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The harrowing and hilarious Adventures of a Simpleton is
unanimously acclaimed today as the greatest German novel of the
17th century. Set against the gristly background of the Thirty
Years' War, it is a vivid and realistic re-creation of an age,
evoked by an artless and earthy language new to German literature
at the time. Grimmelshausen's grotesque realism is the primary
literary testimony of the Thirty Years' War, and the human folly
implicit in it, by an errant soldier of fortune. Influenced by the
Spanish picaresque novel, the saga of Simplicius takes its hero
through wars, marriages, and travels that culminate on an uncharted
South Atlantic island. Walter Wallich, in this translation, aptly
captures the zest, the pageantry and the humour of the original. He
has also written a special postscript, with revealing sidelights on
Grimmelshausen, whose life corresponded in many ways to that of his
hero.
Grimmelshausen's enduring fame as Germany's greatest satirical
novelist has rested mainly on The Adventerous Simplicissimus, the
first of four novels comprising the Simplician cycle. Less well
known, though of equal interest for their penetrating and satiric
insight into seventeenth-century beliefs and superstitions, are the
two Simplician tales now made available to English readers in this
edition: Courage, The Adventuress, the fictional biography of a
camp follower in the Thirty Years War, a grimly humorous tale told
in the earthy language of the people; and The False Messiah,
comprising nine chapters from Grimmelshausen's last work, The
Enchanted Bird's Nest, Part II. The book includes an Introduction
with an account of Grimmelshausen's life, works, and philosophy, as
well as critical comment on the two works. Originally published in
1964. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand
technology to again make available previously out-of-print books
from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press.
These editions preserve the original texts of these important books
while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions.
The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase
access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of
books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in
1905.
Grimmelshausen's enduring fame as Germany's greatest satirical
novelist has rested mainly on The Adventerous Simplicissimus, the
first of four novels comprising the Simplician cycle. Less well
known, though of equal interest for their penetrating and satiric
insight into seventeenth-century beliefs and superstitions, are the
two Simplician tales now made available to English readers in this
edition: Courage, The Adventuress, the fictional biography of a
camp follower in the Thirty Years War, a grimly humorous tale told
in the earthy language of the people; and The False Messiah,
comprising nine chapters from Grimmelshausen's last work, The
Enchanted Bird's Nest, Part II. The book includes an Introduction
with an account of Grimmelshausen's life, works, and philosophy, as
well as critical comment on the two works. Originally published in
1964. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand
technology to again make available previously out-of-print books
from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press.
These editions preserve the original texts of these important books
while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions.
The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase
access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of
books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in
1905.
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