The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Simplicissimus

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