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The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen
The restored, unbowdlerized text of Raspe’s slapstick travel epic featuring the classic illustrations from Strang & Clark (1895)
No one has journeyed to as many foreign lands as Baron von Munchausen. Nor, when it comes time to fire a cannon, will you find anyone more accurate. The comfort of courtly life is as natural to him as the harshest polar desert. On the subject of politics and science he has no equal. And all discussion of the moon must start and stop with the only man who has ever been there. His feats of prowess are famed the world over. Who else could leap a hedgerow with a carriage and horse on their back? No one. And then of course there are the bears. . . My god the poor bears!
Written at a time when science was replacing religion, and explorers were mapping the globe, and in our own time made into an acclaimed movie by Terry Gilliam, The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen unleashed the quintessential madman upon the Age of Enlightenment—and it remains the tallest of tall tales to this day.
No one has journeyed to as many foreign lands as Baron von Munchausen. Nor, when it comes time to fire a cannon, will you find anyone more accurate. The comfort of courtly life is as natural to him as the harshest polar desert. On the subject of politics and science he has no equal. And all discussion of the moon must start and stop with the only man who has ever been there. His feats of prowess are famed the world over. Who else could leap a hedgerow with a carriage and horse on their back? No one. And then of course there are the bears. . . My god the poor bears!
Written at a time when science was replacing religion, and explorers were mapping the globe, and in our own time made into an acclaimed movie by Terry Gilliam, The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen unleashed the quintessential madman upon the Age of Enlightenment—and it remains the tallest of tall tales to this day.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1785
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299 people want to read
About the author
Rudolf Erich Raspe
147 books42 followersRudolf Erich Raspe was a German librarian, writer and scientist, called by his biographer John Carswell a "rogue". He is best known for his collection of tall tales, The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen, originally a satirical work with political aims.
Raspe was born in Hanover, studied law and jurisprudence at Göttingen and Leipzig and worked as a librarian for the university of Göttingen. In 1762, he became a clerk in the university library at Hanover, and in 1764 secretary to the university library at Göttingen. He had become known as a versatile scholar and a student of natural history and antiquities, and he published some original poems and also translations, among the latter of Leibnitz's philosophical works and of Ossian's poems. He also wrote a treatise on Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.
In 1767, he was appointed professor in Cassel, and subsequently librarian. He contributed in 1769 a zoological paper to the 59th volume of the Philosophical Transactions, which led to his being selected an honorary member of the Royal Society in London, and he wrote voluminously on all sorts of subjects. In 1774, he started a periodical called the Cassel Spectator. From 1767, he was responsible for some collections of Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). He had to flee to England in 1775 after having gone to Italy in 1775 to buy curios for the Landgrave. He was found to have sold the Landgrave's valuables for his own profit.
In London, he employed his knowledge of English and his learning to secure a living by publishing books on various subjects, and English translations of German works, and there are allusions to him as "a Dutch savant" in 1780 in the writings of Horace Walpole, who gave him money and helped him to publish an Essay on the Origin of Oil-painting (1781). But Raspe remained poor, and the Royal Society expunged his name off its list.
From 1782 to 1788, he was employed by Matthew Boulton as assay-master and storekeeper in the Dolcoath mine in Cornwall. At the same time, he also authored books in geology and the history of art. The Trewhiddle Ingot, found in 2003, is a 150-year-old lump of tungsten found at Trewhiddle Farm. This may predate the earliest known smelting of the metal (which requires extremely high temperatures) and has led to speculation that it may have been produced during a visit by Raspe to Happy-Union mine (at nearby Pentewan) in the late eighteenth century. Raspe was also a chemist with a particular interest in tungsten. Memories of his ingenuity remained to the middle of the 19th century. While in Cornwall, he seems to have written the original version of Münchausen, which was subsequently elaborated by others.
He also worked for the famous publisher John Nichols in several projects, among which was a descriptive catalogue he compiled of James Tassie's collection of pastes and casts of gems, in two quarto volumes (1791) of laborious industry and bibliographical rarity. Raspe then went to Scotland, and in Caithness found a patron in Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster, whose mineralogical proclivities he proceeded to impose upon by pretending to discover valuable and workable veins on his estates. Raspe had "salted" the ground himself, and on the verge of exposure, he absconded. He finally moved to Ireland where he managed a copper mine on the Herbert Estate in Killarney. He died in Killarney, County Kerry, of typhoid, in November 1794.
