Musical and literary works of Hoffmann. E.T.A's life path

hoffmann double world fairy tale romantic

As an artist and thinker, Hoffmann is successively connected with the Jena romantics, with their understanding of art as the only possible source world transformations. Hoffmann develops many of the ideas of F. Schlegel and Novalis, such as the doctrine of the universality of art, the concept of romantic irony and the synthesis of arts. Musician and composer, decorator and craftsman graphic drawing, the writer Hoffmann is close to the practical implementation of the idea of ​​art synthesis.

The work of Hoffmann in the development of German romanticism represents a stage of a more acute and tragic understanding of reality, the rejection of a number of illusions of the Jena romantics, and a revision of the relationship between the ideal and reality. V. Solovyov described the work of Hoffmann as follows:

“The essential character of Hoffmann’s poetry ... consists in the constant internal connection and mutual penetration of fantastic and real elements, and fantastic images, despite all their fancifulness, appear not as ghosts from another, alien world, but as another side of the same reality, the same real world in which the living faces act and suffer, which the poet draws. …IN fantasy stories Hoffmann all faces live double life, alternately speaking now in fantasy, then in real world. As a result of this, they, or rather, the poet - through them - feels free, not tied exclusively to one or the other area.

Hoffmann is sometimes called a romantic realist. Having appeared in literature later than both the older - "Jenian" and younger - "Heidelberg" romantics, he in his own way translated their views on the world and their artistic experience. The feeling of the duality of being, the painful discord between the ideal and reality pervades all his work, however, unlike most of his fellows, he never loses sight of earthly reality and, probably, could say about himself in the words of the early romantic Wackenroder: “... in spite of all the efforts of our spiritual wings, it is impossible to tear ourselves away from the earth: it forcibly draws us to itself, and we again plop down into the most vulgar human thicket. “Hoffman watched the “vulgar human thicket” very closely; not speculatively, but from his own bitter experience, he comprehended the full depth of the conflict between art and life, which especially worried the romantics. A multi-talented artist, with rare insight, he caught the real vices and contradictions of his time and captured them in the enduring creations of his imagination.

Hoffmann's hero tries to escape from the shackles of the world around him by means of irony, but, realizing the impotence of the romantic confrontation with real life, the writer himself laughs at his hero. Romantic irony in Hoffmann changes its direction, it, unlike the Yentsy, never creates illusions absolute freedom. Hoffmann focuses close attention on the personality of the artist, believing that he is the most free from selfish motives and petty worries.

Hoffmann spends his worldview in a long line of incomparable in his kind fantastic stories and fairy tales. In them, he skillfully mixes the miraculous of all ages and peoples with personal fiction, sometimes darkly painful, sometimes gracefully cheerful and mocking.

Hoffmann's works are a stage action, and Hoffmann himself is a director, a conductor, and a director of special effects. Actors play two or three roles in one and the same play. And behind one plot, at least two more are guessed. “There is an art to which the stories and short stories of Hoffmann are most close. This is the art of the theatre. Hoffmann is a writer with a vivid theatrical consciousness. Hoffmann's prose is almost always a kind of scenario secretly implemented. It seems that in their narrative works he still directs performances in Bamberg or retains his place at the conductor's stand in the Dresden and Leipzig performances of the Seconda group. He has the same disposition towards the script as towards an independent art form, as in Ludwig Tieck. Like the hermit Serapion, Hoffmann has a passion for spectacles that are perceived not by the physical eye, but by the mental one. He almost did not write texts for the stage, but his prose is a theater contemplated spiritually, a theater invisible and yet visible.” (N.Ya.Berkovsky).

In his time, German criticism did not have a very high opinion of Hoffmann; there they preferred romanticism, thoughtful and serious, without admixture of sarcasm and satire. Hoffmann was much more popular in other European countries and in North America; in Russia, Belinsky called him "one of the greatest German poets, a painter of the inner world", and Dostoevsky re-read the entire Hoffmann in Russian and in the original language.

The theme of duality in the work of Hoffmann

“It was Hoffmann who most poignantly embodied the words in the art of “Dvoeworld”; it is his identification mark. But Hoffmann is neither a fanatic nor a dogmatist of dual worlds; he is his analyst and dialectician…”

A. Karelsky

The problem of dual worlds is specific to romantic art. Dual worlds is a comparison and opposition of the real and imaginary worlds - the organizing, constructing principle of the romantic artistic and figurative model. Moreover, reality, the “prose of life”, with their utilitarianism and lack of spirituality, are regarded as an empty “appearance” unworthy of a person, opposing the true value world.

The phenomenon of duality is characteristic of Hoffmann's work, the motif of duality is embodied in many of his works. Hoffmann's duality is realized both at the level of splitting the world into real and ideal, which occurs as a result of the protest of the poetic soul against everyday life, reality, and at the level of splitting consciousness romantic hero, which in turn causes the appearance of a kind of twin. Here it must be said that this type of hero, with his dual consciousness, most likely reflects the consciousness of the author himself, and to some extent his heroes are his own doubles.

