"The punishment imposed by nature, or the Ghostliness of Everyday life in the image of E. T. A. Hoffman (based on the novel "The Sinister Guest")"

Il'chenko Natal'ya Mikhailovna Doctor of Philology Professor, the department of Russian and Foreign Philology, Kozma Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University 603002, Russia, g. Nizhnii Novgorod, ul. Ul'yanova, 1, kab. 406 ilchenko2005@mail.ru Other publications by this author

E. T. A. Hoffman's short story "The Sinister Guest" ("Der unheimliche Gast", 1819) is included in the fifth section of the cycle "The Serapion Brothers" ("Die Serapionsbr?der", 1819-1821). Created simultaneously with the novels "The Choice of the bride" ("Die Brautwahl"), "The Ghost Story" ("Eine Spukgeschichte", 1819), it tells about the connection of man with the secret forces of nature.  Together with "pure fantasy", real life serves as the material here: it talks about the Napoleonic wars, about the final defeat of Napoleon, the victorious return of Russian troops, which indicates the specific time of the novel's action. The "Serapion principle" about "fixing in life" the "foundation of the heavenly ladder" ^{[1, p. 208]} is strictly observed in the "Sinister Guest". A fantastic ghost story written by E. T. A. Hoffman turns into a reflection on "the punishment imposed by nature." The short story asks a rhetorical question: "Why has nature opposed the vassals of that mysterious kingdom with such hostility that they are able to inspire us only with fright" ^{[2, p. 211]}. Nature is called "the mother, from whose care and severity we, spoiled children, fled" ^{[2, p. 212]}.

E. T. A. Hoffman shows that the violation of the harmonious relationship between man and nature, the desire to penetrate beyond the bounds of what is permissible, into the "dark and unknown realm" and its secrets, leads to the appearance of ghosts, "scary visitors". "Without any doubt, the main feeling of Romanticism in life was that man, much more than he imagines, acts as a puppet on the wire of fate, which is the great secret of life" ^{[3, s. 608]}.

The action of the novel is read in late autumn, during bad weather, when rain and hail brings down its streams on the ground. The audience finds themselves involved in a fantastic situation that is difficult to explain. The author deliberately "stretches" the introduction preceding the appearance of the "sinister guest". Frightening sounds become a violation of the "harmony between man and nature". "Nature forcibly affects the sphere of feeling; the soul hears thousands of voices resounding in nature, and everyone calls her, and everyone calls the sensation sleeping in her" ^{[4, p. 77]}.

The young jurist Dagobert speaks of "the voice of the devil in Ceylon and in neighboring countries" ^{[2, p. 212]}; recalls a situation from his life about the influence of sound on a person as "creepy" if it is repeated at certain intervals ^{[2, p. 216-217]}; Captain Moritz von R. talks about the sounds accompanying the appearance of a ghost, which he witnessed ^{[2, pp. 218-221]}. The adjectives chosen by the author are "piercing sorrowful" ^{[2, p. 212]}, "plaintive", "mournful" ^{[2, p. 213]}, "terrible" ^{[2, p. 214]}, "strange" ^{[2, p. 216]}, "piercing", "extraordinary" ^{[2, p. 217]}, "terrifying, mournful", "heartbreaking" ^{[2, p. 221]} – inflate the atmosphere of horror. "The eerie voice of nature", "the plaintive moans of nature" ^{[2, pp. 212, 213]} are called the "otherworldly song" of the samovar and "amazing whistling, and crackling, and hissing in the fireplace" ^{[2, pp. 213, 214]}. All those gathered begin to anticipate the imminent intervention of the mysterious world in their daily lives.

A close friend of E. T. A. Hoffman, Y. E. Hitzig, said that the plausibility in the description of doppelgangers, ghosts is due to the fact that their creator "actually saw them in front of him, describing them" ^{[5, p. 278]}. Indeed, the scene of the appearance of the "sinister guest" and the impression made by him is so reliably presented that it seems the author himself saw a ghost: after a strong blow, a loud knock on the open door, "a man dressed from head to toe in all black, pale, with a firm, stern look" entered ^{[2, p. 223]}. Everyone present was depressed by his appearance. He caused fright and dislike in the colonel's wife, feelings of disgust and fear in Moritz, horror in Angelica, who felt contact with sinister forces that subordinate her to their influence.

The story of the "sinister guest" is told by Otmar, one of the "serapions". It is known that Y. E. Hitzig appears in this image. Usually such fantastic narratives belonged to Cyprian (A. von Chamisso), who, by the way, takes under the protection of the narrator of the short story "The Sinister Guest". Dialogues of friends-"serapions" - Otmar, Theodore, Cyprian, Lothar, Sylvester, Vicenza – illustrate the multidimensionality of the world, which "finds expression in the appearance of different speech carriers within one artistic whole, in the need to identify different semantic possibilities of the same life phenomenon" ^{[6, p. 53]}.