The Baron Münchausen tales were made famous when they were "borrowed," translated into German, and embellished somewhat by Gottfried August Bürger in 1786 — and have been among the favourite reading of subsequent generations, as well as the basis of several films, including Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Today it is not known whether anyone during Raspe's lifetime was aware of his authorship of the Adventures, other than his friend
Raspe was born in Hanover, studied law and jurisprudence at Göttingen and Leipzig and worked as a librarian for the university of Göttingen. In 1762, he became a clerk in the university library at Hanover, and in 1764 secretary to the university library at Göttingen. He had become known as a versatile scholar and a student of natural history and antiquities, and he published some original poems and also translations, among the latter of Leibnitz's philosophical works and of Ossian's poems. He also wrote a treatise on Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.
In 1767, he was appointed professor in Cassel, and subsequently librarian. He contributed in 1769 a zoological paper to the 59th volume of the Philosophical Transactions, which led to his being selected an honorary member of the Royal Society in London, and he wrote voluminously on all sorts of subjects. In 1774, he started a periodical called the Cassel Spectator. From 1767, he was responsible for some collections of Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). He had to flee to England in 1775 after having gone to Italy in 1775 to buy curios for the Landgrave. He was found to have sold the Landgrave's valuables for his own profit.
In London, he employed his knowledge of English and his learning to secure a living by publishing books on various subjects, and English translations of German works, and there are allusions to him as "a Dutch savant" in 1780 in the writings of Horace Walpole, who gave him money and helped him to publish an Essay on the Origin of Oil-painting (1781). But Raspe remained poor, and the Royal Society expunged his name off its list.
From 1782 to 1788, he was employed by Matthew Boulton as assay-master and storekeeper in the Dolcoath mine in Cornwall. At the same time, he also authored books in geology and the history of art. The Trewhiddle Ingot, found in 2003, is a 150-year-old lump of tungsten found at Trewhiddle Farm. This may predate the earliest known smelting of the metal (which requires extremely high temperatures) and has led to speculation that it may have been produced during a visit by Raspe to Happy-Union mine (at nearby Pentewan) in the late eighteenth century. Raspe was also a chemist with a particular interest in tungsten. Memories of his ingenuity remained to the middle of the 19th century. While in Cornwall, he seems to have written the original version of Münchausen, which was subsequently elaborated by others.
He also worked for the famous publisher John Nichols in several projects, among which was a descriptive catalogue he compiled of James Tassie's collection of pastes and casts of gems, in two quarto volumes (1791) of laborious industry and bibliographical rarity. Raspe then went to Scotland, and in Caithness found a patron in Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster, whose mineralogical proclivities he proceeded to impose upon by pretending to discover valuable and workable veins on his estates. Raspe had "salted" the ground himself, and on the verge of exposure, he absconded. He finally moved to Ireland where he managed a copper mine on the Herbert Estate in Killarney. He died in Killarney, County Kerry, of typhoid, in November 1794.
The Baron Münchausen tales were made famous when they were "borrowed," translated into German, and embellished somewhat by Gottfried August Bürger in 1786 — and have been among the favourite reading of subsequent generations, as well as the basis of several films, including Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Today it is not known whether anyone during Raspe's lifetime was aware of his authorship of the Adventures, other than his friend
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
March 5, 2012
I read this as another "palette cleanser" before returning to the unending flood of short horror fiction. Baron Munchausen is a figure much better known in Europe than here in the United States, where his equivalent might be something like... Pecos Bill or Paul Bunyan, maybe? (actually, those who remember the Tennessee Tuxedo cartoon show will find the closest analog we have to The Baron in blustering, "understated" British adventurer Commander McBragg).
