Simplicius Simplicissimus

Simplicius Simplicissimus
Frontispiece of the first edition
AuthorSamuel Greifnsohn vom Hirschfelt or German Schleifheim von Sulsfort,[a] really H. J. C. von Grimmelshausen
Original titleDer abentheuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch
LanguageGerman
SeriesSimplician scriptures
GenrePicaresque novel
Set in1618 to 1648 Thirty Years' War in Holy Roman Empire
PublisherJohann Fillion,[a] really Wolff Eberhard Felßecker
Publication date
1668,[a] really 1669
Publication placeHoly Roman Empire

Simplicius Simplicissimus (German: Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch) is a picaresque novel of the lower Baroque style, written in five books by German author Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen published in 1668, with the sequel Continuatio appearing in 1669. Inspired by the events and horrors of the Thirty Years' War which devastated Germany from 1618 to 1648, it is regarded as the first adventure novel 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."


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