''Simplicius Simplicissimus'' (german: link=no, Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch) is a

picaresque novel The picaresque novel ( Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for "rogue" or "rascal") is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish, but "appealing hero", usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corru ...

of the lower Baroque style, written in 1668 by

Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen 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 accompanyi ...

and probably published the same year (although bearing the date 1669). Inspired by the events and horrors of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

which devastated Germany from 1618 to 1648, it is regarded as the first

adventure novel Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of romance fiction. History In the Introduction to the ''Encycloped ...

in the German language and the first German novel masterpiece. The full subtitle is "The account of the life of an odd vagrant named Melchior Sternfels von Fuchshaim: namely where and in what manner he came into this world, what he saw, learned, experienced, and endured therein; also why he again left it of his own free will."

Plot overview

The novel is told from the perspective of its protagonist Simplicius, a rogue or

picaro The picaresque novel (Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for "rogue" or "rascal") is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish, but "appealing hero", usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corrup ...

typical of the

, as he traverses the tumultuous world of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

during the

. Raised by a peasant family, he is separated from his home by foraging dragoons and is adopted by a hermit living in the forest, who teaches him to read and introduces him to religion. The hermit also gives Simplicius his name because he was so simple that he did not know what his own name was. After the death of the hermit, Simplicius must fend for himself. He is conscripted at a young age into service, and from there embarks on years of foraging, military triumph, wealth, prostitution, disease, bourgeois domestic life, and travels to Russia, France, and to an alternate world inhabited by mermen. The novel ends with Simplicius turning to a life of hermitage himself, denouncing the world as corrupt.

Reception and legacy

Literary criticism

The novel is considered by some to contain autobiographic elements, inspired by Grimmelshausen's experience in the war. It has been reported that as a child Grimmelshausen was kidnapped by Hessian and Croatian troops where he eventually served as a musketeer. The historian Robert Ergang, however, 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."

Adaptions

Literary adaptions

The adventures of Simplicissimus became so popular that they were reproduced by authors in other European countries. ''Simplicissimus'' was recreated in French, English, and Turkish. A Hungarian ''Simplicissimus'' (''Ungarischer oder Dacianischer Simplicissimus'') was published in 1683. The author remained anonymous but is now generally considered to be Breslau-born

Daniel Speer Georg Daniel Speer (2 July 1636 – 5 October 1707) was a German composer and writer of the Baroque. Speer was born in Breslau (today Wrocław, Poland) and died in Göppingen, Germany. Writing As a writer he wrote a musical treatise, political t ...

Opera

Johann Strauss II composed an operetta based on the novel. 20th-century composer

Karl Amadeus Hartmann Karl Amadeus Hartmann (2 August 1905 – 5 December 1963) was a German composer. Sometimes described as the greatest German symphonist of the 20th century, he is now largely overlooked, particularly in English-speaking countries. Life Born in ...

wrote the anti-war opera ''

Simplicius 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 ...

'' for chamber orchestra in the mid-1930s, with contributions to the libretto by his teacher Hermann Scherchen. It opens: It was first performed in 1948; Hartmann scored it for full orchestra in 1956. The chamber version (properly ''Des Simplicius Simplicissimus Jugend'') was revived by the Stuttgart State Opera in 2004.

TV series

, a historically dramatised TV series based on the book was produced by ZDF in 1975.

Comic strip

The story was adapted into a newspaper comic strip by Raymond Lavigne and Gilbert Bloch in 1954.

Cultural legacy

Town mascot: ''Jägerken von Soest''

''The Hunter of Soest'' (german: Der Jäger von Soest) is one of the aliases Simplicius uses in the novel. The city of Soest developed this into the local mascot (the little hunter of Soest) in 1976. Every year a citizen is selected, who then gets to represent the town and charitable projects of his choice in costume.

''Simplicissimus House'' in Renchen

The is a museum in the town of Renchen. It opened in 1998 and focuses on the reception of Grimmelshausen's works in modern art. Right in front of it stands a 1977 bronze statue by

Giacomo Manzù Giacomo Manzù, pseudonym of Giacomo Manzoni (22 December 1908 – 17 January 1991), was an Italian sculptor. Biography Manzù was born in Bergamo. His father was a shoemaker. Other than a few evening art classes, he was self-taught in s ...

, showing Simplicius in his ''Hunter of Soest'' character.

Literary references

Grimmelshausen's Simplicissimus is used throughout John le Carré's novel '' A Perfect Spy'' (1986) as Magnus Pym's permanent key for one-time pad coding. More importantly, Pym's own life is represented as a picaresque: a boy dragged along in his father's career of frauds, and a man in the British intelligence service, making up lies and exaggerations about his life. Grimmelshausen was used in other Le Carré novels as well. Le Carré was a medieval German scholar (as was his character George Smiley). Smiley sold a prized Grimmelshausen first edition at the beginning of ''

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' is a 1974 spy novel by British author John le Carré. It follows the endeavours of taciturn, aging spymaster George Smiley to uncover a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service. The novel has receive ...

'' (in a fit of pique, because Ann had spent most of his pension check on an excursion with her latest lover).

Editions

English translations include:
''The Adventurous Simplicissimus''
trans. Alfred Thomas Scrope Goodrick, London: William Heinemann, 1912. See als
Project Gutenberg copy
an
later edition with new intro

''The Simplicissimus Project''
the 1912 trans. by A. T. S. Goodrick with material added by students at The College of William and Mary during spring 2002. 'Simplicius Simplicissimus' J.J.C.von Grimmelshausen translated and foreword by George Schulz-Behrend 1976. 'The Adventure of Simplicicius Simplicissimus' (Studies in German Literature, Linguistics and Culture) George Schulz-Behrend 1993. *''Simplicissimus'', 2nd ed., trans. Mike Mitchell, Dedalus, 2006. Shortlisted for the

Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize is an annual literary prize for any book-length translation into English from any other living European language. The first prize was awarded in 1999. The prize is funded by and named in honour of Lord Weidenfe ...

. *''Simplicissimus, The German Adventurer'', trans. John C. Osborne, Newfound Press, 2008.
''Simplicius Simplicissimus''
trans. Monte Adair, 1986/2012. Free download.

trans. J.A. Underwood, Penguin Classics, The German text is publicly available through Project Gutenberg

PDFs of the original German-language edition, bearing the date 1669 but probably published (according to Dünnhaupt) already in 1668, may be downloaded fro
the Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe
and fro

Notes

References

External links

{{Authority control 1668 novels German novels Picaresque novels 17th-century German literature German adventure novels Thirty Years' War in popular culture Mermaid novels Novels adapted into comics Novels adapted into operas German novels adapted into television shows First-person narrative novels War novels