffmann. Mystical horror and phantasmagoric visions, reality.
abstract, added 07/31/2007
Features of German romanticism and the biography of Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann. Consideration of the author's techniques and principles of the writer's work, such as carnivalization, grotesque and duality. The study of laughter culture in the works of the great creator.
The third stage in the development of German romanticism. Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann
1814 - the year of the beginning of the third stage in the development of German romanticism. The work of all writers and poets of this period reflects all the contradictions of this era. Writers dwell more deeply on the real world and criticize the social contradictions that exist in it. The authors try to raise the question of the destructive power of money and the insignificant value of the human personality in conditions modern society. All this sets the stage for future realism. Most prominent representatives of this period are E. T. A. Hoffmann, A. Chamisso and G. Heine.
Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann. Biography and review of creativity
Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann is a brilliant German cultural figure of the Romantic era. First of all, of course, he is a wonderful writer, but also a composer, author of the first German romantic opera Ondine, painter, theater critic, decorator, graphic artist, conductor, theater director - the embodiment of the romantic ideal of a universal harmonious personality. He was born in Konigsberg in the family of a lawyer on January 24, 1776. Having received a law degree, he worked as a judicial officer in various Prussian cities.
However, his fate was not easy because of the unwillingness to come to terms with the existing orders and laws. He worked as a lawyer in Poznan, from where he was fired and exiled for drawing caricatures of important officials. Service in the army ended in unemployment, as he refused to take the oath of allegiance to Napoleon during the campaign against Poland. But the true life of Hoffmann took place outside the walls of judicial institutions, in the pursuit of art, music, and literature. Left unemployed and without a livelihood, he worked for a long time as the head of a theater troupe, wrote music and scenery for performances, and conducted an orchestra. He creates two novels: The Elixir of Satan (1813) and The Worldly Views of Cat Murr (1820-1822). But above all, Hoffmann the writer became famous for his bizarre fantastic short stories-tales. The genre of these short stories can be defined using the expression of the author himself: “a fairy tale about the real”, or “a fairy tale from modern times”.
He studied music first with his own uncle, and later with the organist J. Podbelsky and I.F. Reichard.
After training, Hoffman organized a philharmonic society and Symphony Orchestra in Warsaw, where from 1807 to 1813. worked as a conductor, composer and decorator. His work extended to all famous theaters Europe - in Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden and other cities. Hoffmann is already at an early stage of his musical creativity formulated the main provisions of musical romance and presented music as a special, Magic world, full of feelings and passions. From under his pen came the first ever romantic opera Ondine, later the opera Aurora, as well as a host of symphonies, choirs and compositions for chamber orchestra.
The romantic heroes of Hoffmann are able to see the unreal, the fantastic in the ordinary course of life (like Anselm in The Golden Pot, watching the play of the green-eyed snake in the elder bush), or to discover behind the appearance, illusion. Something real, some kind of reality of reality (like Balthasar, who did not succumb to the fairy's charms and did not allow himself to be blinded by the imaginary virtues of the freak Tsakhes).
Hoffmann's satire has tremendous power in terms of depth and sharpness of criticism of contemporary society. Hoffmann the novelist has been repeatedly compared with the French realist writer Honore de Balzac. Hoffmann's work was an important stage in the development of German romanticism. He received the widest recognition both at home and far beyond its borders, and had a huge influence on the work of such great authors as N. V. Gogol, F. M. Dostoevsky, O. Balzac, C. Dickens, E. Po et al. His work gained particular popularity in Russia. V. G. Belinsky called him “ brilliant artist”, and A. I. Herzen dedicated a huge enthusiastic article to him and his work.
E. T. A. Hoffmann entered the literary ranks of romantic writers much later than other literary figures and, as it were, summed up all the innovations of his predecessors. His creations reflect the sense of beauty in the ordinary, a sense of the beauty of the world and nature, as well as the idea of the high purpose of creativity and the writer, an enthusiastic attitude towards music and respect for musicians and composers, characteristic of the authors of his time. Hoffmann analyzed and criticized the low mercantile interests of his contemporaries so deeply and correctly that he overtook not only his predecessors, but also his contemporaries, more furiously declaring the killing beginning of a meager philistine existence. His light romantic irony over the imperfect structure of modern reality gradually developed into a harsh satire on an ugly reality.