The Baron tells stories of his amazing adventures and, astounded as you may be, you must remember they are all true ("I have ever confined myself to the facts" he states)! Being that the book is from 1785 or so, those modern readers who need crutches like "characters" and "plot" need not apply, as these tales are basically straight-ahead narration of events in a standard travelogue format - but what travels! Hunting trips, sea voyages, battles, explorations, diplomatic visits - everywhere from the surface of the moon to the inside of a sea-monster is touched upon. The Baron himself has amazing strength, speed, agility and perseverance ("persevere and fortune will second your endeavors" he says at one point - truly, he is the living embodiment of the old adage, "those that dare, win") but his astounding luck is also a factor. Horses jump through windows and dance on tea-tables, upsetting not one piece of china, wolves eat their prey from the inside out, elk sprout trees between their antlers when hit with cherry stones used for musket shot in a pinch, men survive inside a sea-monster and a bridge is built between Britain and Africa! Through it all, The Baron remains an charming, affable chap (although those for who violence to animals is a singular disturbance should avoid this book), kind to those in need and patriotic to a fault. Those who find the second section of the book - which leaves off the more straight-ahead tall tale type antics for some extended forays into a world-wide chase, diplomatic work, appearances by Don Quixote (which makes perfect sense) and the defeat of the spirits of Beelzebub, Rousseau and Voltaire along with a solution for the French Revolution - well, I see the point but I quite liked the different tack taken by the later section, allowing some good fun to be poked at the more political and social mores of the day (The Baron is appalled when he discovers a race of Africans who run slaving raids on British shores, and how these natives justify their trade because they believe that white men have no souls! Pretty damn dangerous satire for the 18th Century!).
There are a number of interesting strains running through the book. Bragging and lying are obvious, but touches of fantasy (Queen Mab's coach) and mythology (Gog & Magog) are evident, as well as the dream-logic of fairy tales (Munchausen escapes from the moon and lowers himself back to earth by tying a segment of plant stalk, climbing down, then untying the top and retying it to the bottom - don't try this at home!). There's also the occasional Rabelaisian touch, as the Baron plugs a hole in a ship with his bottom , or assures us of the noble parentage of a rival by describing the man's father (in glowing terms) as a guttersnipe and his mother as a woman who could refuse no man and later let Pope Clement XIV "sample her oysters".
Imagination is left to soar - the Library of Alexander is rediscovered! Oceans of wine are sailed! Enormous cheeses landed upon! The Baron falls through Etna and out the other side of the world! The Baron, in some ways, is a relic of a previous time when anything was possible ("Munchausen is a madman run riot in the age of reason", as the Introduction by David Blow puts it) - I am reminded of the rather wry joke that opens Terry Gilliam's wonderful cinematic celebration of the Baron, wherein we see a war-besieged, miserable walled town and the card soberly notes this is the late 18th Century - "The Age of Reason". And then we meet the Baron, who is dying...
My favorites moments were:
The aforementioned adventure of the stag with the cherry tree in its head (if St. Hubert can see a stag with antlers like a cross, why not a cherry tree?)
The attack by the deadly SEA-HORSE, terror of the seas (although it itself cannot swim!)
The "cooking animal" that trees on the moon produce!
The discovery that lobsters, crabs, oysters and the like are actually the fruit of enormous undersea trees!
The revelation that hailstones are actually the stones of grapes from the moon and if only treated correctly, would produce a wondrous moon-wine!
A fun, diversionary read!
The Baron tells stories of his amazing adventures and, astounded as you may be, you must remember they are all true ("I have ever confined myself to the facts" he states)! Being that the book is from 1785 or so, those modern readers who need crutches like "characters" and "plot" need not apply, as these tales are basically straight-ahead narration of events in a standard travelogue format - but what travels! Hunting trips, sea voyages, battles, explorations, diplomatic visits - everywhere from the surface of the moon to the inside of a sea-monster is touched upon. The Baron himself has amazing strength, speed, agility and perseverance ("persevere and fortune will second your endeavors" he says at one point - truly, he is the living embodiment of the old adage, "those that dare, win") but his astounding luck is also a factor. Horses jump through windows and dance on tea-tables, upsetting not one piece of china, wolves eat their prey from the inside out, elk sprout trees between their antlers when hit with cherry stones used for musket shot in a pinch, men survive inside a sea-monster and a bridge is built between Britain and Africa! Through it all, The Baron remains an charming, affable chap (although those for who violence to animals is a singular disturbance should avoid this book), kind to those in need and patriotic to a fault. Those who find the second section of the book - which leaves off the more straight-ahead tall tale type antics for some extended forays into a world-wide chase, diplomatic work, appearances by Don Quixote (which makes perfect sense) and the defeat of the spirits of Beelzebub, Rousseau and Voltaire along with a solution for the French Revolution - well, I see the point but I quite liked the different tack taken by the later section, allowing some good fun to be poked at the more political and social mores of the day (The Baron is appalled when he discovers a race of Africans who run slaving raids on British shores, and how these natives justify their trade because they believe that white men have no souls! Pretty damn dangerous satire for the 18th Century!).
