Why is the old acquaintance Ulenspiegel important for fiction?
The thing is. that in this book several genres converged at once, hitherto considered categorically separate; and the compilation of such carefully calibrated cocktails still serves science fiction in good stead - and gradually gave rise to a completely special genre, mythopoetics. However, in Ulenspiegel only on a few pages one can discern glimpses of future mythopoetics (unsuccessful blows of flint on flint are heard much more often).
If Solovyov in "Nasreddin" merges picaresque folklore and travel novel (which already makes the plot non-trivial), then de Coster solves a much more serious problem, unfolding a giant panorama of real life in the background. historical events and historical images. Including, of course, collective ones.
We will not dwell on kings and counts - but how vividly the pugnacious lansknecht, who died of anger, is described! Or a drunken profos, reveling in his own power and impunity! Or a cowardly clerk who fears the abbot above all else in the world?
No, seriously - did many of us even know such words about reading Ulenspiegel - “landsknecht, profos, clerk”? With Ulenspiegel as our guide, we enter places modern man strange and unfamiliar. It is clear that gypsies, old cooks, cheerful (or evil) prostitutes, vicious slanderers and indifferent executioners have not changed. But the world of Ulenspiegel is still not quite the same as the world around us. Not even because the events described took place several centuries before us. It is also important that the author's point of view does not look at "then" from the same point as we do, because the novel is more than a hundred years old. There were far more topics that were considered "indecent" - but far fewer topics that were considered "too gloomy." Not everyone contemporary author dares to present to the public, even as the main reptile, a character who simultaneously crushes flies and masturbates. Or describe in detail the sequence in which different parts of the body of the protagonist's father burned out. And, at the same time, not a single erotic scene featuring the main character!
There are many such inconsistencies.
Another funny moment - in the Russian translation, the trickster, spiteful, side of Ulenspiegel's character is practically lost. Just look at the covers. Ulenspiegel is almost everywhere a gloomy folk fighter a la Jack Straw or Danko. But if you ask Google pictures about Ulenspiegel - we will get much more often grinning vile faces in jester's hats. Which interpretation is more correct - I do not presume to judge; perhaps the best thing to do is to combine them.
There are several interesting articles, unfortunately not translated into Russian, about de Coster's connections with Freemasons and the possible influence of Masonic mysteries on the construction of fantastic scenes in Ulenspiegel.
Again, I do not presume to judge how significant these ties were.
But those interested can see:
And for those who have not yet read Ulenspiegel ... What can I advise here ???!!!
Don't delay!!!
Score: 10
They have already begun to write reviews in a real and adult way, and they will continue, I’m sure - in an adult way - but I can’t do that, I’m sorry .. and at least a hundred thousand minuses for this review of mine, let them put it, but I’ll write it anyway , I can’t resist, because Til Ulenspiegel for my personal history is something especially personal and especially beloved ..
Dear people, parents at one time did not keep track of the fact that a nine-year-old child found this book on the shelves somewhere and grabbed it with tenacious paws (exactly after Walterscott's "Ivanhoe")) and ... and life froze for several days. Oops, it’s a joy for parents: the baby is busy, she doesn’t require too much attention, just kick her to go to sleep - and all the affairs in the field of education (so sprinkle ashes now .. you had to have all sorts of “difficult” and “dangerous” books for the current age in due time to take away .. didn’t keep track? yes? - which means that what has grown has grown)). For the period from about nine to about fourteen, the book turned out to be re-read fifteen times - there are adventurous picaresque adventures, and love, and history, and the horrors of the Inquisition. And in the cinema for the film "The Legend of Til" in some outlying cinemas of the "repeated film" I also had to go around, because love and passion for impressions - it's such a thing, it also requires "victims". It's funny to realize how "times" are changing at cosmic speeds: now you don't even need to wander anywhere - you can download and look at anything. And even now, if you google for the word "til", then the closest links will be "schweiger" and "lindemann" - oh, both are beautiful and loved in their own way, yes. But that former brightness of impressions and that excitement of chasing a dream already .. probably will never be repeated, and it’s a pity that it is so ..
Of course, I haven’t reread de Coster since those fourteen, somehow it didn’t work out. Therefore, the assessment is extremely subjective - this is, of course, the influence of nostalgia for children's feelings. Except perhaps in attempts to justify;) I can say - repeatedly later, reading some textbooks on history, or other much older books, or admiring the paintings of the Flemings / Dutch, I suddenly caught myself feeling “oh, yes, I’m all I know about it somewhere." Where? But as "phantoms" of memories, something from "Ulenspiegel .." erupted, not otherwise. It seems that the parents did not take away for nothing?;)
Score: 9
Flanders. Country you won't find on modern map peace. Due to certain historical circumstances, it suffered the same fate as the principality of Wallachia, the world-famous Vlad III, or the once great Prussia. Yes, it exists as a historical area located in the territories modern states Belgium and the Netherlands, but did he want this for main character the immortal work of Charles de Coster?
The events of the novel, which is rightfully considered a textbook for the Flemish part of Belgium, develop at the beginning of the 16th century. The age of the dark, terrible and terrifying. Wholesome, pragmatic and active people often tend to look with a sarcastic smirk at the most insignificant manifestations of modern religiosity. Religion, and any, seems to them something ridiculous and awkward, with its outdated dogmas, unable to keep pace with the modern progressive worldview. We are all horrified when the manifestation of religious fanaticism results in numerous public tortures, executions and massacres. But all this, somewhere far away, somewhere not with us and not about us, therefore, is unable to divert our attention for more time than the news block lasts.