E. Hoffmann's writing career begins in 1809, when his story "Cavalier Glitch" was first published in a musical newspaper.
"Fantasy in the manner of Callot"
First period literary creativity E. Hoffmann is reflected in the collection of short stories "Fantasy in the manner of Callot", which was published in 1814. Each story reveals the incredible power of the author's imagination and his irrepressible fantasy. Hoffmann continues to focus on deformities modern world. In his stories, a lot of space is given to music. For example, a hero appears in them - the head of the choir Kreisler, who appears before readers as a kind and romantic enthusiast who cares for the success of his work and is devoted to his art. It is this image that is largely autobiographical, in which E. Hoffmann showed himself, his feelings and experiences. His hero very subtly feels the imperfection of the surrounding world, as he is forced to play in rich houses, whose inhabitants cannot really appreciate the beauty of music and treat the musician as an entourage, and music as a pleasant dessert. Such experiences cause conflict between the hero and the environment and make him deeply unhappy and lonely.
"Don Juan"
The story "Don Juan" is a unique creation because it combines literary work and a deep romantic interpretation of the opera, written by W. A. Mozart, while maintaining the plot of the famous womanizer and conqueror of ladies' hearts. The well-known literary critic S. I. Belza, commenting on the story of E. Hoffmann, said that “the author was able to comprehend Mozart’s intention so deeply, as before Hoffmann it was not given to anyone, even Beethoven ....
For Hoffmann, Don Juan is a strong and extraordinary personality, a bright personality that stands above all ordinary mediocre people, stamped, "like factory products." In the depths of his soul, he longs for the ideal and tries to achieve it himself through the enjoyment of love. The protagonist, as well as the author, does not accept generally accepted norms and concepts, and with his numerous victories over women, he tries to establish himself as an outstanding personality. Naturally, this path is wrong, and therefore retribution awaits the voluptuary. In this story, Hoffman presented readers with such a strong desire for unlimited freedom, observed in the main character as a temptation of impure forces, as a diabolical temptation. For the first time in the history of romanticism, the author poses the question of cause and effect to readers. Don Juan deservedly received his terrible end, because he succumbed to the base worldly temptation. All tragedy and doom contemporary art the author expressed in the last lines of his story, when the restaurant's patrons are annoyed that they will not be able to enjoy a "decent opera" today, due to the death of an Italian artist:
“... Smart guy with a snuffbox (loudly banging on its lid). What a shame! It won't be long before we hear a decent opera! That's what it means to lose all measure!
Dark-skinned. Right, right! I kept telling her the same thing! The role of Donna Anna always bored her in order. And yesterday she was completely possessed. The entire intermission, they say, lay unconscious, and the scene of the second act seemed to be spent in a nervous fit.
Minor. Say goodbye!
Dark-skinned. Yes, yes, in a nervous fit! And there was no way she could be taken away from the theater.
ME: For God's sake, wasn't the fit dangerous? And will we hear from the signora again soon?
Smart guy with a snuffbox (taking a snuff). It is unlikely - this morning, at exactly two o'clock, the signora died ... "
"Golden Pot"
"The Golden Pot" - this fairy tale, included in the collection "Fantasy in the manner of Callot", surprised contemporaries by the fact that all the fantastic events in it take place in a real modern setting. The action of the tale takes place in Dresden, and readers recognize the streets they walk on every day, recognize the city squares and public institutions described in the story. Yes and myself the protagonist- a completely ordinary person who studies at the university and comes from a poor family, therefore, in his free time from study, he is forced to earn extra money. In life, he is not particularly lucky, and the only thing he has succeeded in is in his imagination. The epicenter of the intensity of the passions of this fairy tale is the protagonist's hesitation between the desire to become a respected and wealthy person and his desire for a world of fantasy and poetry, where everyone can feel elated, free and happy. The mundane, the ordinary, and the magical are pitted against each other in this tale. Life is presented in the image of the daughter of an official Veronica, and fantasy is in the form of a small snake Serpentina. Veronica is* a pretty sweet girl, but her desires are too earthy and primitive - she just wants to get married and wear pretty dresses. An evil witch helps her in the fight for the heart of the protagonist. It is noteworthy that the life and worldly bustle are presented by the author in the form of an ugly old woman and a mundane girl, in whose mind the material dominates the spiritual. To enhance the terrifying impression of everyday life and the world of mundane people, the author endows simple things with terrible features: “a door knocker bares his teeth”, “a coffee pot with a broken lid makes faces”.
