Description
Book SynopsisFresh essays on the works of the most significant -- and readable -- German Baroque author. Hans Jacob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen (ca. 1621-1676) is the most significant (and still readable) author of seventeenth-century German novels. His Abenteuerlicher Simplicius Simplicissimus remains the one German novelof its time that has attained the stature of "world literature": its unique mix of violent action and solitary reflection, its superlative humor, its realistic portrayal of a peasant turned soldier turned hermit has made it the longest-running bestseller in German literature. Read by students and scholars in comparative literature, history, and German, and by those interested in the development of the picaresque novel in Europe, the work and its "Continuations" have increasingly occupied scholars around the world, who have in recent years shown it to be a work of subtle structure and characterization, bearing the imprint of the most advanced political thinking of the time, and showing the influences of some of the most significant works of world literature, including Cervantes' Don Quixote and Barclay's Argenis. This volume of essays by leading Grimmelshausen scholars from Germany, the UnitedStates, and England provides analyses of significant topics in his life and works, including questions of genre, structure, satire, allegory, narratology, political thought, religion, morality, humor, realism, and mortality. Contributors: Christoph E. Schweitzer, Italo Michele Battafarano, Klaus Haberkamm, Rosmarie Zeller, Andreas Solbach, Dieter Breuer, Lynne Tatlock, Peter Hess, Shannon Keenan Greene, and Alan Menhennet. Karl F. Otto is Professor of German at the University of Pennsylvania and has written extensively on German Baroque literature.
Trade ReviewThe quality of analysis of the 12 contributors is consistently high, and the essays are very readable. The volume constitutes an excellent contribution to the study of the most relevant German author of the Baroque. * CHOICE *
[A] valuable contribution to the broader study of early modern German literature. For the first time in English we have a scholarly .... compendium offering a variety of theoretical and historical perspectives on one of the best-known authors of the German Baroque. * MONATSHEFTE *
Otto has compiled a different kind of 'companion' volume.... He has crafted a book that opens fascinating pathways into understanding key aspects of [Grimmelshausen's texts], both in the context of 17th century thought and by addressing issues that resonate today.... [A]n innovative reference work for Grimmelshausen scholars and an accessible introduction for the novice. * GERMAN STUDIES REVIEW *
Table of ContentsIntroduction - Karl F. Otto Problems in the Editions of Grimmelshausen's Works - Christoph E Schweitzer Grimmelshausen's "Autobiographies" and the Art of the Novel - Italo Michele Battafarano Allegorical and Astrological Forms in the Works of Grimmelshausen with Special Emphasis on the Prophecy Motif - Klaus Haberkamm Grimmelshausen and the Picaresque Novel - Christoph E Schweitzer Grimmelshausen's Ewig-währender Calendar: A Labyrinth of Knowledge and Reading - Rosmarie Zeller Grimmelshausen's Non-Simplician Novels - Andreas Solbach Grimmelshausen's Trails: The "Afterlife" of Simplicissimus and Grimmelshausen - Dieter Breuer Engendering Social Order: From Costume Autobiography to Conversation Games in Grimmelshausen's Simpliciana - The Poetics of Masquerade: Clothing and the Construction of Social, Religious, and Gender Identity in Grimmelshausen's SimplicissimusSimplicissimus - Peter Hess "To see from these black lines": The Mise en Livre of the Phoenix Copperplate and Other Grimmelshausen Illustrations - Shannon Keenan Greene The Search for Freedom: Grimmelshausen's Simplician Weltanshauung - Mr. D. Menhennet
