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Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen (1621/22 – 17 August 1676) was a German author. He is best known for his 1669 picaresque novel '' Simplicius Simplicissimus'' (german: link=no, Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus) and the accompanying ''Simplician Scriptures'' series.


Early life

Grimmelshausen was born at
Gelnhausen Gelnhausen () is a town, and the capital of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approximately 40 kilometers east of Frankfurt am Main, between the Vogelsberg mountains and the Spessart range at the river Kinzig. It is one of ...
. At the age of ten he was kidnapped by
Hessian A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse. Hessian may also refer to: Named from the toponym *Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire **Hessian (boot), a style of boot **Hessian f ...
soldiery, and in their midst experienced military life in the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...
. In 1639 he became a regular soldier in the Imperial Army. At the latest in the year 1644 he worked as a writer in a regiment's chancellery—from that year on documents by Hans Jakob Christoffel exist. At the close of the war, Grimmelshausen entered the service of Franz Egon von Fürstenberg, bishop of
Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
. In 1665, he was made magistrate (german: link=no,
Schultheiß In medieval Germany, the ''Schultheiß'' () was the head of a municipality (akin to today's office of mayor), a ''Vogt'' or an executive official of the ruler. As official (''villicus'') it was his duty to order his assigned village or county (' ...
) at
Renchen Renchen ( gsw, label= Low Alemannic, Renche) is a small town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, part of the district of Ortenau. Geography Renchen is located in the foothills of the northern Black Forest at the entrance to the Rench valley at the ed ...
in
Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...
. On obtaining this appointment, he devoted himself to literary pursuits.


Works

Grimmelshausen's work is greatly influenced by previous
utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...
and travel literature, and the ''
Simplicissimus :''Simplicissimus is also a name for the 1668 novel Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus, Simplicius Simplicissimus and its protagonist.'' ''Simplicissimus'' () was a satire, satirical German language, German weekly magazine, headquartered in Munich ...
'' series attained a readership larger than any other seventeenth-century novel. Formerly, he was credited with ''Der fliegende Wandersmann nach dem Mond'', a translation from
Jean Baudoin Jean Baudoin (1662–1698) was a French Sulpician priest who served as a missionary in Acadia, and later as a chaplain during military expeditions carried on by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville. Life Jean Baudoin studied at the College of Nantes with ...
''L'Homme dans la Lune'', itself a translation of Francis Godwins '' The Man in the Moone'', but recent scholars have disputed this; he did, however, write an appendix to a 1667 edition of that translation, the basis for that association. ''Der fliegende Wandersman'' was included in his collected works, though without the appendix. In 1668, Grimmelshausen published ''
Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus ''Simplicius Simplicissimus'' (german: link=no, Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch) is a picaresque novel of the lower Baroque style, written in 1668 by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen and probably published the same year (althou ...
'', which has been called the greatest German novel of the 17th century. For this work he took as his model the picaresque romances of Spain, already to some extent known in Germany. ''Simplicissimus'' has been interpreted as its author's autobiography; he begins with the childhood of his hero, and describes the latter's adventures amid the stirring scenes of the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...
. The rustic detail with which these pictures are presented makes the book a valuable document of its time. For some, however, the later parts of the book overindulge in allegory, and finally become a Robinson Crusoe story. The historian Robert Ergang draws upon Gustav Könnecke's ''Quellen und Forschungen zur Lebensgeschichte Grimmelshausens'' to assert that "the events related in the novel ''Simplicissimus'' could hardly have been autobiographical since rimmelshausenlived a peaceful existence in quiet towns and villages on the fringe of the Black Forest and that the material he incorporated in his work was not taken from actual experience, but was either borrowed from the past, collected from hearsay, or created by a vivid imagination." Among Grimmelshausen's other works, are the so-called ''Simplicianische Schriften'' (german: link=no, Simplizianische Schriften): *''Die Ertzbetrügerin and Landstörtzerin Courasche'' (1670) *''Der seltsame Springinsfeld'' (1670) *''Das wunderbarliche Vogelnest'' (1672) He also published satires, such as ''Der teutsche Michel'' (1673), and gallant novels, like ''Dietwald und Amelinde'' (1670).


Death and legacy

He died in Renchen in 1676, where a monument was erected to him in 1879. Grimmelshausen's ''Landstörtzerin Courasche'' became an inspiration for
Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...
's play ''
Mother Courage and Her Children ''Mother Courage and Her Children'' (german: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder, links=no) is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin. Four theatrical ...
''. ''Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus'' lent its name to ''
Simplicissimus :''Simplicissimus is also a name for the 1668 novel Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus, Simplicius Simplicissimus and its protagonist.'' ''Simplicissimus'' () was a satire, satirical German language, German weekly magazine, headquartered in Munich ...
'', a satirical German weekly which ran from 1894 to 1944 and 1954 to 1967.


Notes


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * * * *


External links

* * *
Author page
for Grimmelshausen on Projekt Gutenberg-DE {{DEFAULTSORT:Grimmelshausen, Hans Jakob Christoffel von 1620s births 1676 deaths People from Gelnhausen German satirists Writers from Hesse German people of the Thirty Years' War 17th-century German writers 17th-century German novelists German male novelists German-language poets German male poets German male non-fiction writers 17th-century German male writers Baroque writers