Our original title is Der Abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch, and our author's full name was Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen. Fortunately, the book in question isn't quite that much of a mouthful.
Published in 1669, about 20 years after the conclusion of the Thirty Years' War, this has been called the first masterpiece in the German language. Von Grimmelshausen was a veteran of that war, which started with an attempt by the newly-elected Holy Roman Emperor to bring the entire region into Roman Catholicism and eventually brought most of the great powers of Europe into the battle. So severe was this conflict that it eventually killed 20% of the German population. Nothing so destructive occurred there again until the tail end of World War II almost 300 years later. So it's pretty astonishing to find that this work is very funny.
Our narrator and main character, Simplicius, grows up in a hilly region in Bavaria, in what is now southern Germany. He receives no education and meets almost no people apart from his parents. When he does run across others, his utter lack of knowledge makes for a good deal of laughter (and gets him his name, as you might guess) until he comes into the hands of a deeply religious hermit. At this point he begins to learn, until he gets captured by first one, then another, and then another of the armies at war with each other.
He learns the soldier's profession, although he gives us little about battle or killing the enemy. Rather, he shows us how he learns to steal food and lead other men to do the same. His innocence and foolishness bring him to the attention of his officers, who use him to entertain the noble classes they must deal with, and thus he learns to brown-nose. He's so successful at these tasks that he develops quite a reputation as a fool and a thief, which brings him treasure and promotion, not to mention the jealousy of his comrades and even a string of beautiful women. Eventually he comes to the realization that this kind of worldly success is no more than successful sinning, and he returns to the life of a hermit.
In other words, "Adventurous Simplicissimus" is another "bildungsroman," or novel of a young person's education, like "Lazarillo De Tormes". The difference is not only that this one is in German, but that it takes place in wartime, which gives the protagonist even more opportunity than usual to experience just how mad the world is.
Most obviously, although Simplicius hears over and over from righteous men (and the occasional woman that he runs across) how critical it is to believe in, worship, and obey God, the most successful and comfortable people he meets are as worldly as they come, not to say sinful – angry, greedy, sneaky, jealous, and all the rest. There comes a point when, to escape from an underwater society (yes, underwater), he tells the people there that humans are without exception generous, kind, and virtuous. Needless to say, these people are themselves so righteous that they believe all his lies. This, of course, is not even to speak of the undeniable fact that the less virtuous Simplicius himself is, the richer and more powerful he gets. No wonder he becomes more and more attracted to vice, not to mention the fact that he eventually writes off the entire world.
Stories in which an innocent learns about the world and human society, and decides as a result that he or she wants nothing to do with it, are well known today. I don't suppose "Adventurous Simplicissimus" is the first such in human history, but it's hardly surprising that one of the best such stories comes to us against the background of one of the most chaotic and destructive wars in human history. Lucky for us it came out so entertaining.
Benshlomo says, Learning hard lessons by reading about them is a whole lot more pleasant than having to live through them.
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