The duality is contained in the narrative as a whole. From the outside, these are just fairy tales, funny, entertaining, a little instructive. Moreover, if you do not think about philosophical sense, then morality is not even always clear, as when reading The Sandman. But as soon as we compare fairy tales with philosophy, we see the history of the human soul. And then the meaning increases a hundredfold. This is no longer a fairy tale, this is an incentive for decisive deeds and actions in life. By this Hoffmann inherits the old folk tales- in them, too, is always encrypted, the deep meaning is sealed.

Even time in Hoffmann's works is dual. There is the usual course of time, and there is the time of eternity. These two periods are closely related. And again, only those who are initiated into the secrets of the universe can see how eternity breaks through the veil of the daily measured course of time. I will give an excerpt from the work of Fedorov F.P. “Time and eternity in Hoffmann’s fairy tales and capriccios”: “... the history of the relationship between the student Anselm and the Paulmann family (“Golden Pot”) is earth history, moderately banal, moderately touching, moderately comic. But at the same time, as in short stories, there is a sphere of the higher, extrahuman, extrahistorical, there is a sphere of eternity. Eternity unexpectedly knocks on everyday life, unexpectedly reveals itself in everyday life, giving rise to a commotion in a sober rationalistic and positivist consciousness that does not believe in either God or the devil. The system of events, as a rule, takes its countdown from the moment of the invasion of eternity into the sphere of everyday history. Anselm, not getting along with things, knocks over a basket of apples and pies; depriving himself of the festive pleasures (coffee, double beer, music and contemplation of smart girls), he gives the merchant his skinny purse. But this comical incident turns into serious consequences. In the sharp, piercing voice of the merchant, who scolds the unlucky young man, there is such a sound that terrifies both Anselm and the walking townsfolk. The super-real looked into the real, or rather, the super-real found itself in the real. The earth, immersed in everyday life, in the vanity of vanities, in the game of limited interests, does not know the highest game - the game of cosmic forces, the game of eternity ... ”Eternity, according to Hoffmann, is also magic, a mysterious area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe universe where people who are satisfied with life do not want and are afraid to look townsfolk.

And, probably, one of the most important "two worlds" of Hoffmann's narratives is the two worlds of the author himself. As A. Karelsky wrote in his preface to the complete works of E.T.A. Hoffmann: “We have come to the most intimate and most simple secret of Hoffmann. It was not for nothing that he was haunted by the image of a double. He loved his Music to self-forgetfulness, to madness, loved Poetry, loved Fantasy, loved the Game - and he continually cheated on them with Life, with its many faces, with its bitter and joyful prose. Back in 1807, he wrote to his friend Gippel - as if justifying himself to himself for choosing not a poetic, but a legal field as his main field: “And most importantly, I believe that, due to the need to send, in addition to serving art, and civil service, I acquired a broader view of things and largely escaped the selfishness, by virtue of which professional artists, if I may say so, are so inedible.” Even in social life he couldn't be just one. He was like his "actors", performing different tasks, but with the same potential. The main reason for the duality of Hoffmann's works is that the duality tore apart, first of all, himself, it lived in his soul and manifested itself in everything.

THIS. Hoffman - German writer, who created several collections of short stories, two operas, a ballet and many small musical works. It was thanks to him that in Warsaw appeared Symphony Orchestra. The words are carved on his tombstone: "He was an equally outstanding lawyer, poet, musician and painter."

Hoffmann was born in 1776. in the city of Koenigsberg in a wealthy family. His father was a lawyer for the royal court. A few years after the birth of the boy, the parents divorced. Ernst stayed with his mother.

Hoffmann spent his childhood and youth in his grandmother's house. He grew up closed, often left to his own devices. Of the adult members of the family, only his aunt took care of him.

The boy loved to draw, played music for a long time. At the age of twelve, he was already playing freely on various musical instruments and even studied music theory. He received his basic education at a Lutheran school, and after graduating he entered the University of Koenigsberg, where he studied jurisprudence.

Having become a certified lawyer, he took the position of an assessor in the city of Poznan. However, he was soon fired due to a caricature he drew of his boss. The young man moves to Plock, where he also gets a job as an official. IN free time writes, draws and makes music, because he dreams of the glory of the composer.

In 1802 married, and in 1804. was transferred to Warsaw. After Napoleon's troops occupied the city, all Prussian officials were taken away. Hoffman was left without a livelihood. In 1808 he managed to get a job as a bandmaster in the theater. Gives private lessons. He tries his hand as a conductor, but this debut cannot be called successful.

In 1809 his work "Cavalier Gluck" is published. In 1813 Hoffmann receives an inheritance, and in 1814. he accepts an offer from the Prussian Ministry of Justice and moves to live in Berlin. There he visits literary salons, completes previously begun works and conceives new ones, in which the real world is often intertwined with the fantastic world.

