Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Grade 5

The famous Baron Munchausen is not fiction. A man named Karl Friedrich Jerome Baron von Munchausen-Auf-Boddenser really existed. He belonged to the rich noble family, in his youth was in military service, participated in the Russian-Turkish war and the siege of Ochakov. Returning home after wanderings, Munchausen settled on his estate, received friends and gladly told them about his adventures. Sometimes he was extremely fond of and unrestrainedly fantasized. His implausible stories really liked the listeners and eventually began to live their lives, spreading in new details. In 1781, on the pages of the magazine “Collection for Merry People”, Munchausen first appeared as a literary character in the novels of an anonymous author. The German writer Rudolph Erich Razpe (1737-1794), interested in this composition, on his basis created his “evenings of Baron Munchausen”, who gained extraordinary popularity. Gottfried Augustus Burger (1747-1794) processed and complemented the book of the spread, releasing his own option under a different name.