Baron von Münchhausen
Illustration by Gustav Doré (1832 – 1883) after Antonio Canova.
Baron von Munchausen is a fictional German nobleman created by the German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe in his 1785 book "Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels". The character is loosely based on a real baron, Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Freiherr von Münchhausen (1720-1797).
After hearing some of Münchhausen's stories, Raspe adapted them anonymously into literary form, first in German as ephemeral magazine pieces and then in English as the book, which was first published in Oxford.. The book was soon translated into other European languages, including a German version.
The fictional Baron's exploits, narrated in the first person, focus on his impossible achievements as a sportsman, soldier, and traveller, for instance riding on a cannonball, fighting a forty-foot crocodile, and travelling to the Moon. Intentionally comedic, the stories play on the absurdity and inconsistency of Munchausen's claims, and contain an undercurrent of social satire.
Baron von Münchhausen
Illustration by Gustav Doré (1832 – 1883) after Antonio Canova.
Baron von Munchausen is a fictional German nobleman created by the German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe in his 1785 book "Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels". The character is loosely based on a real baron, Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Freiherr von Münchhausen (1720-1797).
After hearing some of Münchhausen's stories, Raspe adapted them anonymously into literary form, first in German as ephemeral magazine pieces and then in English as the book, which was first published in Oxford.. The book was soon translated into other European languages, including a German version.
The fictional Baron's exploits, narrated in the first person, focus on his impossible achievements as a sportsman, soldier, and traveller, for instance riding on a cannonball, fighting a forty-foot crocodile, and travelling to the Moon. Intentionally comedic, the stories play on the absurdity and inconsistency of Munchausen's claims, and contain an undercurrent of social satire.