"To compensate a little for the treachery and weakness of my memory, so extreme that it has happened to me more than once to pick up again, as recent and unknown to me, books which I had read carefully a few years before . . . I have adopted the habit for some time now of adding at the end of each book . . . the time I finished reading it and the judgment I have derived of it as a whole, so that this may represent to me at least the sense and general idea I had conceived of the author in reading it." (Montaigne, Book II, Essay 10 (publ. 1580))

Sunday, October 06, 2019

The Adventures of Simplicius Simplicissimus (Hans J.C. von Grimmelshausen, 1650s or 1660s?)

(462 pages)

Author was a soldier in the Thirty Years War - so this book is quite unique in providing an authentic voice.

The first part of the book famously describes some of the horrors of that conflict, but it turns out that most of the book goes elsewhere - the protagonist is a bit of a roustabout.  Relevant to the war - participants switching sides; way too much wanton cruelty; the difficulty of separating war from brigandage.

Entertaining, but not as interesting as expected.
Posted by at
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)