Hoffmann opposes this philistine world with the world of fabulous fantasies and poetry. This is how the main distinguishing feature Hoffmann's work is dual world. Hoffmann draws us fairy-tale worlds inhabited by extraordinary creatures: Prince Salamander and his daughters are golden and green snakes, which, if desired, can take on a human form. The whole life of these magical characters filled with poetry, love and beauty. Hoffmann emphasizes the grace and harmony of this world of smells, colors, sounds and colors, emphasizing its unreal beauty.
The author understands that this world is only an illusion, and emphasizes this with the words of Prince Salamander, who comforts the protagonist, telling him that *fantastic land is only the poetic property of the mind," a figment of the imagination and an unattainable dream. Hoffmann's irony lies in the fact that he himself questions the reality of achieving and realizing the romantic ideal in the real world.
Hoffmann really perceived reality as a world of darkness and selfishness, and this often gave his works a certain deliberate gloominess. In many of his stories, pictures of a split personality, insanity appear, and reality appears as something irrational and incomprehensible.
"Master Martin Bochar"
The work "Master Martin Bochar" was written by E. Hoffmann in search of a balance between creativity and real life. These searches return the author to the era, the culture of the Renaissance, where, in his opinion, the craft (making money) was not yet so hopelessly far from art. Thus was born a utopian and idealistic story about the harmonious coexistence of labor and art "Master Martin the Cooper and His Apprentices".
Hoffmann paints a picture for us in great detail medieval life in the city of Nuremberg, the interior of the house of the wealthy master Martin, the singing and fighting games of the apprentice, the election of the shop foreman and other everyday everyday pictures. It was in this story that the author managed to convey convincing and vital, full-fledged characters to readers. The central figure is the old master Martin, who highly appreciates his craft as a cooper, considering it a high art. His daughter is a sweet creature, whom he sees married only to a representative of the cooper profession, considering her extremely worthy. And all the suitors of a young girl have to yield to her father and reckon with his desire, so they diligently study the cooper business under his strict guidance.
The whole work is imbued with a sense of lightness and ease, even flaring conflicts are resolved by themselves. Despite the characters drawn in such detail, the picture conveyed in the story is far from the real state of affairs in the Middle Ages. E. Hoffmann not only idealizes the past, as all his romantic predecessors did, but rather creates an idealistic utopia happy life based on historical material.
In his story there is no confrontation between classes, class hostility. Everyone gathers at one friendly table: knights, artisans, and nobles.
Although, of course, in the conditions of developing capitalism, all romantic authors of the 19th century. sought salvation in the idealization of past times.
The second period of creativity of E. Hoffmann. "Little Tsakhes"
E. Hoffmann spent the last eight years of his life in Berlin, being in public service in court. He clearly saw all the imperfection of legal proceedings in the country, which ultimately leads him to an internal conflict with the entire Prussian state system and, of course, is expressed in his work. With all the power of his sharp satire, he attacked the social order that prevailed in Germany. His works became more politically colored and sharp.
The most striking expression of these new trends is one of the most famous fairy tales by E. Hoffmann “Little Tsakhes”, written by him in 1819. The action of the fairy tale takes place in a fairy-tale world where gnomes and fairies live along with ordinary people. The central figure of the tale is an absolutely insignificant and ugly creature, which, due to some misunderstanding, has a magical gift to appropriate all the merits of those around it. This ugly creature, possessing three golden hairs, manages to earn universal honor and respect, and even becomes the All-Powerful Minister. Little Tsakhes is so vile and disgusting that the author spares no means of literary expression to inspire readers with disgust for him. He calls him "a stump of a gnarled tree", makes him scratch and bite all the time. Hoffmann portrays him as extremely ridiculous and absurd, a pseudo-beautiful equestrian and cellist. But in fact, this insignificant freak is terrible because, being essentially no one and not possessing any talents, he is endowed with enormous power.
In this grotesque character, Hoffmann tried to express all the fear of the events and phenomena that he and his contemporaries had to face, he reflected a world in which honors and blessings are given not by reason and merit, but by coincidence. V. G. Belinsky wrote about the work of E. Hoffmann in the following way: “in the most ridiculous tomfoolery of his imagination, he knew how to be true to the idea *.
