Who wrote "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen"? Biography and career of Rudolf Erich Raspe

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

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, turn a wolf inside out, find half a horse that drinks tons of water and can't quench its thirst.

Familiar stories, isn't it? Everyone has heard of Baron Munchausen. Even people who are not very good with belles-lettres, thanks to the cinema, will be able to list a couple of fantastic stories about him on the fly. Another question: "Who wrote the fairy tale "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen"?" Alas, the name of Rudolf Raspe is not known to everyone. And is he the true creator of the character? Literary critics still find the strength to argue on this topic. However, first things first.

Who wrote the book "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen"?

Birth year of the futurewriter - 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 Göttingen. At first he was occupied with law, and then the natural sciences captured him. Thus, nothing indicated his future passion - philology, and did not foreshadow that he would be the one who wrote The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

Later years

After returning to his hometown, he chooses to work as a clerk, and then works as a secretary in the library. Raspe made his debut as a publisher in 1764, offering the world the works of Leibniz, which, by the way, were dedicated to the future prototype of the Adventures. Around the same time, he writes the novel "Hermin and Gunilda", becomes a professor and receives the post of caretaker of the antique cabinet. Travels around Westphalia in search of old manuscripts, and then rare items for a collection (alas, not his own). The latter was entrusted to Raspa, taking into account his solid authority and experience. And, as it turned out, in vain! The one who wrote The Adventures of Baron Munchausen was not a very we althy person, even poor, which forced him to commit a crime and sell part of the collection. However, Raspa managed to escape punishment, but it is difficult to say how this happened. They say that those who came to arrest the man listened and, fascinated by his gift for storytelling, allowed him to escape. This is not surprising,after all, 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 and vicissitudes associated with the publication of this fairy tale actually turn out to be no less interesting than the adventures of its protagonist. In 1781, in the Guide for Merry People, the first stories are found with a resilient and all-powerful old man. It was not known who wrote The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. The author saw fit to remain in the background. It was these stories that Raspe took as the basis for his own work, which was united by the figure of the narrator, had integrity and completeness (unlike the previous version). Fairy tales were written in English, and the situations in which the main character acted had a purely English flavor and were connected with the sea. The book itself was conceived as a kind of edification against lies.

Then the tale was translated into German (this was done by the poet Gottfried Burger), supplementing and changing the previous text. Moreover, the changes were so significant that in serious academic publications, two names appear in the list of those who wrote The Adventures of Baron Munchausen - Raspe and Burger.

Prototype

The resilient Baron had a real-life prototype. His name, like a literary character, was Munchausen. By the way, the problem of transferring this German surname remained unresolved. Korney Chukovsky introduced the Munchausen variant into use, however, in modern editions inthe hero's surname was entered with the letter "g".

The real baron, already at a venerable age, liked to talk about his hunting adventures in Russia. Listeners recalled that at such moments the narrator's face brightened up, he himself began to gesticulate, after which one could hear incredible stories 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 understood who was the prototype of these cute stories.

Last years and death

In 1794, the writer tries to build a mine in Ireland, but death prevented these plans from being realized. The significance of Raspe for the further development of literature is great. In addition to the invention of the character, which has already become a classic, almost anew (taking into account all the details of creating a fairy tale, which were mentioned above), Raspe drew the attention of his contemporaries to ancient Germanic 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.