"Hanz Küchelgarten": what is this story about?

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

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is known to the overwhelming majority of the population as the author of Taras Bulba, Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, Viy and so on. However, few people know that he also wrote other, now almost forgotten works. One of them is the Hanz Küchelgarten.

Short biographical note

Nikolai Gogol was born on March 20, 1809 in the village of Velikie Sorochintsy and was named after St. Nicholas Dikansky - his mother believed that this would help the child survive (she gave birth many times, but the children were born weak and died quickly). He drew well since childhood, but he didn’t shine in school at all.

At the age of nineteen, he moved to St. Petersburg, where at first he worked as an official, and then served in the theater. He did not like either one or the other, and he decided to try himself in literature. The first work that brought success to the novice author was the story "The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala". In addition to writing novels and stories, Gogol was engaged in dramaturgy - he still loved the theater very much and wanted to somehow be connected with it.

In the middlethirties, the writer traveled a lot, it was abroad that he began work on the first volume of Dead Souls. Nikolai Gogol died on February 21, 1852.

Main compositions

From the famous works of Gogol, in addition to those already mentioned above, the following can be distinguished: “The Tale of how Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich”, “Inspector”, “Marriage”, “Overcoat”, “Nose”.

Among Gogol's works there is also a certain "Hanz Küchelgarten". However, rather, on the contrary, it is little known - it is not studied either in schools or in institutes. What this story (“Hanz Küchelgarten”) is about will be described above. It should be noted first that, strictly speaking, this work cannot be called a story, rather, it is a poem. Gogol himself described it as "a romantic idyll in verse."

"Hanz Küchelgarten" summary

As can be understood from the above, this work is a poetic one. Gogol broke it into several paintings. In addition to Hanz Kuchelgarten, there are several other heroes in it - his beloved Louise, with whom he has been friends since childhood, her parents, younger sister and grandparents, grandfather, moreover, is a pastor, a respected and revered person in the local village. It is the appearance of the pastor that opens this work. He is already old; sitting in an armchair in the fresh air, he either rejoices at a good warm morning, or he takes a nap.

The running granddaughter Louise seems anxious, she tells her grandfather that her "dear Gantz" has not been himself lately, something makes him sad, he is preoccupied with something. She is worrying,no matter how much he fell out of love with her, and asks his grandfather to talk with the young man. When the next picture begins from the face of Gantz, it becomes clear to the reader that he is passionate about reading. He raves about ancient Greece, its culture, its heroes. He is fascinated, it seems to him that there is "life", and here he has - like, vegetation. The further plot of "Hanz Kühelgarten" is simple and obvious - Gantz leaves, leaving a note for Louise and breaking her heart. He goes to his dream.

Two years later, a lot has changed in Gantz's native village - the old pastor, for example, is no longer alive, and his desire to attend his granddaughter's wedding did not come true. And the granddaughter herself, Louise, despite the elapsed time, is still waiting for her Ganz, no, no, yes, looking out the window. And he waits - Gantz returns home, tired and broken - he found in Athens not at all what he expected. Illusions collapsed, he realized that true happiness was always with him.

History of Creation

An interesting story of the creation of the poem "Hanz Küchelgarten" by Gogol. At first, by the way, it was not known that it belongs to the pen of Gogol - this became clear only after the death of the prose writer. Having written his “romantic idyll” at the age of eighteen (and according to some sources, at nineteen or twenty; the permissible years for the composition of the poem are, therefore, 1827-1829), the young man took it to the publisher Adolphe Plushard, saying that this work was his friend, V. Alova. Under such a pseudonym (and, of course, with my own last money and even borrowed from friends), the poem was published.

Gogol provided herwith a short preface, in which he indicated that this thing would never have seen the light of day, if not for circumstances "known only to the author." At that time, only two people knew that the “Hanz Küchelgarten” belonged not to some Alov, but to Gogol himself – the young man’s servant Yakim and one of his friends, with whom he shared the blood at that time.

Inspirations

It's no secret that many authors, writing their works, draw inspiration from the events of their own destiny. Sometimes they talk about something that has already happened to them or their acquaintances, sometimes, on the contrary, having composed some thing and identifying themselves with the hero, they strive to implement what is described in life. Something like this happened with Gogol.

After graduating from the gymnasium, Gogol left for St. Petersburg, which in his dreams seemed to him something majestic and sublime. He saw himself in this city in a halo of glory, with an excellent job that brings him happiness, with success in the literary field. He dreamed of what he did not have, but what seemed so easy to do - he just needed to get to this city of dreams. This is exactly what the hero of "Hanz Kuchelgarten" argued - by the way, Gogol had unthinkable hopes for this poem, believing that it would bring him both fame and honor.

In fact, everything turned out to be far from being as rosy as it seemed in the imagination. The impression of St. Petersburg remained dull: the city is dirty, gray, and life is expensive, and there is not even enough money for the theater, only for food. Temptations, beckoning with bright signs and shop windows,enough, but due to lack of money they were not available, which could not but plunge Gogol into despair. He was also unlucky with his career - the desired place worthy of him was never found.