E. Hoffmann's romanticism is closely connected with real events and historical conflicts. That is why his work is regarded as borderline between the outgoing romanticism and the realism that comes to replace it. I. V. Mirimsky, a researcher of E. Hoffmann’s work, wrote: “... The social breadth of the tale is given by the fact that behind this ridiculous masquerade, the festival of fools, played out by princes, ministers, chamberlains, professors and lackeys, there is a people on whose labor and this comic army of masters and their minions is holding on. The tale begins with a story about the sad fate of a poor peasant family in which Tsakhes was born, and ends with the indignation of the crowd for reprisals against the debunked Zinnober ... *
As in all the works of E. Hoffmann, this petty freak in the fairy tale has an antagonist - the poet Balthazar, from whom Tsakhes stole his beautiful bride and appropriated his fame. At the end of the tale, the poet defeats Tsakhes with the help of good wizard who revealed to the young man the secret of the three hairs on the freak's head. After the victory, the poet marries a beautiful girl and receives a delightful house as a gift, the food in which never ends, and the harvest ripens faster than everyone else.
"Worldly views of the cat Murr"
“The Worldly Views of Murr the Cat with the Addition of Waste Sheets from the Biography of Johannes Kreisler” is the full title of Hoffmann’s novel, which was published in two volumes in 1819 and 1821.
"Compositionally, the novel is built as two completely independent and unrelated stories - the diary of the cat Murr and the biography of Kapellmeister Kreisler. This is truly a brilliant find by Hoffmann. The author explains this plot construction at the very beginning of the book.
When Kot's notes, which he decides to publish, get to the publisher, it is suddenly discovered that his narrative is regularly interspersed with parts of completely extraneous text. In the course of the proceedings, the publisher found out that when writing his diary, the Cat simply took the first book that was under his paw, which his owner had, and used the pages "part for laying, part for drying." By coincidence, this particular book turned out to be a biography famous composer and musician Johannes Kreisler, and due to an oversight of typesetters, these pages also ended up in Kot's diary.
This work is a classic example of the use of the animal figure in order to convey the character traits and behavior characteristic of a person in the most comedic and parodic way. The cat is the most common animal in literature (take Puss in Boots, for example). However, contrary to his predecessors, Hoffmann uses this technique not to ridicule the image that he put into the figure of the animal, but only to depict how easily he adapts to the events and life realities around him.
In Kota (whose external description he took from his own cat - a very intelligent and noble animal), he put those features that were most characteristic of the people of the first half of XIX in. He tried to convey romantic moods and judgments about spiritual values. He endowed the Cat (i.e., a person in his image) with a sense of his own superiority over the rest of society, who, in his opinion, were catastrophically behind in their judgments and views. And his friends and associates, belonging to the cat-dog society, do not tolerate any prejudice and in every possible way preach the norms of behavior free from any morality.
Of course, the Cat is very distinguished even in his circle by his greater education, erudition, knowledge of foreign (canine) languages, philosophy, poetry. He shows a keen interest in the basics of feline (i.e., human) thinking and the psyche, and even writes a scientific paper on the topic “On the influence of mousetraps on the psychology of felines.” He just has a great imagination, and he writes really beautiful poetry. It is these qualities that allow him to see himself as a bright individual, significantly different from the gray mass surrounding him. Gradually, he develops a cult of his own personality and demands the worship of others. Any other representative of society matters to him only in the sense that you can discuss with him the most important thing that exists in this world, i.e. himself and the results of his labors. What initially had a purely romantic character, very quickly grew into fierce individualism and neglect of others. If earlier he aspired to some ideals, now these ideals simply prevent him from satisfying his own needs. All his actions were base and immoral. Even when he eats the head of a herring that was intended for his mother, who is dying of hunger, he comforts his conscience with the conclusion: "O appetite, your name is Cat!" And from commitment and belief in ideals, there remains an infinite benevolence towards one's own nature.
Meanwhile, on the pages of the composer's biography, as if in opposition to the selfish feline nature, romantic ideals and the search for truth play with all colors.
The third period of German Romanticism falls on the era of the restoration of feudalism. In Germany, this process was reflected most fully. The brightest artists of this period are Hoffmann, Chamisso, Heine. In their work they concentrated the best that was in Romanticism. But they take a closer look at reality, criticize it more consistently and harshly, and attempt to analyze social contradictions. At this time, Romanticism is combined with realism, the boundary between them is violated.
