Fate is wrong. The coin and antiques expert, creator of one of the first chivalric novels, Professor Eric Raspe, was never able to achieve world fame. “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen”, this frivolous shilling book, published by him impromptu, created a miracle. It was created quickly, by some influx unexpected for a pundit, and published abroad - in England. Moreover, the professor was even shy about putting his signature on this work. But it was precisely this that brought Raspera laurels, however, posthumously, thirty years later ... Exactly so many years after his death were required to establish authorship.
“What is the merit of this writer?” - you ask. Eric Raspe managed to add a literary splendor to humorous stories typical of his time. Their hero was, as a rule, a nobleman, a landowner, in the past - a military man.
Baron von Munchausen, whose name can be continued as Karl Friedrich Jerome, is a real person. The longest adventure of Baron Munchausen is connected with military service abroad. Accompanying the Duke of Braunschweig, he arrived in Russia as a young man in pursuit of a career. However, the service did not bring the captain of the Russian service with a noticeable German accent of neither ranks nor pensions. Perhaps fate intervened, because she had prepared a different glory for this man. The prospect of advancement of the adjutant of the Duke of Ulrich was suddenly destroyed by a palace coup. Power passed from the overlords of Munchausen to Elizabeth Petrovna. Baron during his service in Russia matured, saw the world, got married, managed to take part in two Turkish wars, showed personal courage in the battles. The most vivid adventure of Baron Munchausen once brought him to the future Empress Catherine the Great. When she first arrived in Russia, the brave captain commanded an honor guard at a meeting. However, Munchausen did not have a tendency to maneuver in palace intrigues. He missed his homeland. Taking a year off to resolve the inheritance issue, he left for Germany. Then he renewed it several times.
He was drawn into the way of life of the landowner: farming, hunting. He did not even arrive in St. Petersburg to apply for
a pension, limiting himself to a letter of request, and was fired for
unauthorized abandonment of the unit. But this did not bother him very much.
At home, the baron was a hospitable host, he loved to tell neighbors about his exploits in Russia, about incredible hunting successes, about the evidence of his tremendous strength, dexterity, accuracy. When Eric Raspe published his book of incredible witty stories, referring to Baron Munchausen, he sued him, but then humbled himself.
Readers were impressed by the non-triviality of fantasy embedded in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. The main characters encountered by the baron are unusual. Among them - a deer with a cherry tree between the horns, a harnessed wolf, a furious fur coat. Today, the hometown of the baron, Bodenwerder, where the museum of "the most truthful person on earth" is located, has become a place of true pilgrimage.
Baron Munchausen - a literary hero and a real person - has become his brand. The hallmark of the museum’s house was a monument fountain - a half-horse that drinks water. It is noteworthy that in Moscow there is also a corresponding museum and a monument to the most honest man in the world.
Cinema also did not stand aside. Screen versions - a great many. I’ll tell you about one of the best. In a completely original way, in his own way, he realized and conveyed to the viewer the adventure of Baron Munchausen, the genius Oleg Yankovsky in the famous film by Mark Zakharov. Oleg Ivanovich played this role with such dedication as Hamlet played. He put so much wisdom and irony into the image that the film caused a real sensation. Crown phrase of Jankowski: "Smile, gentlemen!" became recognizable and famous. The viewer invariably imagines a special, wise baron, who with his radiant joke is able to help people by destroying the stupid and life-hindering stupidity created by themselves with an impenetrable, serious expression on their faces.
It is noteworthy that the actor himself, above all the brilliant roles played by him, loved and appreciated precisely this image - Munchausen.
We wish you, dear readers, that you periodically recall the adventure of Baron Munchausen, and like him pulled yourself by the hair from the marshes of everyday life, making bright, ringing notes in your life!