That Germany suddenly – amid the varying literary and social influences of the late seventeenth century, when refined baroque hommes de lettres aped classical styles from ancient Rome and modern France, whereas the common people were only slowly recovering from the devastation of the Thirty Years’ War – should produce a pulsating novel of ordinary life during that war, fit to stand alongside the contemporary products of France, Spain and England, must be a quirk of history. Grimmelshausen shot to prominence with that novel of 1669,
Der abentheurliche Simplicissimus Teutsch[Adventurous Simplicissimus, German].
Simplicissimushas since recognised as the first literary work in German that still speaks to the modern reader because of its verve, humour, satire, inexhaustible invention,…
1929 words
Citation: White, Alfred D.. "Johannes Jacob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 June 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1892, accessed 23 November 2024.]