In addition to life's troubles, it is obvious that the source that inspired Gogol to create his poem was Voss's idyll "Louise" - he even borrowed the name of the main character from there. In addition to the name of the girl, Gogol took from this work the image of a pastor and a description of rural life, which is so reminiscent of his pastoral. Nevertheless, one cannot speak of the exceptional influence of Foss's work on Gogol, if only because the former has features of a sentimental idyll, the latter also has them, but apart from them, one can also notice the influence of romanticism that came from Zhukovsky and Byron, whom Gogol undoubtedly revered. Also, researchers highlight in Gogol's poem something from Pushkin and his poetics - for example, Louise's dream obviously reminds of Tatiana's dream in Eugene Onegin. And there are many such references in the content of "Hanz Küchelgarten".

Why is Germany depicted in the poem? This is explained simply. Gogol's youth passed under the sign of the Germans - the novice writer was passionately fond of German literature and philosophy, was fond of the country itself and its inhabitants, and, as he himself admitted much later in one of his letters, perhaps he simply mixed love for art with people, creating a kind of romanticized ideal in his representation. German romantics excited Gogol's mind, he tried to write, adjusting to them, and, while still studying at the gymnasium, gained some fame as a poet among his comrades.

Features of the poem

The main idea of the work, clear even from the summary of Gogol's "Hanz Küchelgarten", is the danger of falling under the influence of one's imagination, being completely in its power. In other words, in rose-colored glasses. Gogol showed in his work (and himself felt in life) what such a situation can lead to.

Another feature of the poem is that the author himself called it an idyll, but at the same time it destroys all the canons of this genre. The classical idyll depicts happiness in full measure, while Gogol's idyll is filled with elegy, in which the end is inevitable - far from being happy. Subsequently, the destruction of the idyll will become one of the popular topics in literature, so we can assume that Gogol took the first step towards this in Hanz Küchelgarten.

Also, a significant difference between the poem and the subsequent works of the writer was that in it he described events that did not happen in reality, but which should have happened (he himself planned a trip to the West), and later, in his future stories and stories, Gogol already wrote, based solely on past everyday experience and observations.

Image of the main character

It is already obvious that Gogol identified his Ganz with himself. The author put his ideas and dreams, his plans and hopes into the head of the hero - this is easy to follow if you read Gogol's letters of this period, which he wrote to his mother and some friends.

A characteristic feature of the protagonist of "Hanz Küchelgarten" is the desire to say goodbye tohated philistine world, to express their abilities in something else. There is a hint of the Decembrists here - it is no coincidence that the name Ganz is so similar to the name of the participant in the December uprising - Wilhelm Kuchelbecker, who was a poet and friend of Pushkin. Just like the Decembrists, just like Gogol himself, Hanz Küchelgarten is defeated in his attempts and thoughts - everything turns out to be completely different than he imagined. Life plays a cruel joke with him, but if Wilhelm Küchelbecker and the rest of the Decembrists paid with their freedom, Gantz, like Gogol himself, had only to say goodbye to his illusions. However, in some ways this is also a lack of freedom.

It is also interesting the name of the main character - Ganz. In German, the word ganz means "the whole", "entirely" - the hero of Gogol's work also wants to "embrace the immensity", let the whole world into his life.

Reviews of contemporaries

"Hanz Küchelgarten" appeared in print in June 1829. The poem was available for sale for exactly one month. During this time, no one had much time to buy it, but three critical reviews for the work came out. Reviewers' opinions about the poem were unflattering: one wrote that it would be better for the author not to publish this work, for which there are many reasons; another noticed that the idyll had enough "incongruities", the third - that it was immature and thoughtless. All these reviews came out almost simultaneously, one after the other. Gogol carefully read each of them.

Gogol reaction

First of all, it must be said that Gogol was very afraid of criticism. This is what prompted him to release his work under a pseudonym -they say, if they laugh, then not at him. Of course, in his heart he expected something completely different - he hoped for an instant sale of the entire circulation and an approving opinion in the press. Expectations were not justified, and after reading the derogatory reviews, Gogol was so stung that he immediately bought all the "Hanz Küchelgarten" that he could get, and burned every copy in his hotel room, specially rented for this purpose. He was assisted by an old servant, Yakim. Only a few books were able to survive, thanks to which the poem was preserved.

About his failure, about the feeling of a complete catastrophe, Gogol wrote to his mother in the same month. There were also words that now “everything in the world is alien” to him. It was after this that he, suddenly and abruptly gathering, left for Germany - the country of his dreams. Probably, in order to check whether it really is such, or here it will fail. After Hanz Kuchelgarten, Gogol no longer wrote poetry, did not reprint the poem itself, and until the end of his life he never told anyone that V. Alov was him.

Interesting facts about Gogol

1. In the early thirties he met Alexander Pushkin.
2. He made a pilgrimage to the holy places in Jerusalem.
3. Never married; made an offer, but he was refused.
4. Afraid of thunderstorms.
5. He was very shy.
6. Didn't like my nose, thinking it was too long.
7. Loved Italian food.
8. The writer's work subsequently had a great influence on Mikhail Bulgakov.

"Hanz Kühelgarten" and the subsequent literary activity of Nikolai Gogol is a good example of the fact that, even despite some failures, even falling, you must always rise and go towards your goal. This is what Gogol did - and he made the right decision.