The story of Thiel Ulenspiegel begins at the very heart of modern old Europe, but here you will not see the European values praised and honored today. Flanders, like most of Western Europe, are under the rule of the Spanish crown, during the reign of the Habsburg dynasty. The Spaniards, as zealous adherents of the Catholic branch of Christianity, with an iron hand hold the strictest religious principles in the territories subject to them. And to make the term “iron hand” more clear to you, you can type in a search engine such a thing as “Spanish boot”. Yes, modern religious extremists horrify the world with their cruelty, but rewinding history 5 centuries ago, their most bloody and sophisticated atrocities would have caused only a slight smirk from the representative of the holy Spanish Inquisition, for an overly soft and liberal approach to business.
Claes, the father of Ulenspiegel, due to his short-sightedness, was unnecessarily naive about that indulgence for 10,000 years bought from the representative catholic church. Starting to distribute, to whom for 10, and to whom even for 100 years of absolution of sins, he, without knowing it, brought on himself a terrible misfortune. What exactly was his fault? Vanity, pride, greed? No, just the usual innocence? But even this small one was enough for another “cleansing” fire. “The ashes of Klaas knock in my heart” is a phrase that many have heard, but not everyone knows under what circumstances it was born. Til will carry this phrase through his whole life, like a stigma that does not allow him to forget the bitterness of loss and extinguish the flame of righteous anger.
Born as a mockery of modern ignorance and obscurantism, he will remain true to his principles to the end. Which one exactly? To ridicule all the dirt, abomination and horrors of the world around. Til was not a hero in the conventional sense of the word. He is not Roland, who fought with whole hordes of Saracens, and not Beowulf, who single-handedly defeated the ferocious Grendel. His weapons are laughter, observation, a sharp mind and endless love of life. It's no joke to turn your back on the Pope himself and immediately come up with an excuse for such a daring act. To force a bunch of aristocrats to look at an empty canvas, admiring the play of light and shadow, the elegance of colors and the accuracy of portraiture. And how do you like the story with the hump appearing and disappearing? Truly, there is no end to Ulenspiegel's life force drawn from his native Earth.
Together with his friend Lamme, who went to look for his negligent wife, they will become participants in the events that changed the course of European history. The uprising in the Netherlands, led by William of Orange, really became a turning point in the history of Europe. It has been brewing for decades and was inevitable, like an avalanche, a flood or a forest fire. The Spanish crown, bogged down in senseless cruelty in the territory under its control, did not take into account the fact that the most persistent and strong patience ever ends. People were fed up with endless requisitions, executions and "checks" for belonging to the sorcery fraternity. Til and Lamme line up with the rebels. Here it seemed to him it would be time to grow up already, but no, he, as before, continues to joke and joke. The desire for justice brings him to the scaffold, where he meets his fate, which was somewhere nearby all the time, but only here became for Til a ray of inexhaustible hope. Alas, Flanders, unlike the Netherlands, well, was destined to become a free country, which does not beg for those exploits and achievements that befell Thiel and Lamme
Ulenspiegel was not a real historical figure. This is a collective image, sewn from numerous tavern tales and anecdotes that make up modern Flemish folklore. But this is not to say that all this is just a stupid fiction. Til was in everyone who died in the throes of "cleansing sins." He died, but laughed in the face of his executioners. After all, laughter is a weapon more terrible than a sword or a halberd. Just as the laughter of Tulkas frightened the formidable Melkor-Morgoth to shivering, so the laughter of the burning and dying sufferers secretly horrified the medieval inquisitors.
The ending of the novel is largely symbolic. Ulenspiegel cannot be killed, just as myth or legend cannot be killed. But any myth can be consigned to oblivion, "buried" under a pile of cheap tales and fables. But Thiel will live as long as de Coster's novel exists. And maybe someday the hour will come and Flanders will become a real state with its own anthem, constitution and coat of arms, on which the following lines will definitely be embroidered: “No one will be able to bury Ulenspiegel, the spirit of our mother Flanders, and Nele, her heart!”
Score: 10
As a child, the adapted "Til" made a great impression, now I read it in full version. As expected - "Rabelaisian", carnal fragments with the participation of whores, drunkenness and so on were stopped. The book deserves high marks - a saga that is rare in terms of drive and immediacy of presentation (taking into account that it was written at the beginning of the decline of romanticism). Like any epic, even more so the picaresque "Legend" is somewhat drawn out, with a simplified composition. It cannot be said that Lamme Gudzake is an original character. A fat man with a heart of gold who loves to eat is a constant inhabitant of world literature, and in De Coster he is practically secondary not even to Sancho, but to Goranflo from the Dumas series, in which there are gezes and which De Coster certainly read. A number of pathetic pieces (“Gezes are coming! Bloody Alba, etc.), inevitable in the heroic epic, are not very impressive, the first part is self-sufficient and better than the others. Most of the gags performed by Thiel are a retelling of medieval specimens and schwablios, a retelling of well-known medieval anecdotes and farcical scenes. De Coster added bitterness and burning flesh to the wanderings of the rogue, from which the book probably won and acquired originality. And one more thing: the book has little in common with the mannered, tortured film adaptation of the symbiosis between Bregueil and De Coster, which Alov and Naumov turned out to be.
Score: 8
There are many ways to learn bad...