On January 24, 1776, in the city of Koenigsberg (now Kaliningrad), a boy was born into the family of the Queen's Counsel, who was named Ernst Theodor Wilhelm. He entered the history of world literature as a great dreamer, dreamer, storyteller and romantic Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann. In 1805 he replaced his “Prussian” name Wilhelm with the name of his idol Mozart.
The writer's father, Christoph Ludwig Hoffmann (1736-1797), was an unusually capable, easily moody person, not alien to the muses. He married his cousin Lovisa Albertina Derfer (1748-1796), a pious, reclusive, slightly hysterical woman. A few years after the birth of their son, Hoffmann's parents broke up.
After the divorce of his parents, the boy lived with his grandmother since 1778, his pious uncle Otto Wilhelm, a man of strict rules, was engaged in his upbringing. The way in the family was traditional, they were afraid of events and changes. Initially, Hoffmann lived an internal discord between a harsh, sarcastic perception of reality and a timid, soft, vulnerable soul.
Few joys for the boy were home concerts. Writing talent was formed precisely under the influence of music. Passionate love for music, which, according to Hoffmann's elephants, was a "hereditary disease" in their family, and later for drawing, especially caricature, and great success in both arts, seemed to determine his vocation. Forced by circumstances, Hoffmann enters the University of Koenigsberg and studies law according to family tradition, without, however, having any interest in a career as a lawyer. At that time, I. Kant taught in Koenigsberg, but Hoffmann never looked into his audience.
In his student years, Hoffmann discovers literature and writes the first novel, Cornaro, which remained unpublished. In Berlin, Hoffmann plunges into city life, attends theaters, museums, concerts, continues his musical education, composes music, teaches music himself, falls in love with his student, a young married lady. After graduating from the university, Hoffmann begins a long period of wandering. For the distribution of caricatures of the highest authorities, he was sent to Plock, where in 1802 he married the daughter of a Polish writer, Michaelina Rorer. In 1804, he was transferred to Warsaw, where he devoted himself entirely to art: he headed the Philharmonic Society, conducted concerts, lectured at musical themes, composes music, in particular the opera “Merry Musicians” to the text of C. Brentano, “The Scarf and the Flower” to the plot of Calderon, even paints the room for concerts with frescoes, serves in the judicial department.
In 1807, Napoleon's troops occupied Warsaw, state institutions were closed, and Hoffmann was left without service. He moves to Berlin, but does not find work there either. In 1808, he had to take the position of theater bandmaster in Bamberg, where he puts on the dramas of Calderon and G. Kleist's play “Kathen from Heilbronn”.
In Bamberg, Hoffmann acts simultaneously as a composer, conductor, director, painter, graphic artist, critic, short story writer. Art and life are intertwined in Hoffmann's creative biography in such a combination that later gave rise to a romantic legend that accompanied him until the end of his days, about the reflection of real suffering in artistic creativity.
At the beginning of 1809, Hoffmann declares himself as a writer. The editor of the Universal Musical Gazette suggested that he write the story of a brilliantly gifted, but unfortunate, impoverished musician. Soon a series of sketches about Kapellmeister Kreisler appeared on the pages of the newspaper, which marked the beginning of Hoffmann's literary fame. Following the Kreisleriana, the short stories Cavalier Gluck and Don Giovanni were published, as well as articles on music, which were later included in the first book of Fantasies in the manner of Callo.
After a year's stay in Dresden as a theatrical bandmaster (here in 1813 he finished the opera Ondine, begun in Bamberg, to a libretto by his friend Fouquet), Hoffmann moved to Berlin in the autumn of 1814, taking a place in the Ministry of Justice. The unloved legal service, where he performs his duties exemplarily, still does not obscure the pursuit of art, does not interfere with friendly relations in artistic circles and the growing popularity that has been strengthened after his opera Ondine was brilliantly staged at the Berlin Royal Theater.
It was Hoffmann who brilliantly carried out one of the most serious plans of Romanticism. Romantics dreamed of a synthesis of the arts, they insisted that painting should learn from music, music from painting, they highly valued architecture, since it combines painting, sculpture, especially church architecture, since it brings music into this ensemble.
