The harrowing and hilarious Adventures of a Simpleton is unanimously acclaimed today as the greatest German novel of the 17th century. Set against the gristly background of the Thirty Years' War, it is a vivid and realistic re-creation of an age, evoked by an artless and earthy language new to German literature at the time.Walter Wallich, in this translation, aptly captures the zest, the pageantry and the humor of the original. He has also written a special postscript, with revealing sidelights on Grimmelshausen, whose life corresponded in many ways to that of his hero.