Die Rauber by E. T. A. Hoffmann as a New Reading of the Famous Drama by Friedrich Schiller

The problem of "recreating" the new space of a literary work as an "open" structure that determines the perception of an artistic phenomenon (a romantic "reading" of a classical masterpiece) is solved. The "multi-level" relationship between a literary work, author and reader on the material of E. T. A. Hoffmann's little-known novel Die Rauber [The Robbers] is analysed. It is proved that the "key signs" of the text, its elements and structures awaken the "productive activity" of the reader (the reader is the "ultimate point" of literary communication). It is claimed that the nature of "emotional" perception is due to the peculiarities of the text and the "receptive mood" of the reader. The "preliminary" information about the genre, the author's idea, and "coordinates" of the artistic space of the text designated by the plot set the cognitive and emotional orientation of the reader's reception. The literary analysis of the text, reinforced by the receptive-hermeneutic approach, revealed certain "mythological structures" designed for the reader's interactive participation in the joint "creation" of the new text content. The romantic hero is likened to the "cultural hero" of the myth: he undergoes the rite of initiation, faces immanent forces hostile to him. The text of the literary work is mythologized. The literary work as a "form" acquires purpose in the convergence of various heterogeneous products of "previous experience". It is concluded that Hoffmann's novel is a detailed genre transformation of a "drama for reading" into a "robbery" novel (popular in German literature at the time): the remade text has an organic form, a new "communicative idea" that enriches the content of the literary masterpiece. Thus, Hoffmann's skill lies in combining his own plot with the plot of the famous drama by Schiller; the mix of one artistic space with the other creates an intrigue in the narrative. It is emphasized that the original philosophical idea (the theme of romantic doom) increases the significance of the author's idea: Hoffmann's fantasies and reality merge into an inseparable whole of the new "universe of the text". Readers perceive the author's idea, motivated by the author's "hints", and reveal the semantic subtext (philosophical, symbolic) of the literary work while reading and interpreting it. Thus, the general context of perception of the analysed work is determined by the aesthetic paradigm of the romantic era and the creative principles of the artist (innovator and experimenter) and creates a kind of an "existential" subtext of this story.

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