Probably, Hoffmann's popularity prompted the top authorities to appoint him a member of the government commission to investigate political crimes. And then, unexpectedly, Hoffmann, who had previously been absolutely apolitical, began to openly and boldly protest against the arbitrariness and lawlessness perpetrated by the commission, and even went further - he ridiculed the chairman of the commission in satirical tale"Lord of the Fleas".
Upon learning of the existence of the tale, the Ministry of Justice issued a decree for its confiscation and initiated a judicial investigation against Hoffmann. Meanwhile, a serious illness that the writer had long suffered from developed rapidly and chained him to bed. In this state, he, accused of political unreliability, was forced to testify. On June 25, 1822, at the forty-seventh year of his life, bedridden, turned to the wall, dictating another short story, Hoffmann died of progressive paralysis. For all his labors and for all his popularity, Hoffmann could not leave anything to his wife except debts, and she had to refuse to inherit from him by will.
The inscription on the tombstone at the Berlin cemetery reads: He was equally remarkable as a lawyer, as a poet, as a musician, as a painter.” These words contain the deepest drama of life, bifurcating and tormenting the soul: being a multi-talented artist, obsessed with art, Hoffmann was riveted all his life by concern for his daily bread to his service as a judicial official, which he compared with the rock of Prometheus.
By the time of his entry into literature, Hoffmann is closer to the Heidelberg school, but according to the principles of artistic reproduction of reality, according to his worldview, he continues the Jena tradition. He himself was the embodiment of the dream of the early romantics about the ideal of the poet ( remember the Novalis novel): a talented lawyer, composer, artist (in 1813-1814 he made a living by drawing caricatures of Napoleon), writer. His work takes no more than a decade.
Romantic developed his own principles of artistic reflection of reality. The main thing in his worldview was the realization of the dual position of the artist, which was reflected in the principle of two worlds. Another feature is a specific combination of fantasy and reality: each intervention of dark forces receives a real explanation (that is why he is called a romantic realist).
Hoffmann was the first German Romantic to achieve worldwide fame. But in Germany, he was treated with restraint: Goethe considered him a third-rate novelist, Tieck reproached him for caricature. THIS. Hoffmann had a huge impact on Russian literature: the grotesque of Gogol, the fantasy of V. Odoevsky, the tragedy of Lermontov, the psychologism of Dostoevsky's novels originate in his work. In the 20th century, interest in him does not disappear: Vs. Ivanov, K. Fedin, M. Zoshchenko, V. Kaverin - the writers who formed the Serapion Brothers group, chose Hoffmann as their spiritual patron. The German romanticist had a noticeable influence on the work of M. Bulgakov (“The Diaboliad”, “The Master and Margarita”), A. Blok, A. Akhmatova, A. Tarkovsky.
The theme of the relationship between art and life, the artist-creator and the philistine-philistine is the main theme in the writer's work, and the central conflict is the discord between dream and reality, poetry and truth. This conflict acquires a hopelessly tragic character in Hoffmann, since the desire to reconcile these two warring principles lived in him next to the consciousness of their irreconcilability, the impossibility of overcoming the power of life with a poetic dream. “As the supreme judge, I divided the entire human race into two unequal parts. One consists only of good people, but bad musicians or no musicians at all, while the other consists of true musicians. But none of them will be condemned, on the contrary, bliss awaits everyone, only in a different way. Good people are philistines (philistines). Hoffmann's hero does not hover in the spheres of sublime utopias (as in Novalis), he does not merge with other people, as in the case of the Heidelbergers. The writer accentuates the break with reality more sharply than others: his hero lives in the midst of reality, he is worldly. The place of action in most of Hoffmann's works is not the idealized Middle Ages, but modern Germany, depicted ironically or satirically and caricatured. Two spheres - ideal and reality - constantly collide, which gives rise to a dual world - the coexistence of two worlds (often in the mind of a romantic hero, in the artistic space of a work).
It is necessary to explain the meaning and origin of the word "philistines". It appeared in German in the 17th century. During one of the clashes between students and townspeople, a schoolboy was killed. The priest who delivered a sermon after this tragic incident compared the deceased with the biblical hero Samson, the destroyed tribe of the Philistines, to whom he likened the townspeople. Over time, the word "Philistines" was transformed into "philistines", as the townspeople began to be called, in contrast to the "Bursh" - schoolchildren. In Hoffmann's writings, the word "philistines" not only refers to townspeople, but also has a negative evaluative meaning - "limited people living only for material interests."