Soon popularity comes to him, but for the sake of earning Hoffman continues to go to the service. Gradually become a regular in wine cellars, and when he returns home he sits down at the table and writes all night long. The addiction to wine does not affect the performance of the functions of an official, and he is even transferred to a place with a large salary.

In 1019 he is ill. He is being treated in Silesia, but the disease is progressing. Hoffmann can no longer write himself. However, even while lying in bed, he continues to create: under his dictation, the short story "Corner Window", the story "Enemy", etc. are recorded.

In 1822 the great writer has died. Buried in Berlin.

Biography 2

Amadeus Hoffman is an excellent writer, composer and talented artist who has written both many wonderful orchestral parts and a great many various paintings. The man is truly very versatile, with many different talents and interests, the results of which he happily shared with the world.

Amadeus was born, but at birth he was given the name Wilhelm, which he later changed, in Könisberg in 1776. However, in childhood, a misfortune happened to the boy - his parents decided to divorce, because they simply could not be together anymore, the boy was three years old at that time, and subsequently he was raised by his uncle. Since childhood, the boy was surrounded by love and care, because of which he grew up as a slightly boorish, selfish person, but no doubt talented in the field of painting and music. Combining these two branches of art, the young man has achieved a fairly good reputation in the circles of art historians and other high figures. On the instructions of his uncle, the young man decided to start studying law at a local university, and later, having brilliantly passed the exam, he was offered workplace in the city of Poznan, where his talent was received with cordiality. However, in this city, the young talent became addicted to revelry so early that, after several of his antics, they decided to send him to Polotsk, having previously scolded him and demoted him in office. There he meets his future wife, marries her, and begins to lead a more meaningful life.

However, due to the fact that the ways to earn money for young talent was not, his family was in poverty. He worked as a conductor, and also wrote articles about music in magazines that were not very popular. But during his poverty, he also opened a new direction in music, namely the celebrated romanticism, according to which, music is an expression of sensual emotionality. human soul, which, experiencing certain experiences, creates such a beautiful thing as music. This, in its own way, also brought him some popularity, after which he was noticed, and in 1816 he received a place in Berlin and became a counselor of justice, which gave him a consistently high income. And having lived his life like this, he died in 1822 in the city of Berlin from old age.

Hoffman Ernst Theodor Amadeus (1776 Königsberg - 1822 Berlin), German romantic writer, composer, musical critic, conductor, decorator. He combined subtle philosophical irony and bizarre fantasy, reaching the mystical grotesque, with a critical perception of reality, a satire on the German bourgeoisie and feudal absolutism. Brilliant fantasy, combined with a strict and transparent style, provided Hoffmann with a special place in German literature. The action of his works almost never took place in distant lands - as a rule, he placed his incredible heroes in an everyday setting. One of the founders of the romantic musical aesthetics and critics, the author of one of the first romantic operas, Ondine (1814). The poetic images of Hoffmann were implemented in his writings by P.I. Tchaikovsky (The Nutcracker). Son of an official. He studied law at the University of Königsberg. In Berlin was public service legal adviser. Hoffmann's short stories Cavalier Gluck (1809), Musical Sufferings of Johann Kreisler, Kapellmeister (1810), Don Giovanni (1813) were later included in the collection Fantasies in the Spirit of Callot. In the story "The Golden Pot" (1814), the world is presented, as it were, in two planes: real and fantastic. In the novel The Devil's Elixir (1815–1816), reality appears as an element of dark, supernatural forces. In The Amazing Sufferings of a Theater Director (1819), theatrical manners are depicted. His symbolic-fantastic story-tale "Little Tsakhes, nicknamed Zinnober" (1819) is clearly satirical. In Night Stories (parts 1–2, 1817), in the collection The Serapion Brothers, in Last Stories (1825), Hoffmann sometimes satirically, sometimes tragically draws the conflicts of life, romantically interpreting them as the eternal struggle of the bright and dark forces. The unfinished novel The Worldly Views of Cat Murr (1820–1822) is a satire on German philistinism and feudal-absolutist orders. The novel The Lord of the Fleas (1822) contains bold attacks against the police regime in Prussia. A vivid expression of Hoffmann's aesthetic views are his short stories "Cavalier Gluck", "Don Giovanni", the dialogue "Poet and Composer" (1813). In the short stories, as well as in the Fragments of the Biography of Johannes Kreisler, introduced into the novel The Worldly Views of Murr the Cat, Hoffmann created tragic image inspired musician Kreisler, rebelling against philistinism and doomed to suffering. Acquaintance with Hoffmann in Russia began in the 1920s. 19th century Hoffmann studied music with his uncle, then with the organist Chr. Podbelsky, later took composition lessons from I.F. Reichardt. Hoffmann organized a philharmonic society, a symphony orchestra in Warsaw, where he served as a state councilor. In 1807-1813 he worked as a conductor, composer and decorator in theaters in Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden. One of the founders of romantic musical aesthetics and criticism, Hoffmann already at an early stage in the development of romanticism in music formulated its essential tendencies and showed the tragic position of a romantic musician in society. He imagined music as a special world (“an unknown kingdom”), capable of revealing to a person the meaning of his feelings and passions, the nature of the mysterious and inexpressible. Hoffmann wrote about the essence of music, about musical compositions, about composers and performers. Hoffmann is the author of the first German. romantic opera Ondine (1813), opera Aurora (1812), symphonies, choirs, chamber compositions.

