Friedrich Schiller. Spiritual. Karl Gross. Genius. Henry Tsshkuka. Abellino, great robber

Three novels of the end of the nineteenth century are published under one binding, and today interesting are that not only once aroused the excitement of readers throughout Europe, but also gave rise to many transfers, continuations and imitations, the echoes of which are still found. The novels unite a number of common motives: mysticism and its exposure, powerful secret societies, conspiracies, adventures, unexpected ups and downs associated with dressing and “recognition”, imaginary deaths and resurrection, exciting love conflicts. All three author, without exaggeration, created monuments to their era, catching the spirit of the time, entering the whimsical plot into the context of the global dilemmas of the century: evil and justice, rational and supernatural, weakness and strength of man. ) the great German poet and thinker Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805), the protagonist, who for a while, who has settled in Venice, becomes a victim of political intrigues and mysticals from the mysterious and harmless passes reminiscent of the great adventurers of the 18th century (Counts of Cagliostro and the Counts of Cagliostro de Saint-Germain).

“Genius” (1791-1795) by Karl Gross (1768-1847), a writer who composed his fate and invented masks, was clothed in the form of memoirs of a Spanish Marquis. The hero is experiencing dizzying adventures, including love, travels around the world, enters the network of a secret brotherhood, who intended to install a new world order by any means. Gross belongs to those who remained in the history of the “author of one novel”, but he managed to create a work that significantly influenced the European literary tradition. It was read by M. Shelly and J. Austin, and the latter even ran into a “genius” to a kind of Gothic “canon”, putting A. Radcliffe. , Swiss Heinrich Tsshkuk (1771-1848), conquered not only Western Europe, but also Russia. His novel “Abellino, the Great Robber” (1794), who came out anonymously and gained wide fame (after his translation into English, M.-G. Lewis, the author of the famous “monk”), tells of a noble robber that exposed an insidious conspiracy against the Venetian dozens.

All three stories interpret similar topics in different ways and invite the reader not only to enjoy the subtle development of characters (Schiller), a literary game with traditional genres (pastoral, Plutovsk Roman, Gothic novel, etc.-Gross), but also to plunge into the world of passions, heroes- "Superman" (Tsshkuka), outlining the birth of new genres-a detective and thriller.