There are a number of interesting strains running through the book. Bragging and lying are obvious, but touches of fantasy (Queen Mab's coach) and mythology (Gog & Magog) are evident, as well as the dream-logic of fairy tales (Munchausen escapes from the moon and lowers himself back to earth by tying a segment of plant stalk, climbing down, then untying the top and retying it to the bottom - don't try this at home!). There's also the occasional Rabelaisian touch, as the Baron plugs a hole in a ship with his bottom , or assures us of the noble parentage of a rival by describing the man's father (in glowing terms) as a guttersnipe and his mother as a woman who could refuse no man and later let Pope Clement XIV "sample her oysters".
Imagination is left to soar - the Library of Alexander is rediscovered! Oceans of wine are sailed! Enormous cheeses landed upon! The Baron falls through Etna and out the other side of the world! The Baron, in some ways, is a relic of a previous time when anything was possible ("Munchausen is a madman run riot in the age of reason", as the Introduction by David Blow puts it) - I am reminded of the rather wry joke that opens Terry Gilliam's wonderful cinematic celebration of the Baron, wherein we see a war-besieged, miserable walled town and the card soberly notes this is the late 18th Century - "The Age of Reason". And then we meet the Baron, who is dying...
My favorites moments were:
The aforementioned adventure of the stag with the cherry tree in its head (if St. Hubert can see a stag with antlers like a cross, why not a cherry tree?)
The attack by the deadly SEA-HORSE, terror of the seas (although it itself cannot swim!)
The "cooking animal" that trees on the moon produce!
The discovery that lobsters, crabs, oysters and the like are actually the fruit of enormous undersea trees!
The revelation that hailstones are actually the stones of grapes from the moon and if only treated correctly, would produce a wondrous moon-wine!
A fun, diversionary read!
December 18, 2021
Don't let this one fool you: it's not your ordinary adventure novel. It's a collection of short, bracing tall tales that beat you over the head with whimsy and shock you with their casual violence. It's completely over the top. There isn't much of an overarching narrative, but in this case I feel the work would have been sorely disappointing had it attempted to craft one.
The fictional Baron is a character so completely and charmingly ridiculous that you can't help but crack the book open for a good yarn now and again. It's fun, it's bizarre, and it's fiercely imaginative. Definitely a classic worth checking out, though it does lack a bit of staying power in the long run. Not only that, but sitting down and reading this cover to cover can be a bit exhausting.
Let this be a warning to you! (But also an encouragement)
The fictional Baron is a character so completely and charmingly ridiculous that you can't help but crack the book open for a good yarn now and again. It's fun, it's bizarre, and it's fiercely imaginative. Definitely a classic worth checking out, though it does lack a bit of staying power in the long run. Not only that, but sitting down and reading this cover to cover can be a bit exhausting.
Let this be a warning to you! (But also an encouragement)
October 22, 2022
This was sort of funny for about 10-15 pages, then it got very old very fast. By the end, it was absurd to the point of nonsense.
April 19, 2024
If you thought Jarry's Faustroll was a journey of archaic sci-fi absurdist nonsense- check this one out; by Jove!
April 29, 2016
An interesting book; though I must say the first half is markedly better than the second, hence the three stars. It's like Raspe (erm, I mean, the Baron) was trying a different strategy in the secornd part of the book; to tell a continuous narrative with events that are only loosely connected: it becomes far too complicated and I was starting to glaze over.
The first part, however, is genius. The Baron Munchhausen, he is the MOST INTERESTING MAN IN THE WORLD. That Dos Equis man, has nothing on him. There is no moral to these stories, they're just tall tales, but with the movie it can be extrapolated about a time of imaginative storytelling, where things don't have to make sense. We've seemed to lose this today, where even fantasy shows are subject to the instant scrutiny of wikifact checkers, and plot holes are never left for the sake of the narrative. However, I am out of place with this nostalgia, but it seems to me, someone today sitting around a table of grog with friends telling tales of the same magnitude would be ignored, heckled with aggression, or treated as annoying, instead of his stories being enjoyed for their sake. Shut up, the hockey game's on.
The first part, however, is genius. The Baron Munchhausen, he is the MOST INTERESTING MAN IN THE WORLD. That Dos Equis man, has nothing on him. There is no moral to these stories, they're just tall tales, but with the movie it can be extrapolated about a time of imaginative storytelling, where things don't have to make sense. We've seemed to lose this today, where even fantasy shows are subject to the instant scrutiny of wikifact checkers, and plot holes are never left for the sake of the narrative. However, I am out of place with this nostalgia, but it seems to me, someone today sitting around a table of grog with friends telling tales of the same magnitude would be ignored, heckled with aggression, or treated as annoying, instead of his stories being enjoyed for their sake. Shut up, the hockey game's on.