Some learn bad things by starting to smoke from the third grade, running away from physics classes, shaking change out of first-graders, hanging out behind the school in the company of those who are already knee-deep in the sea, and the puddle is still not up to their ears, but everything is ahead. What exactly is ahead is not yet entirely clear, but the prosecutor will explain everything in detail later ...
Well-bred children learn bad things in good company. They take advantage of the fact that librarians and parents, these naive people, have recorded some authors in the category of children, and therefore they don’t particularly delve into what all sorts of Rabelais, Swifts and de Costers wrote there, especially since the vigilant publishing house Children’s Literature ”and so she reported about the presence of an abbreviated translation under the cover ...
And only you understand that there is the very translation that contains within itself the harsh truth of life...
And sooner or later you get this translation, rummaging through the shelves of bookcases and shelves...
And while your peers form a picture of the world, cracking seeds and testing the strength of the children's room of the police, officially approved Soviet power the author will introduce you to a world where there are whores, drunkenness and other delights of being an evil, but extremely likable dirty trickster, who suddenly becomes a folk hero without stopping from a beer mug...
In short, in my adolescence I was very much shaken by reading the Legend of Ulenspiegel. This same Thiel even for a couple of years was something like my favorite literary hero, as a result of which a significant number of people became the object of my very sarcastic jokes ...
And I would like to ask you not to classify Til Ulenspiegel with a host of good literary heroes. He's not good and not evil, and not even good and evil at the same time. He is such that he is ready to punish the villains in the most cruel way and thereby serve the forces of good, but at the same time he does not give life to the righteous so diligently that it is just right to suspect some demonic essence in him...
Here, someone called him a trickster. I don't like this term very much, but for lack of a better one, let it be a trickster. Let him be the one who brings an element of unpredictability into people's lives, who arranges a carnival in the midst of funeral procession, and in the middle of the carnival, it reminds of death and decay, who teaches us from time to time to laugh at ourselves and mourn our own stupidity ...
Score: 10
The "Legend of Ulenspiegel" hardly has anything to do with science fiction. It's more like a fairy tale. Funny and scary, sad and funny fairy tale for adults. And the main character, Til Ulenspiegel, is a kind of old Belgian Carlson (who is on the roof). The same badass. Having an absurd character and an extremely sharp tongue, this loafer reacts extremely sharply to the injustices committed against the common people.
The book is based on folk tales. And, just like real, unadapted fairy tales, this story is cruel, but has a clear moral message. For me, "Ulenspiegel" opened at one time the world of the Middle Ages of Western Europe, helped to understand the history European nations better than thick textbooks.
If you haven't read it, please read it. Just keep in mind that the book is already one and a half hundred years old - now they write it differently.
Yes, I also want to express my admiration for the excellent film adaptation of the book Soviet period- "The Legend of Til", 1976. The inimitable Alexander Alov and Vladimir Naumov very accurately conveyed the essence of the novel by cinematic means. And, of course, the performance of Lembit Ulfsak, Yevgeny Leonov, Natalya Belokhvostikova, and a number of other stars of Soviet cinema is incomparable.
Score: 10
The book, which is based on folk tales about a simpleton rogue, combines a very tough and accurate historical novel, poetic love line and outright mysticism. Abrupt changes in intonation: then I remember Flemish still life with the feast of the body, then Dore's illustrations for "Gargantua", then gloomy images from the paintings of Rembrandt and El Greco. In general, the whole story for me falls on familiar pictures, a very figurative style. Closest to the "Legend", in my opinion, "Nasreddin" Solovyov, but Koster is much more naturalistic and scarier. In adapted children's editions, "Legend" loses a lot, but I would not let children read it in its natural form, although I myself read it at the age of twelve and still disentangle my impressions. (I have the 1956 edition, with illustrations by Kibrik. I haven't seen the best since then)
Score: 9
I'm a man - that's my title of nobility.
I may be a legend, maybe a true story.
They used to call me Thiel
And still - I'm the same Til.
Once upon a time in Flanders, in Damme, when May was already blooming petals on the hawthorn bushes, the son of Til Ulenspiegel was born in the family of the coalman Klaas, for whom fate had prepared many adventures, funny and terrible. Or maybe it wasn't like that at all, who's to say now?
But the main thing is that he came to this World, which is not too kind to ordinary people. The world where they thunder terrible wars, religious intolerance reigns, blood flows like a river under the knife of villainy, hazy dawns with a dim beam illuminate the pavements littered with corpses, and in the squares one after another bonfires light up and people's lives serve as fuel for them. This world is ruled by cruel tyrants, for whom the groans and cries of men, women and children are the best music in the world.
But is it possible to defeat the human spirit with greed and cruelty? So he - Til Ulenspiegel - a merry fellow, a mischievous and a minstrel - will be too tough for kings and churchmen, scammers and just petty villains. You - smerds and nobles, ruled and ruling - will have to "look into this mirror of stupidities, absurdities and crimes of an entire era."
The book is full of contrasts. The gloomy atmosphere of deaths, executions and tortures is adjacent to the riot of nature and vital energy Til and his friends. And what is life without carnal pleasures, tasty food, good / and, sometimes, obscene / jokes, dances, songs, fairy tales and legends?
And these two worlds will constantly collide in the book: kind, honest and full of love Til, Nele and Lamme and their opponents - the insidious and cruel King Philip, scammers and greedy people.
“I am both a painter and a peasant, I am a nobleman, I am a sculptor. And I wander around the wide world, glorifying all that is good and beautiful, and laughing at stupidity until I drop. But often words against the villains are not enough, and then Til will have to take up arms.
