Simplicius Simplicissimus

Simplicius Simplicissimus (German: Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch) is a picaresque novel of the lower Baroque style, written in five books by 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.

For the satirical German weekly inspired by this novel, see Simplicissimus.
Simplicius Simplicissimus
Frontispiece of the first edition
AuthorSamuel Greifnsohn vom Hirschfelt or German Schleifheim von Sulsfort,[lower-alpha 1] really H. J. C. von Grimmelshausen
Original titleDer abentheuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch
CountryHoly Roman Empire
LanguageGerman
SeriesSimplician scriptures
GenrePicaresque novel
Set in1618 to 1648 Thirty Years' War in Holy Roman Empire
PublisherJohann Fillion,[lower-alpha 1] really Wolff Eberhard Felßecker
Publication date
1668,[lower-alpha 1] really 1669

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."

Structure

The work Simplicius Simplicissimus consists of five books nominally published 1668, with a sequel Continuatio appearing in 1669. Each book is in turn divided into chapters.[1][2][lower-alpha 1] The Continuatio is considered the sixth book of the same cycle by scholars, though Grimmelshausen altogether produced ten titles which he claimed belong to the same set.[2]

The English translation by Alfred Thomas Scrope Goodrick (1912)[3] included the five books and selected chapters from the continuation.[4] The full translation by Monte Adair (1986–2012) includes the continuation as Book Six.[5]

Authorship and publication

Simplicius Simplicissimus was published as the work of Samuel Greifnsohn vom Hirschfelt (Hirschfeld), with German Schleifheim von Sulsfort as its supposed author, but these have been deduced to be anagrammatical pseudonyms[lower-alpha 2] of the real author, Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, whose name is only disclosed in initials "H.I.C.V.G." in an advertisement (or rather Beschluss, "postscript" to the Continuatio) near the end of the published work.[6][4]

The first edition pretends to have been printed at Mompelgart (Mömpelgart, present-day Montbéliard, France) by "Johann Fillion", but in fact they were printed in Nürnberg by Wolff Eberhard Felßecker, and though the colophon gave 1669 as the date, the publication already appeared in 1668.[7]

Plot overview
Title page of the first edition, 1669

The novel is told from the perspective of its protagonist Simplicius, a rogue or picaro typical of the picaresque novel, as he traverses the tumultuous world of the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War. 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.[8] 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.

Frontispiece monster

Much has been written on the frontispiece copperplate drawing (fig. top right) depicted an enigmatic winged monster holding an illustrated book.[9][11]

It has been described as a composite creature (a chimera) with the features of a goat, fish, bird, human,[12] though "Satyr-head" (Satyrkopf, rather thang goat/human) on a Chimera body,[13] may be more apt, since the satyr is a wordplay of the "satirical" nature of the work,[14] though the label "chimera",[15] has been criticized as strictly incorrect, as it does not match the classical (Homeric) chimera of the lion-goat-serpent variety.[9]

The creature is arguably identifiable as the "phoenix copper" (German: Phönix-Kupfer), an embodiment of "the purpose of the book".[12] There is an accompanying poem about the phoenix copper written in couplets[16] which should provide some clue as to its meaning.[12] The author of a monograph on the subject shuns the identification with the phoenix,[19]

The creature has also been interpreted as representing the true author himself (or his narrative work), with the book and the sword serving as mundane objects straightforwardly defining his identity, while the additional parts such as the wings (alluding to air) and the fins and fishtail (water) are allusive hints. This man has enacted many roles (indicated by the masks scattered on the floor), but presently is donning the mask of the "satirical actor" in order to perform the task of explaining the world to his audience while pointing-gesturing his book. The creature exists as a whole though made up of odd disparate parts, hence the title copperplate etching is an emblem that serves to preserve the "unity of the narrative about the I(ego)".[20]

The notion that the frontispiece portrays shapeshifting Baldanders maintained by writer Jorge Luis Borges,[21] is also refuted.[9]

Reception and legacy

Literary criticism

The novel is considered by some to contain autobiographic elements, inspired by Grimmelshausen's experience in the war.[22] It has been reported that as a child Grimmelshausen was kidnapped by Hessian and Croatian troops where he eventually served as a musketeer.[23] 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 [Grimmelshausen] lived 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."[24]

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.[25][26] The author remained anonymous but is now generally considered to be Breslau-born Daniel Speer.[25][27]

Opera

Johann Strauss II composed an operetta based on the novel.