Hoffmann, a sharp realist satirist, opposes feudal reaction, philistine narrow-mindedness, stupidity and complacency of the German bourgeoisie. It was this quality that Heine highly appreciated in his work. The heroes of Hoffmann are modest and poor workers, most often intellectuals-raznochintsy, suffering from the stupidity, ignorance and cruelty of the environment.

Lecture 2. German romanticism. THIS. Hoffmann. Heine

1. general characteristics German romanticism.

2. The life path of E.T.A. Hoffmann. Characteristics of creativity. "The Life Philosophy of Murr the Cat", "The Golden Pot", "Mademoiselle de Scuderi".

3. Life and creative path of G. Heine.

4. "Book of Songs" - an outstanding phenomenon of German romanticism. Folk-song basis of verses.

General characteristics of German romanticism

The theoretical concept of romantic art was formed in the circle of German aesthetes and writers, who were also the authors of the first romantic works in Germany.

Romanticism in Germany went through 3 stages of development:

Stage 1 - early(Jena) - from 1795 to 1805 During this period, the aesthetic theory of German romanticism was developed and the works of F. Schlegel and Novalis were created. The founders of the school of Sienese romanticism were the Schlegel brothers - Friedrich and August Wilhelm. their house at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. became the center of young unrecognized talents. The circle of Jesuit romantics included: the poet and prose writer Novalis, the playwright Ludwig Tieck, the philosopher Fichte.

German romantics endowed their hero creative talent: a poet, musician, artist, with the power of his imagination, transformed the world, which only remotely resembled reality. Myth, fairy tale, legend, translation formed the basis of the art of the Sienese romantics. They idealized the distant past (the Middle Ages), which they tried to compare with modern social development.

The aesthetic system of the Sienese romantics was characterized by an attempt to move away from showing the real concrete historical reality and an appeal to the inner world of man.

It was the Jena romantics who were the first to make a significant contribution to the development of the theory of the novel and, from their subjective romantic positions, provided for its rapid flowering in literature XIX V.

Stage 2 - Heidelberg- from 1806 to 1815 The center of the romantic movement in this period was the university in Heidelberg, where they studied and then taught C. Brentano and L. A. Arnim, who played a leading role in the romantic movement at its second stage. The Heidelberg Romantics devoted themselves to the study and collection of German folklore. In their work, the feeling of the tragedy of being was intensified, there was little historical influence and was embodied in fantasy, a hostile personality.

The circle of the Heidelberg Romantics included well-known collectors German fairy tales Brothers Grimm. On different stages E.T.A. Hoffmann was close to them.

Stage 3 - late romanticism - from 1815 to 1848. The center of the romantic movement moved to the capital of Prussia - Berlin. The most fruitful period in the work of E.T.A. Hoffmann is connected with Berlin, Heine's first poetic book was immediately published. However, in the future, due to the wide spread of romanticism throughout Germany and beyond its borders, Berlin loses its leading role in the romantic movement, as a number of local schools arise, and most importantly, such bright individuals as Buchner and Heine appear, who become leaders in literary process the whole country.

The life path of E.T.A. Hoffmann. Characteristics of creativity. "The Life Philosophy of Murr the Cat", "The Golden Pot", "Mademoiselle de Scuderi".

(1776-1822). He lived a short life, full of tragedy: a difficult childhood without parents (they separated, and he was brought up by his grandmother), difficulties, until the very natural hunger, job disorder, illness.

Already with youthful years Hoffmann discovers the talent of a painter, but music becomes his main passion. He played many instruments, was not only a talented performer and conductor, but also the author of a number of musical works.

With the exception of a small handful of close friends, he was neither understood nor loved. Everywhere he caused a misunderstanding, gossip, rumors. Outwardly, he looked like a real eccentric: sharp movements, high shoulders, high and straight planted head, unruly hair, not exposed to the skill of a hairdresser, quick, bouncing gait. He spoke as if he were scribbling from a machine gun, and just as quickly fell silent. He surprised others with his behavior, but he was a very vulnerable person. There were even rumors in the city that he did not go out at night, afraid to meet the images of his fantasy, which, in his opinion, could materialize.