An amazing book, a beautiful legend about the human spirit - Tila and folk soul- Nele, fidelity and kindness - to Lamme, who cannot be broken by terrible trials, about the eternal triumph of life and love. And if you like this story, then read Yevtushenko - "Till Ulenspiegel's Monologue".
I was burned, hanged and shot
Up on the rack, boiled in boiling water,
But remained the same minstrel
Walking light through the world.
Score: 10
A magnificent book, the only one in European literature worthy of standing next to a novel by Rabelais. It is hard to imagine that such a carnival composition could have been born in the prim nineteenth century. The book is funny and tragic at the same time, it describes the era when women's monasteries in full force turned into brothels, when peasants, having barely learned to read and write, began to read philosophical treatises, when theological disputes gathered more spectators than fair jesters. “The ashes of Klaas are knocking at my heart,” says Till, and immediately arranges pranks so obscene that you are amazed. All this was so in the sixteenth century, when Europe said goodbye to the Middle Ages, and Charles de Coster from his nineteenth century saw that truth and brought it to us.
Of course, the nineteenth century has left its mark on the pages of the novel. The story of a terrible werewolf, which in the era of Rabelais would have been filled with mysticism, is resolved quite realistically by Koster: a madman tore his victims with a waffle iron. Even more complex and ambiguous is the inserted scene, which describes the death of Emperor Charles. Charles the Fifth of Germany, aka Charles the First of Spain, was distinguished by an immoderate appetite and at the same time a defect in the lower jaw that did not allow him to chew. Charles de Coster describes how the devil drags the emperor to hell at the moment when he was sitting at the table and eating a sardine. Out of pity, the devil let him finish. Isn't it strange to see a devil full of pity? But the fact is that the image of a fish is one of the symbols of Christ (remember how many fish soar in the clouds in Bosch's paintings). The persecutor of Protestants, the pious Emperor Charles, gnaws Jesus Christ with his monstrous jaw, and the devil, so be it, allows him to complete what he started. Surely there are many more images and references in the novel that I have not noticed, but it is already clear that we have a very difficult book that requires a leisurely, thoughtful reading. One of best books which I happened to read.
3.041. Charles Theodore Henri de Coster, "The Legend of Ulenspiegel and Lamm Gudzak, of their valiant, funny and glorious deeds in Flanders and other lands"
Charles Theodore Henri de Coster
(1827-1879)
Belgian writer serving in the Brussels Royal Archives, author of two collections of folklore, travel essays, poetry, one drama and one psychological novel, Charles Theodore Henri de Coster (1827-1879) published La legende et les aventures heroi "ques, joyeuses et glorieuses d" UIenspiegel et de Lamme Goedzak au pays de Flandres et ailleurs, which glorified him - "The Legend of Ulenspiegel and Lamm Gudzak, about their valiant, amusing and glorious deeds in Flanders and other parts" in 1867.
At first unnoticed, the book later became the first Belgian "bestseller". De Coster, who spent his whole life in poverty and obscurity and died at the age of 51 from exhaustion "by labor, deprivation, worries, illness", is now famous all over the world, and his great novel-poem is rightly called the "Encyclopedia of Belgium". It was the "Legend of Ulenspiegel" that revived the legend genre in the writer's homeland and marked the beginning of national Belgian literature.
"The legend of Ulenspiegel and Lamm Gudzak, about their valiant, funny and glorious deeds in Flanders and other lands"
(1867)
With the name of Ulenspiegel, de Coster got used to even before he started his novel. In 1856-1864. On behalf of the hero of the liberal journal Ulenspiegel, under the pseudonym Karel, he wrote articles on the most important problems of the Belgian and international folk life.
famous hero medieval Dutch and German legends, Ulenspiegel, who first appeared in German folk book « Pleasant reading about Dil Ulenspiegel, born in the land of Bruncvik, how he spent his life ”(1511), later translated into more than 280 languages, was loved in all countries and in all ages.
The character's nickname, consisting of two words: "Ule" (owl) and "Spiegel" (mirror) - "Owl Mirror", was perceived as a wise mockery of human stupidity. Readers liked the image of a tramp, a rogue and a joker, who kept fooling the townspeople and peasants.
De Coster, taking as a basis a popular popular book, old songs, documents from the state archive of the times of the Dutch Revolution, combined historical facts with legends, interpreted them romantically and transferred them from the 14th century to the 16th century.
The novel was published on December 31, 1867, and half a century later, after the occupation of Belgium by German troops in 1914, the Belgians saw in Til Ulenspiegel not only a symbol of popular resistance to Spanish rule in Flanders during the Dutch Revolution, but also an outstanding fighter for national independence in general .
Til Ulenspiegel, the son of the coalman Claes and Soetkin, was banished from Flanders for three years for heretical statements, so that he would make a pilgrimage to Rome and receive absolution from the pope. After a series of adventures and forgiveness of sins, the young man returned home and did not find his father there, who, on the denunciation of a neighbor of the fishmonger Grapestuver, who coveted the money of a coal miner, was thrown into prison.
According to the verdict of the court, Klaas was burned at the stake. Soetkin sewed a handful of her husband's ashes into a bag, which Ulenspiegel hung around his neck. "The ashes of Klaas beat against my chest," he kept repeating. Fate was also cruel to Katlina, the mother of Til's girlfriend, Nele. The good sorceress Kathleen was accused of spoiling a neighbor's cow and was driven mad by torture. Her lover Damman, whom Kathleen jokingly called the "black demon", found out from her the place where Til and his mother hid their father's money, and stole them. Soetkin fell ill from grief and died.