20th-century composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann wrote the anti-war opera Simplicius Simplicissimus for chamber orchestra in the mid-1930s, with contributions to the libretto by his teacher Hermann Scherchen.[28] It opens:

In A.D. 1618, 12 million lived in Germany. Then came the great war. ... In A.D. 1648 only 4 million still lived in Germany.

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.[29]

TV series

Des Christoffel von Grimmelshausen abenteuerlicher Simplizissimus, a historically dramatised TV series based on the book was produced by ZDF in 1975.[30]

Comic strip

The story was adapted into a newspaper comic strip by Raymond Lavigne and Gilbert Bloch in 1954.[31]

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 Das Jägerken von Soest (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.[32]

Simplicissimus House in Renchen

The Simplicissimus-Haus 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, showing Simplicius in his Hunter of Soest character.[33]

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 (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:

  • Grimmelshausen, Hans Jakob Christoffel von (1912). The Adventurous Simplicissimus. Translated by Goodrick, Alfred Thomas Scrope (A.T.S.G.). London: William Heinemann. Archived from the original on 2008-03-05.
  • —— (Spring 2002) The Simplicissimus Project, the 1912 trans. by A. T. S. Goodrick with material added by students at The College of William and Mary.
  • —— (1976) [1965]. "Simplicius Simplicissimus, Tr. and introd. by Schulz-Behrend, George. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Company. ISBN 978-0672604249
    • —— (1993). The Adventure of Simplicius Simplicissimus, Tr. and introd. by Schulz-Behrend, George. Columbia, SC: Camden House (Studies in German Literature, Linguistics and Culture 1). ISBN 978-1879751385
  • —— (2006) [1999]. Simplicissimus. Translated by Mitchell, Mike (Rev. ed.). Dedalus. Shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize. ISBN 978-1903517420
  • —— (2008). Simplicissimus, The German Adventurer. Translated by John C. Osborne, Newfound Press. ISBN 978-0-9797292-5-6
  • —— (1986–2012). Simplicius Simplicissimus. Translated by Adair, Monte. Monte Frederick Adair. ISBN 978-3-941170-68-1. Free download.
  • —— (2018). The Adventures of Simplicius Simplicissimus. Translated by Underwood, J.A. Penguin Classics, ISBN 9780141982120

The German text is publicly available through Project Gutenberg: Simplicius Simplicissimus.

PDFs of the original German-language edition, bearing the date 1669 but probably published already in 1668,[7] may be downloaded from the Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe and from the Herzog-August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel.

  • —— (1989). Breuer, Dieter (ed.). Simplicissimus Teutsch. ISBN 9783618664604. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  • —— (1956). Kelletat, Alfred (ed.). Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus. Munich: Winkler.

Notes
  1. Author, publisher and location all intentionally named non-existing entities, also the date given (1669) is considered false, as the first documented printing occurred in Nuremberg in 1668.[lower-alpha 3]
  2. i.e., imperfect anagrams of "Christoffel von Grimmelshausen"