Born January 24, 1776 in the family of a Prussian royal lawyer in the city of Koenigsberg. He received three names at baptism - Ernest Theodor Wilhelm. The last of these, which remained throughout his official career as a Prussian lawyer, he replaced with the name Amadeus, after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whom he worshiped even before he decided to become a musician.

The father of the future writer was the lawyer Christoph Ludwig Hoffmann (1736-1797), his mother was his cousin Lovisa Albertina Derfer (1748-1796). Two years after the birth of Ernest, who was the second child in the family, the parents divorced. The two-year-old boy settled with Loviz's grandmother Sophia Derfer, to whom his mother returned after the divorce. The child was raised by Uncle Otto Wilhelm Derfer, a very demanding mentor. In his diary (1803) Hoffmann wrote: "Good God, why exactly in Berlin did my uncle have to die, and not..." and put a distinct ellipsis, which testified to the guy's hatred for the teacher.

Music was often heard in the Derfers' house, almost all family members played musical instruments. Hoffmann was very fond of music and was extremely musically gifted. At the age of 14, he became a student of the Königsber cathedral organist Christ-Tian Wilhelm Podbelsky.

Following family tradition, Hoffmann studied law at the University of Königsberg, graduating in 1798. After graduating from the university, he served as an official of the judicial department in various cities of Prussia. In 1806, after the defeat of Prussia, Hoffmann was left without a job, and therefore without a livelihood. He went to the city of Bamberg, where he served as bandmaster of the local opera house. In order to improve his financial situation, he became a music tutor for the children of wealthy philistines and wrote articles about musical life. Poverty was a constant companion of his life. All the experiences led to a nervous fever in Hoffmann. This was in 1807, and in the same year his two-year-old daughter died in the winter.

Already married (he married the daughter of the city clerk Mikhalin Ro-RES-Tishchinskaya on July 26, 1802) fell in love with his student Yulia Mark. tragic love musician and writer is reflected in many of his works. And in life, everything ended simply: his beloved was married to a man she did not love. Hoffmann was forced to leave Bamberg and serve as a conductor in Leipzig and Dresden.

At the beginning of 1813, things went better for him: he received a small inheritance and an offer to take the place of Kapellmeister in Dresden. At this time, Hoffmann was cheerful in spirit and even more cheerful than ever, collected his musical and poetic essays, wrote several new very successful things and prepared for publication a number of collections of his creative achievements. Among them is the story "The Golden Pot", which was a great success.

Soon Hoffmann was left without a job, and this time his friend Gippel helped him get settled in life. He got him a position at the justice ministry in Berlin, which, according to Hoffmann, was like "going back to prison." He performed his duties flawlessly. He spent all his free time in the wine cellar, where he always collected funny company. He returned home at night and sat down to write. The horrors created by his imagination sometimes brought fear to himself. Then he woke up his wife, who sat down at his desk with a stocking that she wove. He wrote quickly and a lot. Reading success came to him, but he did not succeed in obtaining material well-being, therefore he did not strive for this.

Meanwhile, a serious illness developed very quickly - progressive paralysis, which deprived him of the ability to move independently. Bedridden, he continued to dictate his stories. At 47, Hoffmann's strength was completely exhausted. He developed something like tuberculosis of the spinal cord. June 26, 1822 he died. On June 28, he was buried at the Third Cemetery of the Berlin Church of Johann of Jerusalem. The funeral procession was small. Among Hoffmann's conducted last way, was Heine. Death deprived the writer of exile. In 1819, he was appointed a member of the Special Investigation Commission "treacherous ties and other dangerous thoughts" and came to the defense of arrested progressives, even one of them was released. At the end of 1821 Hoffmann was introduced to the Supreme Court of Appeal Senate. He saw how, out of fear of revolutionary movement arrested innocent people and wrote the story "Lord of the Flies", directed against the Prussian police and its boss. The persecution of the sick writer began, the investigation, interrogations, which were stopped at the insistence of the doctors.

The inscription on his monument is very simple: "E.T.V. Hoffmann. Born in Koenigsberg in Prussia on January 24, 1776. He died in Berlin on June 25, 1822. The adviser to the court of appeal distinguished himself as a lawyer, as a poet, as a composer, as an artist. From his friends."

Admirers of Hoffmann's talent were Zhukovsky, Gogol, F. Dostoevsky. His ideas were reflected in the works of Soe Pushkin, M. Lermontov, Bulgakov, Aksakov. The influence of the writer was also tangible in the work of such prominent prose writers and poets as E. Poe and C. Baudelaire, O. Balzac and C. Dickens, Mann and F. Kafka.