Wishing to "save the land of Flanders" from the Spaniards, Thiel came to Catlina for advice. The sorceress occasionally had visions, in one of which she saw how the Mother of God raised the soul of Klaas to the highest of the mountain cloisters, and sent the soul of the cruel Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Charles V, under whose yoke Thiel's homeland languished for many years, sent to hell.
On the advice of Kathleen, Thiel drank the miraculous liquid and ended up at the spring festival of spirits. Having told the spirits that he wanted to save his land, Ulenspiegel in response heard that he must "in death, in blood, in devastation, in tears" look for the mysterious Seven (as it turned out later, human vices).
Together with his childhood friend, the good-natured fat glutton Lamme Gudzak, who was abandoned by his wife, Ulenspiegel went in search. “I am both a painter and a peasant, I am a nobleman, I am a sculptor,” he said. “And I wander around the wide world, praising all that is good and beautiful, and laughing at stupidity until I drop.”
At this time, the son of Charles, King Philip II, established the Spanish Inquisition in the Netherlands and himself viciously and dispassionately dealt with everyone who did not please him in any way, be it a cat, a monkey or his own wife and son. A popular uprising of the Gyozes broke out in the country, i.e. beggars. Thiel and Lamme joined them. Ulenspiegel raised the people against the executioners, recruited a soldier for the Prince of Orange the Silent, who led the uprising, he himself fought with the Spaniards.
“Wake up, Fleming, grab your ax without knowing pity: these are our joys. called Ulenspiegel. - Beat the enemy of the Spaniard and the Catholic wherever he comes across to you. Forget about your food."
When a werewolf, a murderous wolf, appeared in the vicinity of Damme, Ulenspiegel caught the monster. It turned out to be a Grapestuver. Rybnik was burnt at the stake by the verdict of the court. Got his "black demon" Damman. True, Kathleen also died because of him, and Nele was orphaned.
Til and Lamme began to serve on the ship of Admiral Dolgovyazy. Ulenspiegel became a skilled gunner and an excellent warrior. Having interceded for the monks who had surrendered, whom they promised to release, but did not release, Til almost landed on the gallows, from which Nele saved him, who publicly announced that she was taking Ulenspiegel as her husband - according to local customs, the accused was supposed to be released in this case.
After a series of failures of the Geuzes, Nele, Ulenspiegel and Lamme were captured, but they were soon released and Thiel was made the captain of the ship. His wife returned to Lamma, who had been appointed cook, and the couple went home.
The Estates General convened in The Hague deposed Philip II, and the Netherlands became free. Ulenspiegel and Nele, having smeared themselves with a magic potion, saw the Seven transformed into their own opposites.
Pride became Noble Pride, Avarice became Thrift, Anger became Vivacity, Gluttony became Appetite, Envy became Competition, Laziness became the Dream of poets and sages, Lust became Love. Waking up from the vision, Nele was horrified: her husband did not come to his senses. Til was buried, but he got up from the grave. “No one will be able to bury Ulenspiegel, the spirit of our Flanders, and Nele, her heart! Flanders can sleep too, but she will never die! Let's go, Nele!" - with these words, the eternally young Ulenspiegel, embracing the eternally young and beautiful Nele, left the novel for world literature.
Choosing an era national history, unique in its social lessons and analogies in the history of other peoples, de Coster made The Legend of Ulenspiegel "his" book in any country and among any people that has survived and is still experiencing the era of the struggle for national independence.
The best translation of the novel into Russian belongs to N.M. Lyubimov.
Based on the "Legend", the composer R. Strauss created in 1895. symphonic poem"Merry tricks of Thiel Ulenspiegel". The book has served as the basis for many film adaptations. Two deserve mention: "The Adventures of Til Ulenspiegel", filmed in 1956 by the Dutch film director J. Ivens together with J. Philip, and soviet film"The Legend of Til", created in 1974 by A. Alov and V. Naumov.
Charles de Coster "The Legend of Thiel Ulenspiegel"
1. CHARLES DE COSTER - THE GREAT WRITER OF BELGIUM 3
2. DIRECTIONS PRESENTED BY CHARLES DE COSTER IN HIS WORKS 5
3. SUMMARY OF THE NOVEL "THE LEGEND OF THIL ULENSPIEGEL" 9
4. GENRE OF THE NOVEL 13
5. FEATURES OF NOVEL 14
LIST OF USED SOURCES 16
1. CHARLES DE COSTER - THE GREAT WRITER OF BELGIUM
In the 19th century, the literature of Flanders split into two currents: representatives of one wrote in French, the second wrote in Dutch. The works of the representatives of the first current can be called typical Belgian literature, since the appearance of such literature would not have been possible in a monolingual country. Most famous work of this group - "The Legend of Thiel Ulenspiegel" written by the Flemish Charles de Coster. Now this book has been translated into many languages and has received the nickname "The Bible of Flanders". However, most of the French-language Flemish literature is now forgotten: the Walloons, and even more so the French, are not interested in it, and the Flemings do not read it due to the reduced level of knowledge of the French language (previously, when French was the only official language his knowledge was necessary; now the Dutch language is equal in rights with French). Representatives of the second group were mainly supporters of the emancipation of Flanders and were often nationalists. Most famous representative of this group is the poet Guido Geselle. He opposed not only the French language, but also the variant of the Dutch language adopted in the Netherlands. His poems are written in the West Flemish dialect, and are not always well understood by today's Flemings. Some famous Belgian poets: Guido Geselle (wrote in Flemish), Emile Verhaarn (Flemish, wrote in French), Maurice Maeterlinck (Fleming, wrote in French), Paul Van Ostyen (innovative poet, wrote in Dutch).