May 27, 2018
Fantastic tales. The first half is the best, though the stories are at times so wild you may find yourself tired and unable to read too many in one sitting.
The second half, while not as fantastic, tell a continuous story and are much easier to digest.
There is also a nice Afterword at the back which discusses the authorship and character, which is quite interesting.
The second half, while not as fantastic, tell a continuous story and are much easier to digest.
There is also a nice Afterword at the back which discusses the authorship and character, which is quite interesting.
May 23, 2015
Review to follow
Currently reading
October 6, 2022Just the note of authenticity from Gulliver, Aladdin and Sinbad at the beginning of this book was enough for me to know that I am in for a ride.
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June 13, 2023The cosmopolitan author, mineralogist, and swindler Rudolf Erich Raspe published The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen in the late 18th century, and it’s still readily available today. For me it’s mildly interesting but far too monochromatic in tone, recounting one absurd adventure after another in language that rarely varies or surprises, notwithstanding the “surprising” in the title. Recommended for diehard fantasy devotees only.
July 3, 2023
I enjoyed the beginning when the Baron was fighting wolves and bears with his bare hands, however things became increasingly ridiculous. It was more silly and less fun, and the prose became increasingly purple. You need a bit of staying power past the halfway mark. By the time Don Quixote turned up I'd really had enough but, like the Baron himself, I don't quit easily so I finished the book, however not without a sigh of relief.
March 17, 2025
Although a somewhat famous book, stories of heroism were totally absurd. Which, I suspect was the reason for notoriety of lead character.
June 22, 2025
Very bizarre book, but a fun read.
January 14, 2015
Can you discuss Baron Munchausen without bringing up Don Quixote? I read Quixote last year and was delighted, enchanted, throughly engrossed in a wartime missive that acted both as a time capsule for all literature that had come before it and as a scathing send-up of the sadism of the upper class. Instead of going in with a vague notion of what I was going to get (mad fantasy?), I went in wondering how it would compare in the shadow of the colossus.
It is not Quixote, though that famous knight of La Mancha does make an appearance- Munchausen reads like Lord Dunsany or Winsor McCay, reads like watching George Melies. The real world merged with the hilariously improbable. For example, have you heard of the brave Lord such-and-such who fired the world's largest piece of artillery? Well, the Baron tucked the giant gun under his arm, swam to the other side of the sea and missed his footing throwing it back, which is why it is halfway across on the seafloor. It should also be noted that Lord such-and-such's mother was Italy's most famous oyster seller and his father was the Pope, who was passing through town that day. From here to the moon and beyond, improbability turns to utter topsy-turvy, replete with monsters, marvels, and more than a little satire.
I am happy to finally have read this, as I feel many older authors I enjoy probably did at some point in their youths, and aping the experience of the greats is pleasing to me.
It is not Quixote, though that famous knight of La Mancha does make an appearance- Munchausen reads like Lord Dunsany or Winsor McCay, reads like watching George Melies. The real world merged with the hilariously improbable. For example, have you heard of the brave Lord such-and-such who fired the world's largest piece of artillery? Well, the Baron tucked the giant gun under his arm, swam to the other side of the sea and missed his footing throwing it back, which is why it is halfway across on the seafloor. It should also be noted that Lord such-and-such's mother was Italy's most famous oyster seller and his father was the Pope, who was passing through town that day. From here to the moon and beyond, improbability turns to utter topsy-turvy, replete with monsters, marvels, and more than a little satire.
I am happy to finally have read this, as I feel many older authors I enjoy probably did at some point in their youths, and aping the experience of the greats is pleasing to me.
February 10, 2021
Compared to other classic fantasy adventures of political satire, such as Gulliver's Travels or Utopia, or Candide, this one is the most disjointed. This may because only part of the book was actually written by Raspe, with other adventures stolen from other sources. Munchausen's adventures are so ridiculous, as to not be believable at all. Some of the most outlandish stories include a trip to the moon, travel to an island made of cheese, and construction of a bridge that goes from somewhere in the heart of Africa to England. And the reader is not endeared to Munchausen, because he is not just a liar but a narcissist as well. As for the writing, it is not very complex. In addition, some of the book is almost unreadable and makes no sense, especially his fight with Don Quixote. This edition is well worth reading because of the classic illustrations by J. B. Clark and William Strang and the explanatory essays.