February 15, 1809 was included in Hoffmann's biography as the date of his entry into fiction, because on this day his short story "Cavalier Gluck" was published. The first novella was dedicated to Christoph Willibald Gluck, the famous composer of the 18th century, who wrote more than a hundred operas and was a holder of the Order of the Golden Spur, which Mozart and Liszt had. The work describes the time when 20 years have passed since the death of the composer, and the narrator was present at a concert where the overture to the opera "Iphigenia in Aulis" was performed. The music sounded on its own, without an orchestra, it sounded the way the maestro wanted to hear it. Gluck appeared as an immortal creator of brilliant works.

Others appeared based on this work, all of them were combined into the collection "Fantasy in the manner of Callot". Jean Callot is french artist who lived 200 years earlier than Hoffmann. He was known for his grotesque drawings and etchings. main topic collection "Fantasy in the manner of Callot" - the theme of the artist and art. In the stories of this book, the image of the musician and composer Johann Kreisler appeared. Kreisler - talented musician with fantasy, who suffered from the meanness of the philistines around him (smug limited people with a petty-bourgeois worldview, predatory behavior). In the house of Roderlein, Kreisler is forced to teach two mediocre daughters. In the evening, the hosts and guests played cards, drank, which inflicted indescribable suffering on Kreisler. "Forcing" the music was sung solo, duet, chorus. The purpose of music is to provide a person with pleasant entertainment and distract from serious matters that brought bread and honor to the state. Therefore, from the point of view of this society, "artists, that is, persons, understandably through stupidity" devoted their lives to an unworthy cause, which served for recreation and entertainment, were "insignificant beings." The philistine world is in the end Kreisler's oats for madness. From this, Hoffmann concluded about the homelessness of art on earth and saw its goal in depriving a person of "earthly suffering, humiliation Everyday life". He criticized the bourgeois and noble society for the attitude to art, which has become the main criterion for evaluating people and public relations. Real people, other than artists, are people who are involved in great art truly love it. But such people are few and tragic fate awaited them.

The main theme of his work is the theme of the relationship between art and life. Already in the first novel essential role played a fantastic element. Through all the work of Hoffmann, two streams of fantasy passed. On the one hand - joyful, colorful, which gave pleasure to children and adults (children's tales "The Nutcracker", "Someone else's child", "Royal Bride"). Hoffmann's children's tales depicted the world as cozy and beautiful, filled with affectionate and kind people. On the other hand - fantasy of nightmares and horrors of all kinds, the madness of people ("Devil's Elixir", "Sandman", etc.).

The heroes of Hoffmann lived in 2 worlds of real-everyday and imaginary-fantastic.

With the division of the world into 2 spheres of being, the writer is closely connected with the division of all characters into 2 halves - philistines and enthusiasts. Philistines are soulless people who lived in reality and were quite happy with everything, they had no idea about the "higher worlds" and did not feel any need for them. According to the philistines, the vast majority of them, in fact, consisted of society. These are burghers, officials, businessmen, people of "red professions" who had profit, prosperity and firmly established concepts and values.

Enthusiasts lived in a different system. They had no power over them, the concepts and values ​​by which the life of the philistines passed. The existing reality caused them immediately, in its benefits they are indifferent, they lived according to spiritual interests and art. Writer

These are poets, artists, actors, musicians. And it's not tragic that the philistines pushed the enthusiasts out of real life.

In the history of Western European literature, Hoffmann became one of the founders of the short story genre. He returned this little epic form the authority she had during the Renaissance. All of the writer's early short stories were included in the collection "Fantasy in the manner of Callo". The central work was the short story "The Golden Pot". According to the genre, as the author himself determined, this is a fairy tale from modern times. Fabulous events took place in Dresden places familiar and familiar to the author. Along with the ordinary world of the inhabitants of this city, there was a secret world of magicians and sorcerers.

The hero of the tale is the student Anselm, surprisingly unlucky, he always got into some kind of trouble: the sandwich always fell butter down, he always tore or messed up the first time he put on a new dress and the like. He was helpless in everyday life. The hero allegedly lived in two worlds: in the inner world of his worries and dreams, and in the world of everyday life. Anselm believed in the existence of the unusual. By the will of the author's fantasy, he collided with the world of a fairy tale. "Anselm fell," the author says of him,

- In a dreamy apathy that made him insensitive to all kinds of manifestations of everyday life. He felt how in the depths of his being that unknown glimmered and caused him plaintive grief, which promises a person another, higher being.

But in order for the hero to take place as a romantic person, he had to go through many trials. Hoffmann the storyteller laid various traps for Anselm before he became happy with the blue-eyed Serpentina and carried her nose to a beautiful mansion.

Anselm is in love with the real and typical German philistinism Veronica, who clearly knew that love is "A good thing and necessary in youth." She could cry, and turn to a fortuneteller for help, so that by magic "dry dear" all the more she knew - he was predicted a good position, and there - a house and well-being. So, for Veronica, love fit into a single form that was understandable to her.