The story of a ghost who appeared with the aim of marrying the colonel's daughter and destroying the life of this family has its own backstory associated with punishment by nature. There is something in common between the "sinister guest" of this novel and the Count of Albany from the "Magnetizer": they bend innocent girls to their will with the intervention of a "hostile force". "The Serapion brothers", discussing the connection between these works, call the novel "The Sinister Guest" rhapsodic. Indeed, it consists of several fragments / stories, the kaleidoscopic change of which makes it possible to vividly demonstrate the intensity of the struggle between a person and a hostile beginning that breaks into his life. In this novel, unlike the "Magnetizer", the heroes were able to resist the world of spirits, and the ghost himself even repented of his actions related to the violation of natural laws. In a letter to his accomplice Margarita, he realizes: "Nature, a cruel mother, turning away from her spoiled children, throws a brilliant toy to the audacious spies who lifted her veil with a bold hand, which, seducing them, directs its destructive power against them" ^{[2, p. 250]}. Having penetrated into the secrets of nature, Count S-i "crossed mysterious forbidden circles", for which he was punished. The comparisons that the author uses when describing the ghost also have a natural character. The oppressive effect of Count C-i on others is compared to "pre-thunderstorm stuffiness", and his gaze is compared to "striking lightning" ^{[2, pp. 224, 226]}. A lightning strike is considered a symbol of terrible and destructive power. Angelica assures her father that the count's "ghostly hand" entangled her in a "fiery web"; his "creepy eyes" "pierced the soul" ^{[2, p. 232]}. The symbolism of the eyes correlates with the motif of lightning.  The count's gaze, flashing with "wild fire" ^{[2, p. 233]}, affects, first of all, Angelica; and in a dream he strikes her with a "fiery ray".

The theme of magnetism, which became the leading one in the novel "Magnetizer", is further developed in "The Sinister Guest".  Magnetic force, hostile to man, suppresses the will and brings misfortune. Angelica's fiance immediately felt threatened: "This unknown sinister count, who entered here like a dark, gloomy secret, and disturbed us all, does he not become between us like some kind of hostile force?" ^{[2, p. 226]}.

Angelica's terrible dream, which she saw on the eve of her fourteenth birthday, is connected with the magnetic influence. The girl cannot remember him, but "the horror frozen in me held me down for several more days in a row" ^{[2, p. 218]}. The dream "came to life" four years later, when Count S-i asked the colonel for her hand in marriage. This is a prophetic dream with its own plot: she remembers that she found herself in a beautiful garden under a tree similar to an elder tree: the count's eyes "appeared right in front of me, and a snow–white hand appeared circling me. And these circles narrowed from time to time, they entangled me with fiery threads, so that in the end I could no longer move in this dense web" ^{[2, pp. 230-231]}. "Fiery threads", "fiery web", "fiery ray" are associated with the motif of lightning as a destructive force. The symbolism of the web and the circle here appears in a negative meaning. The web correlates with the spider, which symbolizes "bloodlust (eats everything that gets into the web) and aggressiveness (always ready to grab prey caught in the net)"; in conjunction with the wheel and its center – "death and destruction" ^{[7, p. 317]}. The count with his "terrible eyes" correlates with the image of a "sorcerer spider, a werewolf" ^{[8, p. 64]}. However, the terrible dream ended with the promise of the young man to save her. Angelica recognized Moritz in the young man.

The plot of the "Sinister Guest" and the "Magnetizer" are similar: the acquaintance of the head of the family with the owner of supernatural power, his appearance after a while in order to subdue a beautiful innocent girl, her death on the wedding day. Russian General S-yong says that Count S-i once took his bride away from him "with the help of satanic art": "On the very day when she was supposed to marry him, she was struck down by a nervous stroke" ^{[2, p. 248]}. Such a fate awaited Angelica. After the news of Moritz's death, the girl unexpectedly agrees to become the count's wife. "A strange voice keeps telling me that I must unite with him by marital ties, that otherwise there will be no life for me in this world" ^{[2, p. 239]}. The "fire web" broke when the count died and the wedding did not take place. Angelica didn't die, she just fell into a magnetic sleep. The comparisons used by E. T. A. Hoffman to describe the liberation/rebirth of a girl are also connected with the natural world: "fresh, brighter than ever, roses bloomed on her cheeks" ^{[2, p. 241]}. Although this is a romantic cliche, but it (as well as the comparison of the happy couple Angelica and Moritz with a "bright, luxuriantly blooming wreath" ^{[2, p. 234]}) contrasts with thunderstorms and lightning, which are used when describing the "sinister guest".

