A little old man sitting by the fireplace, telling stories, absurd and incredibly interesting, very funny and “true” ... It seems that a little time will pass, and the reader himself will decide that it is possible to pull himself out of the swamp, grabbing his hair, turning the wolf inside out , discover half the horse, which drinks tons of water and can not quench his thirst.
Familiar stories, right? Everyone has heard of Baron Munchausen. Even people who do not really get along with elegant literature, thanks to the cinema, can immediately list a couple of fantastic stories about him. Another question: "Who wrote the tale" The Adventures of Baron Munchausen? " Alas, the name of Rudolph Raspe is not known to everyone. And is he the true creator of the character? Literary scholars still find the strength to argue on this topic. However, first things first.
Who wrote the book The Adventures of Baron Munchausen?
Year of birth of the future writer - 1736th. His father was an official and part-time miner, as well as a notorious lover of minerals. This explained why Raspe spent his early years near the mines. Soon he received a basic education, which he continued at the University of Gottingen. First, he was occupied by law, and then captured by the natural sciences. Thus, nothing indicated his future hobby - philology, and did not portend that he would be the one who wrote The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
Further years
Upon returning to his hometown, he chooses the activities of a clerk, and then works as a secretary in the library. As a publisher, Raspe made his debut in 1764, offering the world the works of Leibniz, which, incidentally, were devoted to the future prototype of "Adventures." Around the same time, he wrote the novel Hermin and Gunilda, became a professor and was promoted to the post of supervisor of an antique office. He travels around Westphalia in search of ancient manuscripts, and then rare things for the collection (alas, not his own). The last Raspe was trusted, taking into account his solid authority, experience. And, as it turned out, in vain! The one who wrote The Adventures of Baron Munchausen was not a very wealthy man, even a poor man, which made him commit a crime and sell out part of the collection. However, Raspe managed to escape punishment, but how it happened is hard to say. They say that those who came to arrest the man listened and, fascinated by his gift as a narrator, allowed to flee. This is not surprising, because they ran into Raspe himself - the one who wrote The Adventures of Baron Munchausen! How could it be otherwise?
The appearance of a fairy tale
The stories, ups and downs associated with the publication of this tale, in fact, are no less interesting than the adventures of its protagonist. In 1781 the first stories with a cheerful and omnipotent old man are found in the "Guide for cheerful people". It was not known who wrote The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. The author found it necessary to remain in the shadows. It was these stories that Raspe took as a basis for his own work, which was united by the figure of the narrator, possessed integrity and completeness (in contrast to the previous version). Tales were written in English, and the situations in which the protagonist acted, had a purely English flavor, were associated with the sea. The book itself was conceived as a kind of edification directed against lies.
Then the fairy tale was translated into German (the poet Gottfried Burger did it), adding and changing the previous text. Moreover, the edits were so significant that in serious academic journals, the list of those who wrote "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" contains two names - Raspe and Burger.
Prototype
The discouraging baron had a real prototype. His name was, like the literary character - Munchausen. By the way, the problem of transferring this German surname remained unresolved. Korney Chukovsky introduced the variant “Munchausen”, but in modern publications the letter “g” was written in the name of the hero.
The real baron, already at a venerable age, loved to talk about his hunting adventures in Russia. Listeners recalled that at such moments the storyteller’s face was enlivened, he himself began to gesticulate, after which incredible stories could be heard from this truthful person. They began to gain popularity and even go to print. Of course, the necessary degree of anonymity was observed, but people who knew the baron closely knew who was the prototype of these sweet stories.
Last years and death
In 1794, the writer tried to lay a mine in Ireland, but death prevented the implementation of these plans. The importance of Raspe for the further development of literature is great. In addition to inventing a character that has already become classic, almost anew (taking into account all the details of creating a fairy tale, which was mentioned above), Raspe drew the attention of his contemporaries to ancient German poetry. He was also one of the first to feel that the “Songs of Ossian” was a fake, although he did not deny their cultural significance.