The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Simplicissimus

SIMPLICISSIMUS, a German novel, fully titled as ‘Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus, Teutsch, das ist: Aie Beschreibung des Lebens eines seltsamen vaganten, genannt Melchoir Sternfels von Fuchsheim’ (1668), by Hans Jakol Kristoffel von Grimmelshausen (q.v.), and regarded as the forerunner of modern German novel. ‘The adventurous German, Simplicissimus, that is: A Description of the Life of a Remarkable Vagabond named Melchior Sternfels, of Fuchsaim,’ as the translated title reads, is a vivid and realistic story of the Thirty Years' War.