The author chooses elderberry as the leitmotif image of the plant world "with dark leaves and large, oddly smelling flowers" ^{[2, p. 230]}. In the novel, elderberry performs a double function in relation to Angelica. On the one hand, it is a "cursed, unclean and dangerous plant", "its leaves and berries emit a cadaverous smell"; under this tree "during divination, one could see a betrothed" ^{[9, pp. 57, 58]}. On the other hand, elder branches were "used as a universal talisman" ^{[9, p. 58]}. The girl was forced by an "invisible attractive force" to sit down under a tree, from the bushes of which the eyes of a terrible count, acting as a betrothed, are watching her. However, the tree protects Angelica when she hears the voice of her protector Moritz. Interestingly, in the translation edited by Z.A. Vershinina, lilac is described instead of elderberry "with dark leaves and large, beautifully smelling flowers similar to lilac" ^{[10, p. 266]}. The original text still says about elderberry: "Plutzlich stand ich vor einem wunderbaren Baum mit dunklen Bl?ttern und gro?en, seltsam duftenden Bl?ten, beinahe dem Holunder ?hnlich" ^{[11, s.600]}. A dead count was found near this tree. In a letter addressed to Margarita, he, awaiting punishment for his crimes, writes: "I'm going to die alone. When this moment comes, I will go to this wonderful tree, in the shade of which I have often told you about the wonderful secrets that were subject to me" ^{[2, p. 250]}. The elder tree, considered a "magic tree", is a place of contact with the "other" world ^{[12, pp. 29-30]}. The hero of the "Golden Pot", the dreamer Anselm, begins to communicate with the "other" world, too, "on the grass under the elderberry tree", its "flowers seemed to ring like crystal bells" and the "intoxicating speech" of three snakes was heard ^{[13, p. 85]}.

The colonel and the count's valet find him under an elder tree: "all in black, with a sparkling order star on his chest, the count was sitting on a turf bench, leaning his back against the trunk of a flowering elder tree" ^{[2, p. 241]}. Translated under the editorship of Z. A. Vershinina – "the head is leaning against the thick trunk of a blooming lilac" ^{[10, p. 276]}. Close, spicy, aromas are associated with elderberry and lilac during flowering. Perhaps that is why elderberry was replaced by lilac in translation, since "smells and aromas as an extremely elastic cultural model receive a new symbolic content each time, depending on the requirements of the moment" ^{[14, p. 13]}.

The symbols used by E. T. A. Hoffman are sometimes based on his own memories and visions. So, in July 1819, he and his wife were in Warmbrunn. In a letter to his childhood friend T. von Hippel, he recalls how he was sitting on a bench near the gallery under a "beautiful big tree" and heard a "strange, deaf voice." From a passing mountaineer, E. T. A. Hoffman learned that it was "the sonorous voice of Rubetzal, coming from the direction of Schneegruben" ^{[15, p. 287]}. The fairy-tale creature enters into a dialogue with the writer, because the recommendations and reviews of the "archivist Lindhorst" and "friend K?leborn" are important for him ^{[15, p. 288]}. Images located on the other side of reality, testifying to the ghostliness and openness of everyday life, accompanied E. T. A. Hoffman in life.

When discussing a fantastic story about a "sinister guest, allegedly told by "Serapion" Otmar, Cyprian (a lover of demonic themes) defends the narrator: "Know this: recently, here, very close to us, an event similar to the content of the "Sinister Guest" occurred ... with his appearance, this stranger upset not only a pleasant evening, but in in the future, there will also be peace and happiness for many years" ^{[2, p. 253]}.

The verisimilitude and persuasiveness of the narrative in the "Sinister Guest" are given by references to historical events, the participants of which are the actors of the drama being played out. Captain von R. tells about the "Battle of Vitoria" and about his friendship with a Russian colonel who told him a "terrible secret": many years ago his marriage to a beautiful Neapolitan woman was destroyed by a Sicilian count, whom he challenged to a duel. He sometimes heard the "dull death moan" of the murdered man at night and plunged him into a state of horror.

The Russian theme is often heard in the works of E. T. A. Hoffman. Russian Russian short stories "Vision", "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", "The Entail", etc. include "Russian material" ^[16]. E.T.A. Hoffman, whose childhood and youth were spent in Konigsberg in the last third of the XVIII century and the good memory of the Russians' stay here during the Seven Years' War was still alive, always he speaks positively about Russia and its people ^[17].