The biography of Charles de Coster is a topic for conversation not only about literature, but, for example, about the philosophy of fate. The great Belgian writer who laid the foundations of Belgian literature.
Charles de Coster - was born on August 20, 1827 in Munich in the family of the Bishop's manager. He studied at a spiritual college, worked in a bank for six years. In 1855 he graduated from the University of Brussels. Your first literary experiments de Coster brought to trial the members of the “Joyful Society” founded by him in 1847, and critical studies published in 1851-1852. in the Revue Nouvelle. For six years after graduating from the university, Charles de Coster collaborated in the weekly "Ulenspiegel", which was published by the famous artist F. Rops. On the pages of the magazine, he spoke in defense of the striking workers, denouncing the intrigues of Catholic reaction, demanding recognition of the rights of the Flemish people to self-government. In journalism, he demanded recognition of the right of the Flemish people to self-government, spoke sharply on social issues.
The most significant works of this period are Flemish Legends (1858) and Brabant Tales (1861). The Flemish Legends, de Coster's first truly original work, is written in the old French on the subjects of medieval legends. De Coster managed to revive old stories, create vivid pictures of folk life. The desire to comprehend the spirit historical era skillful use of style and language folk literature- it all came preparatory work to create the "Legend of Ulenspiegel". A preparatory role was also played by the collection Brabant Tales, in which de Coster recreates paintings modern manners, looking for an artistic ideal in the sphere of folk ideals.
2. DIRECTIONS REPRESENTED BY CHARLES DE COSTER IN HIS WORKS
In 1858 the first book of de Coster, the collection Flemish Legends, is published, in some moments anticipating the originality of the Legend of Ulenspiegel. The "Flemish legends" are marked by the influence of the romantic tradition, even more German than French. This is manifested both in the author's interest in the folklore heritage of his people, and in his penchant for depicting the supernatural, which, however, is comically reduced in the last of the legends of the collection "Smets Smee" about a resourceful, courageous and cheerful blacksmith who emerged victorious from martial arts with a horde of devils. . This legend dates back to the era of the Dutch revolution of the 16th century, and the blacksmith Smets Smee acts as a gueuz, an enemy of the Spanish king and the Catholic Church, which allows researchers to see in him the first sketch of the image of Ulenspiegel. "Flemish Legends" precedes the book about Ulenspiegel with a specific combination of Flemish themes and French, archaic in accordance with the plots of the collection.
The very appeal of de Coster to Ulenspiegel, the hero of the North German folk legends, was prepared by the circumstances of his biography: since 1856, de Coster has been actively collaborating in the democratic journal Ulenspiegel, speaking on behalf of this character with articles on acute problems of Belgian and international life, announcing the inevitability of new revolutions in Europe (“... in the air thunderstorm, uncertainty, revolution”). De Coster's journalism characterizes him as a fighter for the rights of the people, the oppressed classes of society against the ruling bourgeois Belgium, this, according to the well-known definition of Karl Marx, "a cozy ... small paradise of landowners, capitalists and priests."
On December 31, 1867, The Legend of the Heroic, Amusing, and Glorious Adventures of Ulenspiegel and Lamme Gudzak in Flanders and Other Countries is published. "Legend" is outstanding monument Western European romanticism, belated compared to the main wave romantic works, but being a new word in this direction. The significance of de Coster's work as the cornerstone of a new national literature is quite consistent with its romantic nature, since it is romanticism, with its heightened interest in the national past and national characteristics, including folk traditions, played an exceptional role in the development of the original literature of those countries where the formation of statehood was hampered by unfavorable historical conditions. However, the originality literary development Belgium was determined by the fact that de Coster's Legend, while retaining an undoubted connection with romanticism, is also a source of development of Belgian realism associated with folklore and the Renaissance tradition.
At the same time, the uniqueness of the work of de Coster and at the same time his contribution to the European, and ultimately world culture are determined by the fact that the subject of the image is not just an important era of national history (moreover, it turned out to be at the same time the heyday of the national artistic genius), but an era extremely significant in its social lessons and analogies in the history of other peoples. The heroic struggle of the people of Flanders for freedom, recreated by de Coster, which opened the era of European revolutions, was precisely the theme that naturally found in different countries Europe, a lively response from democratic-minded readers who acutely survived the collapse of hopes in 1848. This explains the almost instantaneous recognition outside Belgium of the book of de Coster, who emphasized the topicality of the "Legend" for his time in the "Foreword of the Owl": about those whom you call the executioners of your homeland, you exposed Charles the Fifth and Philip
The second to the pillory of history; you are not an owl, you are not prudent. Are you sure that there are no more Karls and Philipps in the world? And you are not afraid that vigilant censorship will dig out in the belly of your elephant a hint of famous contemporaries? .. "
The unambiguity of the romantic opposition of Good and Evil, which underlies the architectonics of the work (on the one hand, the Spanish-Catholic executioners, jailers, robbers of the people of Flanders and the noble, humane, generous Flemish Protestants, on the other), is not perceived as a simplification, and therefore, as a disadvantage books primarily because the Dutch Revolution, turned against foreign oppression, is one of the brightest historical examples fight for what is right.