In the view of the writer, the outer world fatally gravitates over the inner, spiritual world, turning life into a tragicomic farce, into a gloomy and ridiculous phantasmagoria in which mysterious, fatal forces play on a person, dooming him to loneliness and suffering. All this was quite fully reflected already in the first books - "Kreisleriana" (1811-1815) and "Fantasy in the manner of Callot" (1814-1815). The Kreisleriana is a series of essays and critiques that begins German romantic music criticism. Hoffmann himself was the prototype of Kreisler.
“Fantasies ”is the first prose collection of the writer, which brought him literary fame. In terms of structure, subject matter, form and variety of texts presented in it, the collection was very unusual for its time: it included works of various genres (highly professional musical and literary criticism, a cheerful romantic short story, a witty theatrical humoresque, essays in the spirit of Gothic literature with the then fashionable idea of “animal magnetism”, which anticipated Hoffmann’s “Night Studies” (1817)). The title of the collection refers the reader to French artist Jacques Callot (best known for his 1632-1633 graphic cycle Disasters of War).
In Callo's creative manner and in himself, Hoffmann valued the power of talent, the courage and originality of artistic thinking, the laconicism and energy of artistic images, and finally, the integrity and dignity of the creator. Hoffmann leads the reader to the realization that he will have to deal with some kind of literature that is unusual for him. The writer reserves in advance the right not only to the author's arbitrariness in dealing with the objective world, but also in general to a new aesthetics and a new philosophy, to focus not on the outside world, but immersion in one's own fantasy. Hoffmann, as it were, warns that his hero, his alter ego (second “I”) is a visionary, and not just an observer.
In the collection “Fantasy in the manner of Callo” Hoffmann also included his favorite creation, a short story-tale “ golden pot”(1814), this is a kind of pinnacle of his early work. The author gave it the subtitle “A Tale from New Times”, thereby emphasizing the specifics of the work, in which fantastic events unfold in a real setting for a contemporary writer in Dresden. The writer very accurately conveyed the realities of his time: they traded right from the ground at the Black Gate, the townsfolk had fun walking with their families around the city, etc. The novel combines fantasy and everyday life, imbued with romantic irony, creating a literary two worlds. Hoffmann called the chapters vigils, which means “night vigil” (an indication that the novella was written at night).
The hero of the tale, the student Anselm, is the most characteristic of Hoffmann's romantic figures, a poor man over whom fatal forces gravitate, turning his life into a chain of tragicomic misadventures. He is different from the traditional heroes of romantic works, Anselm is a loser: “But it’s true that I was born into the world for all sorts of trials and calamities! Not to mention the fact that I never got into the bean kings, that I never guessed even odd or even correctly, that my sandwiches always fall on the ground with the oily side - I won’t even talk about all these misfortunes; but isn't it a terrible fate that, having finally become a student in spite of all the devils, I should still be and remain a stuffed pea? Have I ever put on a new frock coat without immediately making a nasty greasy stain on it or tearing it on some accursed, misplaced nail? Have I ever bowed to some lady or some gentleman without my hat flying to the devil knows where, or myself stumbling on the smooth floor and flopping shamefully? Haven't I already had to pay in the market every market day in Halle a certain tribute of three to four groschen for broken pots, because the devil is carrying me straight to them, as if I were a field mouse? Have I ever been on time to the university or any other place? In vain do I go out half an hour earlier; as soon as I stand at the door and get ready to pick up the bell, some devil will pour a washing basin over my head, or I will push with all my might some gentleman who is coming out and, as a result, I will not only be late, but also get into a crowd of troubles. My God! My God! Where are you, blissful dreams of future happiness, when I proudly dreamed of reaching the rank of collegiate secretary. The author portrays his hero ironically: he shows him as funny, inept, not adapted to life. A dreamer and dreamer, Anselm is obsessed with mental discord, which bifurcates consciousness, forcing him to rush between the ordinary and the fantastic world where his imagination takes him. He is given to see what the philistines do not notice, so ordinary people perceive his stories as nonsense.
The entire development of the action is Anselm's oscillation between two worlds. In the short story, the author shows their interaction, which is manifested even in the speech style: “The spirit looked at the waters, and now they swayed, and rose in foamy waves, and rushed into the abyss, which opened its black mouth to swallow them greedily” (Vigilia 3 ). This is a fragment from Lindhorst's story, immersing the reader in the world of a fairy tale. Hoffman individualizes the language of the characters, which destroys the unity of the romantic style. M. Bulgakov used the method of directly introducing another layer of text into the narrative in his novel: for the first time, the Yershalaim chapters appear either as a story by Woland, or as a vision.
