Surprising Adventures Of Baron Munchausen By Re Raspe And Others An Abridged Version Wanting The Title Leaf

Author : Rudolph RASPE
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781549862625
Total Pages : 136 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (626 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen written by Rudolph RASPE and published by . This book was released on 2017-09-30 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baron 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 and Campaigns in Russia. The character is loosely based on a real baron, Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Freiherr von M�nchhausen (1720-1797, German pronunciation: [ˈmʏn�(h)aʊzən]).Born in Bodenwerder, Electorate of Brunswick-L�neburg, the real-life M�nchhausen fought for the Russian Empire in the Russo-Turkish War of 1735-1739. Upon retiring in 1760, he became a minor celebrity within German aristocratic circles for telling outrageous tall tales based on his military career. After hearing some of M�nchhausen's stories, Raspe adapted them anonymously into literary form, first in German as ephemeral magazine pieces and then in English as the 1785 book, which was first published in Oxford by a bookseller named Smith. The book was soon translated into other European languages, including a German version expanded by the poet Gottfried August B�rger. The real-life M�nchhausen was deeply upset at the development of a fictional character bearing his name, and threatened legal proceedings against the book's publisher. Perhaps fearing a libel suit, Raspe never acknowledged his authorship of the work, which was only established posthumously.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. The earliest illustrations of the character, perhaps created by Raspe himself, depict Munchausen as slim and youthful, although later illustrators have depicted him as an older man, and have added the sharply beaked nose and twirled moustache that have become part of the character's definitive visual representation. Raspe's book was a major international success, becoming the core text for numerous English, continental European, and American editions that were expanded and rewritten by other writers. The book in its various revised forms remained widely read throughout the 19th century, especially in editions for young readers.Versions of the fictional Baron have appeared on stage, screen, radio, and television, as well as in other literary works. Though the Baron Munchausen stories are no longer well-known in many English-speaking countries, they are still popular in continental Europe. The character has inspired numerous memorials and museums, and several medical conditions and other concepts are named after him, including Munchausen syndrome, the M�nchhausen trilemma, and Munchausen numbers.In 2004, a fan club calling itself Munchausen's Grandchildren was founded in the Russian city of Kaliningrad (formerly K�nigsberg). The club's early activities included identifying "historical proofs" of the fictional Baron's travels through K�nigsberg, such as a jackboot supposedly belonging to the Baron[116] and a sperm whale skeleton said to be that of the whale in whose belly the Baron was trapped.On 18 June 2005, to celebrate the 750th anniversary of Kaliningrad, a monument to the Baron was unveiled as a gift from Bodenwerder, portraying the Baron's cannonball ride. Bodenwerder sports a Munchausen monument in front of its Town Hall,[76] as well a Munchausen museum including a large collection of illustrated editions of the stories. Another Munchausen Museum (Minhauzena Muzejs) exists in Duntes Muiža, Latvia, home of the real Baron's first wife; the couple had lived in the town for six years, before moving back to the baronial estate in Hanover. In 2005, to mark the real-life Baron's 285th birthday, the National Bank of Latvia issued a commemorative silver coin.