This contrast between positive and bad guys held in "Legend" on different levels. It manifests itself in the parallel re-creation of the fates of two pairs of antagonists: this is the collier Klaas, the father of Til Ulenspiegel, and the Spanish emperor Charles the Fifth, but most importantly Til himself and the son of Charles, the Infante, and then Emperor Philip II. At the same time, in the first book "Legends", which tells about Til's childhood and youth, many neighboring chapters are built according to the principle of contrast: Philip burns the monkey - Til saves the little dog, etc.
The negative characters of the book are little differentiated, on the whole identical in their defining quality - the carriers of evil, and de Coster's main means of characterizing them is the depiction of their indifference to the suffering of their victims and even the sadistic enjoyment of this suffering, which is always described concretely, in cruel details, but invariably with mournful and angry pathos.
A common feature of the executioners in Koster's novel is also their greed: Emperor Charles, and after him Philip, receive the inheritance of the rich Flemish Protestants executed by them; the fishmonger who denounced Klaas does it for the sake of seven hundred silver coins hidden by the collier for a rainy day. In the image of de Coster, the bearers of evil often receive retribution already in this world: the fishmonger at the end of the book is exposed as a secret murderer and robber and dies a painful death; Philip is punished by the barrenness of his wife, who does not give him the expected heir.
The host of the forces of evil are opposed in the work by the forces of good, personified by the people of Flanders. The unnaturalness of the existence of the foreign executioners of Flanders and their henchmen, sowing poverty, suffering, death, contrasts with violence vitality, flowering and jubilation of the flesh, which distinguishes him in de Coster's image native land. It is no coincidence that in the "Legend" many scenes are devoted to the carnal pleasures that its heroes indulge in, whether they savor good beer, a chicken leg or feminine beauty, usually compared with appetizing food: “Ah,” he sighed (Ulenspiegel. - I.N.), “your skin is like cream, your hair is like a golden pheasant on a skewer, your lips are like cherries. Is there anyone in the world more delicious than you?
Such a statement may seem surprising. Our old nations, counting their age at fifteen centuries, find it difficult to accurately imagine their origin, and they believe that the origins of the people, like the origins of the Nile, are remote and mysterious.
Indeed, Ulenspiegel is an exceptional phenomenon. But its significance is undeniable. From the poem of Charles de Coster came Belgian literature. On December 31, 1867, the consciousness of the nation was born.
All the writers of the Belgian land unanimously agree on this.
“This is the first book in which our country found itself,” writes Verhaern. "It's a Flemish Bible," says Camille Lemonnier. “This is the book of the motherland... The wide Scheldt, carrying particles of the nation in its waters and originating in the centuries... This is the whole motherland... This is yesterday, this is tomorrow, this is our whole history...”
Maurice de Hombio writes:
“This is the first book in which the Belgians felt the taste and aroma of their land and their tribe. The first is created by the neutrality of the soul. With Charles de Coster, the existence of Belgian literature begins ... "
For this alone, The Legend of Ulenspiegel would deserve an honorable mention in the history of European literature. But it is much more, it is a great work of universal art.
The beginning of Belgian literature was laid by the hand of a master. The journalist, poor, unknown, has created almost before our eyes a monument that can compete with Don Quixote and Pantagruel.
Perhaps, the fate of the people is more involved in the creation of this epic than the will of one person. Or rather, the genius of this man is that he managed to become an instrument of people's destinies.
A simple chance brought him face to face with his future hero, with the one who later embodied the spirit of the people of Flanders. Ulenspiegel was the name of the newspaper edited and illustrated by Félicien Rops and where Charles de Coster spoke after graduation. For four years, the idea inherent in the very word "Ulenspiegel" matured, and the image of the dwarf "laughing at the top of its throat", which Rops painted in front of de Coster, took on flesh and human features, while his future singer was practicing, sorting through the keyboard of an archaic language (De Coster placed in Rops's "Ulenspiegel" a number of stories in archaic French (even more archaic than his future epic), which he later published under the title "Flemish Legends" and "Brabant stories".) - the future accompaniment to his epic. During these four years Ulenspiegel took possession of de Coster. They were left alone, eye to eye. It was a fierce struggle, "the struggle of creativity" (Words by Charles de Coster.). And when they embarked on this path, did Charles de Coster know where his genius would lead him? I don't think! How the “tomboy” (The word “tomboy” (espiegle) comes etymologically from the word “Ulenspiegel” (“Ulenspiegel”)) and his chronicler grew up along the way!
What is the starting point? Who is Ulenspiegel? Polichinel's brother, the Gothic Panurge, one of those heroes - vagabonds, gluttons, rogues, cowards, scoffers, libertines, pisuns, zhrunov, talkers and idle talkers, by creating which the oppressed people at all times satisfy not only their need for laughter and their primitive instincts , but also its mighty desire for independence; which relieves itself by noisily shitting on the heads of passers-by. Under the name of Ulenspiegel, he lived at two hearths: Germanic and Flanders. Two of his graves are known: one in Möln, near Lübeck, where he died about 1350; the other is at the foot of a huge tower at Damme, near Bruges; and both tombstones are inscribed with the same attributes: "Uylen Spiegel".
