“A Young Genius” (Reply to an Eighteen-Year-Old Youth)” H. Hesse: Creative Credo in the Epistolary Genre

   The article investigates one of Herman Hesse's letters and reveals the peculiarity of writer's views about the personality and destiny of the artist. The prose heritage of this author has been studied in a rather detailed way, but the attention of scientists has been devoted to his epistolary heritage to a lesser extent.

   The purpose of the study is to analyze the choice of the artist's way of life, to study the problem of creativity and the special giftedness of man, which leads to self-sacrifice, as understood by of H. Hesse.

   In this regard the authors conducted a comprehensive analysis of the letter “Young Genius” (Response to an eighteen-year-old boy)”. The methods of observation, contextual and comparative analysis and systematization of material are used in the work. Herman Hesse's letters were introduced into the context of literary and linguistic studies as documents of historical and autobiographical commentary, actual confirmation, correlation of philosophical postulates in works of fiction with confessional reflections in the letters to relatives, friends and other recipients. At the same time the epistolary genre, being so much in demand in the 20th century before the advent of “electronic” times, has its own value. It reveals the inner world of the artist, allows to hear his own voice, objective manifestations of his personality: expression of various ideas, emotions, states, tastes, frank assessments of his own and others’ actions. Moreover, the letters of great artists show the speech etiquette of a particular era, contain ethical principles, aesthetic preferences, recollections, reflect linguistic changes associated with age, and much more. The researchers paid special attention to the system of moral and artistic values of the writer, the peculiarities of his style in the epistolary genre. For the first time an attempt has been made to make a comparative analysis of the letters by H. Hesse and Leo Tolstoy, addressed to novice authors. Also points of contact in their views on creativity, ethical principles of the artist are revealed. The authors see the peculiarity of the manner of the writers’ reflections presentation in the form of a confession-sermon.

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