by Christoffel von Grimmelshausen
Most Germans know this book because it is mentioned in the history classes for its depiction of the atrocities during the Thirty Years War in Germany (1618 -1648). The scene everybody knows is when a soldier mob forces the peasants to drink animal urine – the so-called Swedish Drink. I always wanted to read this book, but I felt a certain repulsion with the old German the book is written in. This would be too tiring if you consider the length of the book. Luckily, some time ago Reinhard Kaiser translated it modern German. He did this very carefully preserving the spirit and characteristic style of that time. The result is surprising and hard to describe. You know the story if from remote times but it flows without any exerted modernisms.
Simplicius Simplicissimus counts his life as old man. It starts with his early life and he puts himself back into situations, when he was naive and without any social framework since he lived with his simple adoptive parents and later with a religious eremite in the forrest. That allows him to describe the most horrid goings-on without any moral judgement. This is one of the foundations of the black and absurd humor. Simplicius Simplicissimus survives these atrocious times, which wept out entire districts , because he is considered a fool. Hi early tenures were indeed officially that of a fool. For the same reason he was baptised: Simplicius Simplicissimus. In his time as fool he analyses sharply the human nature with all its weaknesses. This is maybe the facet of the book book, that will be be forever relevant and therefore still entertaining to read.
While Simplicius Simplicissimus is firstly unawakened, he later will commit any sin along his way by that contrasting the first part of the book. Another surprising aspect is how many places, cultures and people of the world are described. I did not expect that some of the remote islands are widely known at the time, if know at al all.
It is said that the Thirty years War is deeply imprinted in the collective consciousness of the germans. Maybe even more than World War II. It overwhelmed them like a natural catastrophe, from which no escape was possible. For sure you can find many standard quotations in modern German, that originated in those years. In some cases I am not sure if we use them because of this book itself was so popular or the author just used these sayings because they were themselves already popular at the time of the writing. .. for the German readers: …,Pappenheimer, Springensfield, ….
Simplicius Simplicissimus counts his life as old man. It starts with his early life and he puts himself back into situations, when he was naive and without any social framework since he lived with his simple adoptive parents and later with a religious eremite in the forrest. That allows him to describe the most horrid goings-on without any moral judgement. This is one of the foundations of the black and absurd humor. Simplicius Simplicissimus survives these atrocious times, which wept out entire districts , because he is considered a fool. Hi early tenures were indeed officially that of a fool. For the same reason he was baptised: Simplicius Simplicissimus. In his time as fool he analyses sharply the human nature with all its weaknesses. This is maybe the facet of the book book, that will be be forever relevant and therefore still entertaining to read.
While Simplicius Simplicissimus is firstly unawakened, he later will commit any sin along his way by that contrasting the first part of the book. Another surprising aspect is how many places, cultures and people of the world are described. I did not expect that some of the remote islands are widely known at the time, if know at al all.
It is said that the Thirty years War is deeply imprinted in the collective consciousness of the germans. Maybe even more than World War II. It overwhelmed them like a natural catastrophe, from which no escape was possible. For sure you can find many standard quotations in modern German, that originated in those years. In some cases I am not sure if we use them because of this book itself was so popular or the author just used these sayings because they were themselves already popular at the time of the writing. .. for the German readers: …,Pappenheimer, Springensfield, ….
Facts:
English title: Simplicius Simplicissimus
Original title: Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch
Published: 1668