The novel "The Ominous Guest" talks about the resumption of the war "after a short lull", about the conclusion of peace and the return of "most of the troops" "to their apartments" ^{[2, pp. 236, 247]}. In a letter to Fr. To Speyer (July 18, 1815), the writer reported his joy: "What days it was when the first news of the victory came, and then of the surrender of Paris, you cannot imagine" ^{[18, p. 240]}. He recalls the Russian General A.I. Chernyshev, who commanded a cavalry detachment during the campaign. In The Sinister Guest, Bogislav, the Russian general With-en, rescues Moritz from the "home captivity" of Chevalier T., where he, like Angelica, was bound by "mysterious fetters" ^{[2, p. 247]}. The function of the "magnetizer" here is performed by a portrait of Margarita. "My own self was as if alienated from me, some alien force commanded my being, and in the deep horror that seized me, it seemed to me that I could not leave Margarita" ^{[2, p. 246]}. The motive of rejected love is connected with Margarita. In order to win Moritz, she turns to Count S-i for help, who performs a mysterious ritual over her. Another portrait in the novel is associated with Bogislav's unfaithful lover. He cannot part with it and wears it on his chest. When the bullet hit this portrait and broke it, Bogislav got rid of the "sinister beginning" and "destructive interference". The terrible Count also first fell in love with Angelica's portrait. It is significant that this happened in P., "in the far north." In Germany, Russia and its capital was traditionally seen as the "land of the North".

The "sinister guest" subordinated to his influence the families in which there were beautiful girls, first in Italy, then in Germany. E. T. A. Hoffman, like the authors of Gothic works, makes the hero-villain an Italian enslaving the "innocent girl" victim.  In the novel "The Sinister Guest", the colonel's family and people close to them win. Dagobert explains that the count "was connected with Chevalier T. and belonged to that invisible school, which in France and Italy has separate adherents and which, as they say, came out of the old P-school" ^{[2, p. 251]}. The count himself confirms that he was defeated in competition with Nature: "All my science is powerless ... he crossed the most mysterious forbidden circles, undertook operations, which he often feared himself" ^{[2, p. 250]}.

E. T. A. Hoffman often returns to the same situation - a state when a person is seized by a premonition of some terrible or happy events. We can talk about a kind of "verbal magic": the repetition of the same words, expressions that create a picture of the illusory nature of life. The colonel, who compared ghost stories with her grandmother's fairy tales, is forced to admit that she had to face "unspeakable fear": "I could not leave the feeling that the wedding ring was sacrificing my beloved child to sinister forces" ^{[2, p. 244]}. She draws her conclusion about the existence of ghostliness in everyday life when she says that "I have to believe in such things, which my whole being opposes" ^{[2, p. 250]}.

The ghost story in The Sinister Guest, unlike The Magnetizer, ended well; the colonel's family was not destroyed, they were saved by love – and not only  Angelica and Moritz. The motif of "affinity of souls" also relates to the friendly affection of Captain von R. and Dagobert ("The Spirit that clearly broadcasts to us in a dream from the depths of our being told me that Moritz is alive" ^{[2, p. 247]}), Captain von R. and the Russian lieutenant colonel / general (the acquaintance "soon grew into the closest friendship" ^{[2, p. 219]}).  Friendship is not inferior to love in the strength of feeling. Such a strong friendship connected the writer himself with T. von Hippel and Y. E. Hitzig.  Thanks to friendship and love, the participants in this dramatic situation were saved: "only through love and the consciousness of love does a person become completely and everywhere human and imbued with humanity" ^{[19, p. 391]}.

E. T. A. Hoffman uses a ring composition to emphasize a happy ending. The action of the novel ends, as well as the beginning, with the whistling of voices in the chimney, "awakened from hibernation by the storm": only now "strange sounds of the autumn wind" speak of love, and "the whistling, chirping and hissing of the samovar" tunes "to a lovely lullaby song" ^{[2, p. 252]}.

The narrator of the story about the "sinister guest" referred to the tales of the "Thousand and One Nights" as "vital and true." Moreover, the author emphasized that "life as such does not depend on the epoch and mores, but in its deep conditioning remains, and should remain, eternal and unchangeable" ^{[2, p. 209]}.

The so-called Hoffmann's "alien spiritual principle" that interferes with people's lives has received a diverse embodiment in his work. In the novel "The Sinister Guest", unlike other works where ghosts / ghosts acted, he showed his punishment by Nature. Although the heroes of the novel, whose lives could have been destroyed, manage to avoid the effects of destructive force, the author convincingly carries out the idea that the violation of the harmonious unity of Nature and spirit can lead to the most tragic consequences.

The use of the motifs of prophetic dream, dream-memory, mystery, sound, portrait, etc., natural symbols of lightning / thunder, fire, elder, etc. emphasized the ghostliness of everyday life and the features of Hoffmann's understanding of the duality of being.