16-year-old limited Veronika dreamed of becoming an adviser, admiring in the window in an elegant attire in front of passers-by who would pay attention to her. To achieve her goal, she asked for help from her former nanny, an evil sorceress. But Anselm, once resting under an elder tree, met with golden-green snakes, the daughters of the archivist Lindhorst, and worked part-time by copying manuscripts. He fell in love with one of the snakes, it turned out to be the magical fairy-tale girl Serpentina. Anselm married her, as a legacy of youth they received a golden pot with a lily, which will bring them happiness. They settled in fairyland Atlantis. Veronica married the registrar Geerbrand, a narrow-minded prosaic official, similar to his worldview positions With girl. her dream came true: she lived in a beautiful house in the New Market, she had a hat of a new style, a new Turkish shawl, she had breakfast by the window, she gave orders to the servants. Anselm became a poet, lived in a fairyland. In the last paragraph, the author confirmed philosophical idea short stories: "Is Anselm's bliss Is nothing else than life in poetry, which reveals the sacred harmony of all things as the deepest of the mysteries of nature!". That is the realm of poetic fantasy in the world of art.

Anselm sadly foresaw the bitter truth, but did not realize it. By the end, he failed to understand the orderly world of Veronica, as something secret beckoned him. This is how fabulous creatures appeared (the powerful Salamander (spirit of fire)), the average street vendor Liza turned into a powerful sorceress, generated by the forces of evil, the beautiful Serpentina fascinated the student with singing. At the end of the tale, the characters returned to their usual form.

The struggle for the soul of Anselm, which was fought between Veronica, Serpentina and those forces that stood behind them, ended with the victory of Serpentina, which symbolized the victory of the poetic vocation of the hero.

E.T.A. Hoffmann possessed a remarkable skill as a storyteller. He wrote a large number of short stories included in the collections: "Night stories" (1817), "Serpion's brothers" (1819-1821), " Latest stories"(1825), which were already published after the death of the writer.

In 1819, Hoffmann's short story "Little Tsakhes, nicknamed Tsenno-ber" appeared, which is close in some motives to the fairy tale "The Golden Pot". But the story of Anselm is most likely a fantastic extravaganza, while "Little Tsakhes" is a social satire of the writer.

Hoffman also became the creator of the criminal genre. The short story "Mademoiselle Scuderi" is recognized as its ancestor. The writer built the story on the exposure of the mystery of the crime. He managed to give an evidence-based psychological justification to everything that happens.

The artistic manner and the main motives of Hoffmann's work are presented in the novel "The Life Philosophy of Cat Murr". This is one of the most outstanding works of the writer.

The main theme of the novel is the artist's conflict with reality. The world of fantasy has completely disappeared from the pages of the novel, with the exception of some minor details associated with the image of the master Abraham, and all the author's attention is focused on the real world, on the conflicts that took place in contemporary Germany.

Main character murr the cat- the antipode of Kreisler, his parody double, a parody of a romantic hero. dramatic destiny a real artist, musician Kreisler is contrasted with the being of the "enlightened" philistine Murr.

The entire cat-and-dog world in the novel is a satirical parody of German society: the aristocracy, officials, student groups, the police, etc.

Murr thought he outstanding personality, scientist, poet, philosopher, and therefore the chronicle of his life led "with the instruction of the cat's youth." But in reality, Murr was the personification "harmonious insolent", which is so hated by romantics.

Hoffmann tried to present in the novel the ideal of a harmonious social order, which was based on a general admiration for art. This is Kantsheim Abbey, where Kreisler sought refuge. It bears little resemblance to a monastery and rather resembled the Thele abbey of Rabelais. However, Hoffmann himself understood the unrealistic utopian nature of this idyll.

Although the novel is not completed (due to the illness and death of the writer), the reader understands the impasse and tragedy of the fate of the Kapellmeister, in whose image the writer recreated the irreconcilable conflict of a real artist with the existing social order.

Creative method of E.T.A. Hoffmann

o Romantic plan.

o Tendency towards a realistic manner.

o The dream is always dispelled before the burden of reality. The impotence of dreams evokes irony and humor.

o Hoffmann's humor is depicted in removable colors.

o The duality of the creative manner.

o Unresolved conflict between the hero and the outside world.

o The main character is a creative person (musician, artist, writer), who can reach the world of art, fairy tale fiction where he can realize himself and find refuge from the real routine.

o Conflict between the artist and society.

o Contradictions between the hero and his ideals, on the one hand, and reality, on the other.

o Irony - an essential component of Hoffmann's poetics - acquires a tragic sound and contains a combination of the tragic and the comic.

o Interweaving and interpenetration of a fabulous-fantastic plan with a real one.

o Contrasting the world of poetry and the world of ordinary prose.

o At the end of the 10s. 20th century - Strengthening social satire in his works, appeal to the phenomena of modern social and political life.

The fate of Hoffmann was tragic. The script was simple. A gifted raznochinets artist seeks to build new culture and thereby elevate the Motherland, and in return receives insults, need, reaching poverty, and abandonment.

