History of creation
The fairy tale “The Little Mermaid” was written in 1837 and was included in the collection “Fairy Tales Told for Children”. This is one of Andersen’s most popular fairy tales, based on which many cartoons and films have been shot. The little mermaid statue has become a symbol of Copenhagen.
History of creation
The fairy tale “The Tinderbox” was written by thirty-year-old Andersen in 1835. It was included in the first collection of fairy tales, entitled “Fairy Tales Told for Children,” published in the same year. Most of the tales of this collection are based on folklore. Such is the fairy tale “The Tinderbox”.
History of creation
The tale “Thumbelina” is one of Andersen’s most popular tales, published in 1853 in the book “Fairy Tales Told for Children”. Unlike many tales of the writer, this one is intended specifically for children, but this does not mean that there is no philosophical subtext in it.
History of creation
The tale “The Wild Swans” was written by 33-year-old Andersen in 1838 and was included in the collection “Fairy Tales Told for Children.” When creating the tale, Andersen relied on the tales of the Brothers Grimm and the Irish legend of a sister and two brothers turned by a stepmother into swans.
History of creation
The story “The Little Match Girl” was written in 1844 when Andersen was staying at Augustenborg Castle on the island of Als. It was a story composed as an accompaniment to an engraving by Johann Lundby. The sacred story was published in 1845.
History of creation
The tale “The Ugly Duckling” was written in 1843 by Andersen and published in the collection New Tales. Literary scholars believe that the tale is autobiographical. The ugly duckling is young Andersen, who had an extravagant appearance: he was thin and clumsy, so that many aroused pity and a desire to help. Three trials of the ugly duckling are associated with the three stages of Andersen’s life. In Odense’s hometown, his mother sent him to a Jewish school for poor children, where there were no corporal punishment, but the boy there felt like a stranger. Aviary – allegory of Copenhagen. There, the young ugly Andersen caused only ridicule, because he wanted to become an actor. He experienced the same ridicule in the prestigious schools of Slagels and Elsinore, where he was arranged at government expense by well-wishers. After all, Andersen was 6 years older than classmates, that is, big and awkward, like an ugly duckling. He was very upset by the rector’s attacks, just as the ugly duckling was afraid of a warlike Native American rooster in the poultry yard.
The novel “The Belly of Paris” was written by Emile Zola in 1873. In it, the French writer showed the tragedy of one person’s life and the natural course of life of a whole group of people connected by the same district of Paris – the Central Market. The novel became the third work in the literary cycle ” Rugon-Makkara”, consisting of twenty independent major stories. In the “Belly of Paris”, one of the main characters belongs to the Rugon-Makkarov family – the beautiful Lisa, the wife of the sausage owner Kenyu and daughter-in-law of Florent.
The work of the eminent French writer Emile Zola (1840 – 1902) was a transitional stage from the classical realism of Balzac to realism and naturalism of the 20th century. Zola, like the author of The Human Comedy, created a large series of social novels. In the early years, the writer began to think about the need for a broader study of society. This idea was realized by him in the series of novels “Rugon-Makkara”, on which the author worked from 1868 to 1893. Continue reading
First published in 1885, the Germinal novel became the thirteenth work in a row, forming the famous Zola cycle – Rugon-Makkara. Bearing the name of the seventh month of the French Republican calendar, introduced after the French Revolution, he talks about the growth of a new public consciousness (germinal from the Latin “germen” – sprout), rising from the depths of the earth. Germinal, like most of Zola’s works, offers a unique analysis of French reality, performed not just in realistic but in naturalistic details.
Established in 1877, “The Trap” was Zola’s seventh novel, part of the long literary cycle Rugon Makkara. The main character of the work – the Parisian laundress Gervaise McCar – became the foundation that allowed the writer to show almost the entire working class of the French capital and give a naturalistic analysis of his life.