References
Citations
  1. Fleishman 2011, pp. 4, 8.
  2. Konzett, Matthias (2000). "Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen 1611–1676". Encyclopedia of German Literature. Routledge. ISBN 9781135941291.
  3. Breuer (2003), p. 250.
  4. Grimmelshausen & Goodrick tr. (1912).
  5. Grimmelshausen & Adair tr. (1986–2012).
  6. Schweitzer, Christoph E. (Summer 1990). "Grimmelshausen, Philarchus Grossus von Tromerheim, and'Simplicianische Schriften'". Monatshefte. 82 (2): 116. JSTOR 30155248.
  7. Breuer (1999), p. 30 (in German):
    Der angegebene Druckort »Monpelgart« (die damals noch württembergische Stadt Mömpelgart, Montbeliard am Doubs) ist eine Fiktion, ein beliebter fiktiver Druikort für satirische Literatur. Tatsächlich ist das Werk in Nürnberg erschienen, auch nicht bei „Johann Fillion", sondern bei Wolff Eberhard Felßecker, und das Erscheinungsjahr 1669 ist eine Vorausdatierung; der Roman erschien bereits 1668.
  8. Germany, DER SPIEGEL, Hamburg. "Literatur - Kultur - DER SPIEGEL". www.spiegel.de.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. Gersch (2015), p. 3.
  10. Bauer, Conny (1980). Das Phönix-Kupfer von Grimmelshausens Abentheuerlichem Simplicissimus. Zur Forschungslage. In: Text und Kontext 8, pp. 43–62.
  11. A survey of scholarship is given by Conny Bauer (1980), Phönix-Kupfer,[10] cited by Gersch (2015), p. 3
  12. Tatlock, Lynne (1993). "Johann Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen". Seventeenth Century German Prose: Grimmelshausen, Leibniz, Opitz, Weise, and Others. German Library 7. New York: Continuum Publishing Company. pp. 165–166. ISBN 9780826407108.
  13. Grimmelshausen & Breuer ed. (1989), 1.1: 794.
  14. Greene (2003), p. 346.
  15. As used for example by Grimmelshausen & Breuer ed. (1989), p. 1.1: 794}, loc. cit., and pp. 989, 1004, cited by Gersch (2015), p. 3, note 6.
  16. Grimmelshausen & Adair tr. (1986–2012), p. 14.The "Phoenix Copper", the allegorical frontispiece.
  17. Grimmelshausen & Kelletat ed. (1956), Nachwort, p. 631 and note 42, cited by Gersch (2015), p. 3, note 7.
  18. Gersch (2015). English summary
  19. The "phoenix" label[17] and concludes it should be treated as a detailedly constructed poetological symbol.[18]
  20. Berghaus, Peter; Berghaus, Günther (1976). Simplicius Simplicissimus: Grimmelshausen und seine Zeit. Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe. p. 114. ISBN 9783618664604.
  21. Borges, Jorge Luis. (1992) Werke in 20 Bänden. Bd. 8, Einhorn, Sphinx, und Salamander. El libro de los seres imaginarios [Das Buch der imaginären Wesen; cited by Gersch (2015), p. 3, note 6.
  22. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Grimmelshausen, Hans Jakob Christoffel von" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  23. "Hans Jacob Christoph von Grimmelshausen | German novelist".
  24. Ergang, Robert H. (1956). The Myth of the All-Destructive Fury of the Thirty Years' War. Pocono Pines, PA: The Craftsmen. OCLC 905630683.
  25. Breuer (2003), p. 237.
  26. Ahmedaja, A., ed., European Voices III: The Instrumentation and Instrumentalization of Sound Local Multipart Music Practices in Europe (Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2017), p. 249.
  27. Gyula Ortutay (1957). "A Magyar Simplicissimus" (PDF). Irodalomtörténeti Közlemények. 34. évfolyam (1–2. szám). Retrieved 2015-11-21.
  28. Kater, M. H., The Twisted Muse: Musicians and Their Music in the Third Reich (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).
  29. George Loomis, "The vision of 'Simplicius'", International Herald Tribune, May 19, 2004
  30. Fritz Umgelter (Director) (1975). Des Christoffel von Grimmelshausen abenteuerlicher Simplizissimus [Grimmelshausen's adventurous Simplicissimus] (TV series) (in German). ASIN B00JFIPU4Y. ZDF.
  31. "Gilbert Bloch". lambiek.net.
  32. "Das Jägerken von Soest". allerheiligenkirmes.de. Wirtschaft und Marketing Soest GmbH. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  33. "Simplicissimus-Haus". renchen.de. City of Renchen. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
Bibliography

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