The unusual behavior of the student surprises “normal people”, they consider him an eccentric and extravagant: “But the gentleman must be out of his mind!” said the respectable townswoman, who, returning with her family from a walk, stopped and, folding her arms on her stomach, began to contemplate the crazy tricks of the student Anselm. He hugged the trunk of an elder tree and, burying his face in its branches, shouted incessantly: “Oh, just once more sparkle and shine you, dear golden snakes, just let me hear your crystal voice once more!” (Vigil 2). Anselm is a poetic nature, therefore it is he who can live in two worlds: he is attached to the real by his earthly nature, his subtle spiritual organization attracts to the world of a fairy tale.
The archivist Lindgorst, a venerable old man, privy councilor and royal archivist, belongs to the same type of heroes, but he is also a great magician, the fiery prince of salamanders, who lives in parallel in the poetic kingdom - Atlantis, where he is the ruler of fiery spirits. In that fairy world Lindhorst introduces Anselm. Love for the youngest daughter of the archivist, blue-eyed Serpentina, transforms the hero and awakens in him an ingenuous faith in the miraculous, thanks to which nature reveals its innermost secrets to him and speaks to him in a language he understands. Anselm becomes a poet in the sense that the German romantics put into this concept: a man freed from the burden of the earth and joined the wonders of another, beautiful world.
All the characters in the tale belong to one of two types of heroes: good people” and “musicians”. Some are the heroes of two worlds: a fairy tale and a real one (the old woman-trader in a fairy tale is an ugly beet, the archivist is the prince of salamanders, Serpentina is a golden-green snake). But Veronika, Geerbrand, the con-rector live in only one world, that is, they are limited people.
In The Golden Pot, the related theme of the double appears forever with Hoffmann. ( Remember which of the romantics you met in this way.) The twin is not yet called a twin here. Anselm's counterpart is the primitive Geerbrand, who completely replaces the hero in Veronica's life. In the fifth vigil, the daughter of Con-Rector Paulman indulges in daydreams: “She was a lady court adviser, she lived in a beautiful apartment on Castle Street, or on the New Market, or on Moritzstrasse. A hat of the latest style, a new Turkish shawl suited her perfectly, she had breakfast in an elegant negligee by the window, giving the necessary orders to the cook ... ” The dandies walking along the street admire the wife of the court adviser sitting on the balcony. Her husband appears and presents her with magnificent earrings.
After some time, Geerbrand, who has become a court adviser, makes an offer to Veronica and presents the very earrings that she dreamed about. This is the eleventh vigil. The episodes of the fifth and eleventh vigils are almost identical: the heroine's dreams came true, but Anselm was successfully replaced by the respectable Geerbrand.
Veronica herself is Serpentina's double: Anselm oscillates between two worlds, between two girls. His hesitation shows how attractive the world of philistines can be even for a romantic hero. Bringing together the two worlds - the ideal and reality, Hoffmann uses romantic irony, which manifests itself in the image of equality, the equivalence of the two worlds.
The scene “under glass” is very important: it is a metaphorical image of the existence of modern inhabitants, bound by certain limits, limited, but completely content with themselves. Only Anselm notices this state and feels uncomfortable.
The hero of Hoffmann makes his choice: he marries Serpentina. Through love for her, as for Heinrich von Ofterdingen, the secrets of nature are revealed to Anselm. The writer ironically depicts a symbol of the unity of nature and man, a romantic hero and poetry. As a dowry, Anselm receives a golden pot from Serpentina, from which a fiery lily grows - a kind of parody of the blue flower of Novalis. In this double image (a lily in a pot), romantic irony is again manifested: the symbol of the natural and poetic beginnings grows out of the symbol of philistine well-being. Thus, Hoffmann sought to emphasize that high and low, prosaic and poetic are closely interconnected. It is a mockery of both the romantic ideal and the philistine world.
The finale of the tale is a conversation between the author and Lindhorst about Anselm, about poetic world, about a dream from which it turns out that Atlantis is a fantasy world where they can go for a while romantic heroes, but they are forced to return to the real world.
© Elena Isaeva