August 31, 2014
I bought this book because Neversink Library and Terry Gilliam. I haven't seen the movie yet, somehow, and thought it would be nice to read the book first. I knew almost nothing about it, and as it turns out, this is one of the rare books where I wish the afterword had been the foreword. It would have explained the differences in tone and provided a helpful context for the stories.
I did quite love many of the early stories, the ones, as it turns out, most likely to have been written by Raspe himself. These are the stories with the most in common with tall tales more familiar to American audiences: Pecos Bill, Babe the big blue ox, etc. Grand stories of overstatement and humor. As the book goes on, the tone becomes more satirical, more political, less good-natured, and these stories were almost certainly written by imitators wanting to glom onto the Munchausen "brand."
I did laugh quite a bit, especially in the beginning, and the illustrations are fantastic. The afterword was also very interesting. Treatment of women and black people was poor, even if the most offensive bit was intended to be a satire of slavery.
Would give the first volume 4 stars, the second 3, if I could.
I did quite love many of the early stories, the ones, as it turns out, most likely to have been written by Raspe himself. These are the stories with the most in common with tall tales more familiar to American audiences: Pecos Bill, Babe the big blue ox, etc. Grand stories of overstatement and humor. As the book goes on, the tone becomes more satirical, more political, less good-natured, and these stories were almost certainly written by imitators wanting to glom onto the Munchausen "brand."
I did laugh quite a bit, especially in the beginning, and the illustrations are fantastic. The afterword was also very interesting. Treatment of women and black people was poor, even if the most offensive bit was intended to be a satire of slavery.
Would give the first volume 4 stars, the second 3, if I could.
December 30, 2020
The variety of tall tales and deadly exploits makes for an uneven account of a guy who might have been a cultural icon but really was a rascal: not so much the eponymous Baron of this story and many others, but the erstwhile author Rudolf Erich Raspe. He cobbled together anecdotes, fables, historical voyages, fantastical flights and just mean-spirited put-downs of leading figures of the late eighteenth century. Earlier chapters give the sense of being in a bar with Munchausen as he spins stories to swindle another round from his audience, with square brackets stage directions to suggest that Raspe was there, but later parts of this book betray this firsthand conceit as the German baron become increasingly more an English pantomime that than actual aristocrat. Wish this edition of the Surprising Adventures had more of the Six Wonderful Servants that became an integral part of the arguably more authentic German version of the story. Most of this book felt like a slight expansion of the synopses found in the table of contents with little thought given to narrative whole, as if there weren’t enough examples of how books work at this point in early modern literature!
March 18, 2021
A hilariously absurd read that had me laughing out loud many times, which is rare for me whilst reading.
I grew up watching and loving the Terry Gilliam movie and didn’t even know, or even consider, that this was based on a book (tradition, it might be called). I had to read it once I learned about it and it was not disappointing!
I would put a caveat here for people coming from the movie to the book. If you want to read the movie in book form, you will be disappointed. The movie was an extension of the form of outlandish tale attributed to the Baron and not a movie based on the book directly. The movie, of course, winks and nods at the book frequently. However, if you want more stories like the movie, you are in for a treat. Although, it’s more like short tales instead of one narrative.
I even think the author’s story is worth the price of admission for this book, so read the introduction and afterword as well. A caricature written by a caricature.
Wunderbar!
I grew up watching and loving the Terry Gilliam movie and didn’t even know, or even consider, that this was based on a book (tradition, it might be called). I had to read it once I learned about it and it was not disappointing!
I would put a caveat here for people coming from the movie to the book. If you want to read the movie in book form, you will be disappointed. The movie was an extension of the form of outlandish tale attributed to the Baron and not a movie based on the book directly. The movie, of course, winks and nods at the book frequently. However, if you want more stories like the movie, you are in for a treat. Although, it’s more like short tales instead of one narrative.
I even think the author’s story is worth the price of admission for this book, so read the introduction and afterword as well. A caricature written by a caricature.
Wunderbar!
July 31, 2014
I so wanted to like this more than I did. I loved the Terry Gilliam movie from back in the day and this is the original source book. Munchausen was a real person who lived thru most of the 18th Century and was apparently a teller of very tall tales. After he died, his fame (or infamy) grew and people started writing and embellishing his stories.