Family

In Königsberg, the lawyer Ludwig Hoffmann and his cousin-wife, on a cold January day, have a son, Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann, born in 1776. After two years with a little, the parents will divorce because of the unbearably difficult nature of the mother. The three-year-old Theodore Hoffmann, whose biography begins with kinks, falls into the respectable burgher family of his uncle, a lawyer. But his teacher is no stranger to art, fantasy and mysticism.

From the age of six, the boy begins his studies at a reform school. At the age of seven he will acquire true friend Gottlieb Gippel, who will help Theodore in difficult times and remain faithful to him until his death. Hoffmann's musical and pictorial data appear early, and he is sent to study to the organist-composer Podbelsky and the artist Zeman.

University

Under the influence of his uncle, Ernst enters the law department of the Königsberg University. At this time, he teaches there, but his lectures do not attract the attention of such a person as Hoffmann. The biography says that all his aspirations are art (piano, painting, theater) and love.

A seventeen-year-old youth is deeply involved married woman who is nine years older than him. However, he graduated with honors educational institution. His love and relationship with a married woman is revealed, and in order to avoid scandal young man sent in 1796 to Glogau to his uncle.

Service

For some time he served in Glogau. But all the time he is busy with the transfer to Berlin, where he ends up in 1798. The young man passes the next exam and receives the title of assessor. But doing law out of necessity, Hoffmann, whose biography shows a deep passion for music, simultaneously studies the principles musical composition. At this time, he will write a play and will try to put it on stage. He is sent to serve in Poznań. There he will write another musical and dramatic performance, which will be staged in this small Polish town. But the gray everyday life does not satisfy the soul of the artist. As an outlet, he uses caricatures of the local society. Another scandal happens, after which Hoffmann is exiled to the provincial Plock.

After a while, Hoffmann finds his happiness. His biography changes due to his marriage to a quiet, benevolent, but far from the violent aspirations of her husband girl, Mikhalin, or Misha for short. She will patiently endure all the antics and hobbies of her husband, and the daughter born in wedlock will die at the age of two. In 1804, Hoffmann was transferred to Warsaw.

In the Polish capital

He serves to serve, but he devotes all his free time and thoughts to music. Here he writes another musical performance and changes his third name. This is how Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann appears. The biography speaks of admiration for the work of Mozart. Thoughts are occupied with music and painting. He paints the Mnishek Palace for the Musical Society and does not notice that Napoleon's troops have entered Warsaw. The service stops, there is nowhere to get money from. He sends his wife to Poznan, while he tries to get out to Vienna or Berlin.

Need and lack of money

But in the end, life leads Hoffmann to the town of Bamberg, where he receives the post of bandmaster. He also takes his wife there. This is where the idea of ​​the first story "Cavalier Glitch" arises. This period does not last long, but it is truly terrible. No money. The maestro even sells an old frock coat to eat. Hoffmann simply survives with music lessons in private homes. He dreamed of devoting his life to art, but as a result he deeply despaired, which, apparently, affected his health and too early death.

In 1809, the irrational story "Cavalier Gluck" was published, in which free personality the artist is opposed to a musty society. This is how literature enters the life of a creator. Always striving for music, Hoffmann, whose biography is full and multifaceted, will leave an indelible mark on another art form.

Berlin

After long and inconsistent, like any great artist, throwing, on the advice of a school friend Gippel, Hoffmann moved to Berlin and again "harnessed" to work in the field of the judiciary. He, in his own words, is again "in prison", which does not prevent him from being an excellent expert in law. By 1814, his works "The Golden Pot" and "Fantasy in the manner of Callot" were published.

Theodor Hoffmann (biography shows this) is recognized as a writer. He visits literary salons, where he is given signs of attention. But until the end of his life, he will retain an enthusiastic love for music and painting. By 1815, the need leaves his house. But he curses his own destiny as the fate of a lonely, small, crushed and weak person.

Prose of life and art

Ernst Hoffmann, whose biography continues very prosaically, still serves as a lawyer and compares his hated work with the meaningless, endless and bleak work of Sisyphus. An outlet is not only music and literature, but also a glass of wine. When he forgets himself behind a bottle in a tavern and then returns home, he has frightening fantasies that fall on paper.

But the Worldly Views of Cat Murr, who lives at his house in love and chole, become perfection. The hero of the novel Kreisler, the priest pure art”, changes the cities and principalities of the country in search of a corner where you can find harmony between society and the artist. Kreisler, whose autobiography is beyond doubt, dreams of raising a person from the colorless everyday life to the heights of the divine spirit, to higher spheres.

Completion of life

First, beloved cat Murr will die. In less than a year, the great romanticist who had already outlined a new realistic path in literature, Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, dies of paralysis at the age of 46. His biography is a path of searching for a way out of the "game of gloomy forces" to "crystal jets of poetry."