Reflection of the biographical personality of Erich Kestner in the images of the main characters of his teenage detective novels

Statement of the problem. Within the framework of this article, the task is to consider the influence of the biographical personality of the German writer E. Kestner on the main characters of his teenage detective fiction, namely “Emil and Detectives”, “Button and Anton” and “Emil and Three Twins”. The object of consideration in the article is the typology of similarities between the personality of the German writer and the heroes of his teenage detectives, i.e., Emil Tischbein and Anton Gast. The purpose of this article is to study the detective teenage works by E. Kestner “Emil and Detectives”, “Button and Anton”, “Emil and Three Twins” from the point of view of the influence of the writer's personality on the images of the heroes of his stories (Emil Tischbain and Anton Gast). Methodology (materials and methods). The main method used in the article is the biographical method, which allows answering the question under the influence of what life situations and under the influence of what people the personality of E. Kestner was formed, who was able to convey many of its features to the main characters of his teenage detective stories. Research results. As a literary basis for modeling the biographical personality of E. Kestner, first of all, the autobiographical books of the writer “When I was a Child” and “My Mother on Earth and on Land” are taken, which are supplemented by such detective stories of the writer as “Emil and Detectives”, “Button and Anton” and “Emil and Three Twins”, written in 1929, 1931 and 1934, respectively. In addition, the article uses materials about the life of the writer, one of the apprentices of Erich Kestner, Werner Schneider [Schneyder, 1982]. Klaus Kordon and his unique work “Die Zeit ist kaputt” [Kordon, 2019], awarded the German Youth Literary Prize in 1995, will also provide a better insight into the life of the legendary German writer. Sven Hanuschek [Hanuschek, 2004] and Betina Kümmerling-Meibauer [Kümmerling-Meibauer, 2012], among others, together with discussions about the biography of E. Kestner and his difficult relationship with his mother, will supplement the materials of this article with their books. Conclusions. The conducted research allows us to conclude that E. Kestner's novels are, in essence, a retrospective image of the ideal childhood of the writer himself, in which he places his favorite literary heroes. And what is extremely important, Kestner's novels certainly have a happy ending, which E. Kestner himself could only dream of all his life.