This version was first published in English by Raspe in 1785. Each chapter was pretty much a stand alone exploit, so I treated it like I would a short story anthology, where I could put it down for a while when something else caught my eye. I found it was too easy to not come back and finish, evidenced by how long it took me to finish.
Meh.
S: 1/5/14 F: 7/29/14 (206 Days)
This version was first published in English by Raspe in 1785. Each chapter was pretty much a stand alone exploit, so I treated it like I would a short story anthology, where I could put it down for a while when something else caught my eye. I found it was too easy to not come back and finish, evidenced by how long it took me to finish.
Meh.
S: 1/5/14 F: 7/29/14 (206 Days)
April 25, 2019
A truncated Guliver's Travels with all the narrative and metaphor removed and replaced with light hearted silliness and gratuitous brutality towards animals. It has lovely language but is essentially a disjointed collected of numerous very short stories barely threaded together.
I was initially surprised by just how relatively difficult it was to find an unabridged version of this work but I can now understand why, the way it is structured makes it very easy to abridge and the mix of repetition and occasional brutality in the tales gives prospecting editors reason to do so.
Overall it comes close to be the good kind of silly but just falls short.
I was initially surprised by just how relatively difficult it was to find an unabridged version of this work but I can now understand why, the way it is structured makes it very easy to abridge and the mix of repetition and occasional brutality in the tales gives prospecting editors reason to do so.
Overall it comes close to be the good kind of silly but just falls short.
November 14, 2013
I grew up with stories about the strange adventures of Baron Munchausen, who was my grandmother's favorite source of bedtime stories, which I'm fairly certain she made up, using the basic premise of the Baron for inspiration. As a result, I always thought of the Baron as being a folktale, and only learned about this novel as an adult. I was thrilled to pick up this handsome edition some time ago, and am very happy to say that the novel fully lived up to my expectations. Ridiculous, violent, hilarious and often completely strange, it was a delight to read.
February 9, 2015
Not a solid four stars but, as explained in the Afterword, only Chapters 2-6 (about 34pp) in the edition reprinted by Melville House are the original Munchausen stories by Raspe. The rest are the work of hack writers expanding on the form of Voyages Imaginaires for profit. As such they're kind of terrible and a sad pastiche of Swift's satire.
But those original 34 pages are such wonderful tall tales that they're worth the rest of the book (as is the tale of Raspe's life).
But those original 34 pages are such wonderful tall tales that they're worth the rest of the book (as is the tale of Raspe's life).
July 7, 2014
I've always loved this story after first seeing Terry Gilliam's movie. I have read other installations, but read this one to the kids and they loved it too. Especially part one as you wonder if part two isn't slightly racist, albeit a widely exploited notion at that time. The translation's vocabulary is vast and poetic. Brilliant.
June 22, 2012
Charmingly ludicrous and utterly mad, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is a very fun read. I do think, however, that it's probably best dipped into every now and again, and not read straight through, otherwise the book will quickly lose its charm and become rather grating.
July 26, 2013
Violent, no character development or plot progression. It's a series of mildly entertaining but seemingly unrelated vignettes. One of those classics that's probably important in the history of literature but is lost on me.
February 22, 2021
Fun read though lots of mediocre writing as well. The intro about the author is more fascinating than the book itself. Watch Terry Gilliam’s movie though. Far, far superior, although you can see where he drew inspiration and ideas from the book.
December 7, 2014
In all honesty, I bought this mostly for the 1895 illustrations by Strang & Clark. On their own, they get 5 stars. Otherwise, I prefer the Terry Gilliam movie (blasphemy, I know).
December 1, 2012
There sure are a lot of animal corpses in this book. I wasn't informed the Baron was from Texas.
July 11, 2018
I was laughing out loud all the time. Great book that made me read without stopping. I love this book and this is the third time I'm reading it. I so love it.
March 22, 2017
A fun little diversionary read.
Reminds me a little of Gargantua and Pantagruel, only throw in some Three Stooges and McGyver. :)
Reminds me a little of Gargantua and Pantagruel, only throw in some Three Stooges and McGyver. :)
December 3, 2018
Some good some bad
The classic chapters are good but some pf them are a bore, me being a non native english speaker didn’t help
The classic chapters are good but some pf them are a bore, me being a non native english speaker didn’t help
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