Owl and Mirror - Wisdom and Comedy. (We will see later what other, sharper meaning de Coster gave them.) His free jokes serve as if olla podrida - oil, on which they boil and boil in one cauldron spices and tallow, stolen from all the pots of Flanders and Wallonia, France and Germany, even Italy. For five or six centuries, people, having tasted them, lick their fingers. It was from this tavern that Richard Strauss picked up those fatty smells of gravy that give flavor to his musical poem Till Ulenspiegel.
But this Ulenspiegel, who, like the Roman Pascineau, was only an empty blabber, a master of all sorts of tricks, Charles de Coster made a man - “et homo factus est” (And a man is made (lat.)) - and appropriated it. Ulenspiegel is the Flemish Geuz, the son of Klaas, a skilled craftsman, a fighter for his people and their liberator, avenging the people with laughter, avenging the people with an ax. Here he is: you see his "sharp brown eyes", his mouth and nose, which "as if made by two foxes, who have studied the art of sculpting to the subtlety", his thinness, his unquenchable thirst, his wolf teeth, created to bite and to eat, his wonderful mood, his formidable joys, his windy head, stubborn skull, implacable forehead, where, like debts, every offense is recorded, right up to the day of reckoning, his incorruptibility, his cruelty. His homeland is Damme, in Flanders. His era is the century of the executioner Philip II and William the Silent. And yet he is the Flanders of all times. He is the banner of his people. He is the banner and emblem of his nation. Crimson to fall, scarlet to misfortune. Fangs and laughter - blood and sin.
First, the artist gropes between the traditional farce and the heroic romancero of the people marching towards freedom. From the very first twenty lines, he recreates the atmosphere, the Flemish spring, the sea haze pierced by the sun over the weary meadows. “In Flanders, in Damme, when May was already blooming petals on the hawthorn bushes, Claes had a son, Ulenspiegel ... Following that, dawn broke through the night clouds, swallows, chirping, flew low, low over the meadow ... Claes went up to Bruges canal, near the sea ... "
On the first ten pages it is drawn holy family glorious beggars: St. Joseph is the coal miner Klaas, broad-shouldered, black and laughing, Soetkin is a Madonna with full breasts, two “beautiful natural vessels”, to which the little Flemish Savior, Ulenspiegel, who was born in a shirt, greedily falls; and St. Anna is the midwife of Katlnia, a good sorceress; and little John the Baptist, Sancho Panso - quiet Lamme, round Lamme with his belly.
And, however, the master storyteller still hesitates: whether to tell him in his own way, whether to lead the song as it is sung itself, not learned in advance, not read in a book. He saw fit to stuff the first part of his "Legend" with raw pieces taken straight from an old farce that reeks of rancidity. These well-worn venerable facets are like a ghost that seeks its ruins and strays in a new home. These rags do not always fit the muscular and thin frame of the son of Klaas.
But little by little the Flemish fox, crossed with the wolf, remains alone as the master of the field. The poet creates his own farce; he no longer borrows it, and here the farce merges with the epic.
Then towards the end, when the bestial muzzle of our hero, which mocks and bites, was already poking everywhere - from Bruges to Rome, to all fairs and battles, peeping out among the pines and heather, full of life, eternally intoxicated, full of memories of glory, laughter and torment - the hero grows up. The individual becomes a type. The type is made a symbol; he no longer grows old, he no longer has flesh; and he says: "I have no body, I only have a spirit... The spirit of Flanders, the love of Flanders - we will never die."
On last pages books - he is the guardian of the Fan Tower, the midnighter of Flanders; he sees in the distance the sea, the shores, the meadows, the forests, the fortresses and castles, the free islands and the Gueuze ships equipped for battle, marching in succession, and the future of Belgium and the Netherlands; he predicts it. He is the spirit of the motherland. And he leaves the book, singing his tenth song, "but when he sang the last one, no one knows."
The work "The Legend of Ulenspiegel", created by the Belgian writer Charles de Coster, tells about life path Tilya, nicknamed Ulenspiegel, in a terrible time, when the Inquisition was judging all people in his native lands.
The boy was born in poor family on the same day as the Spanish King Philip II. Til became a brave, kind young man who would never reach into his pocket for a word. For his free statements, Til was expelled from his native area. During his absence, Nele's mother, the freethinker's girlfriend, suffered at the hands of the inquisitors.
The young man during his forced travels became a complete rogue. Thanks to his cunning and ingenuity, he returned to his native land. Here Til learned another sad news that his father was burned at the stake, and his mother died, unable to cope with the grief that fell on her. A fellow villager was responsible for the death of his father, with whom Til managed to get even.
The young man decided to punish those churchmen who mocked the common people. He asked the wise witch for advice. She sent Thiel and Nele to look for the Seven, without explaining who the seven strangers were or where they could be found. The travelers were joined by Lamme Gudzak, who dreamed of finding his wife.
At this time, an uprising against the inquisitors flares up in the country. Til and his travelers joined the disgruntled people. The young man participated in battles with the Spanish punishers. Gradually, Thiel became a skilled and brave soldier, but he did not lose his decency either. Once he stood up for the monks who were captured, although he did not like all the churchmen.
After a while, Til and Nele became husband and wife and left the rebels. They realized that the Seven they were ordered to find were mortal sins. And they can be turned into virtues. And Lamme was able to find his missing wife and reunite with her.
Once Til could not wake up, and his delighted enemies hurried to bury the troublemaker. But at the moment when the clergyman was reading the memorial service, the young man got up from the dug grave. Til, in front of the discouraged spectators, left with his wife.
You can use this text for reader's diary
Legend of Ulenspiegel. Picture for the story
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