The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen: With linked Table of Contents

By Rudolph Erich Raspe

AT THE CITY OF LONDON, ENGLAND. We, the undersigned, as true believers in the profit, do most solemnly affirm, that all the adventures of our friend Baron Munchausen, in whatever country they may lie, are positive and simple facts. And, as we have been believed, whose adventures are tenfold more wonderful, so do we hope all true believers will give him their full faith and credence. GULLIVER. SINBAD. ALADDIN. Sworn at the Mansion House 9th Nov. last, in the absence of the Lord Mayor. JOHN (the Porter).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wilder Publications
• Release date: Oct 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9781633845046

Reviews for The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen

[joe73-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very enjoyable. Fast paced and exciting. Some of the pickles the Baron gets himself into are funny. Some are pretty dark. Overall a good, quick read.

[ghr4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The original Munchausen stories, those by R.E. Raspe in 1785 comprising the book's first section (Singular Travels, Campaigns and Adventures), are wonderful tall tales of the Baron's fantastical exploits. Raspe relates these funny and fast-paced tales using Munchausen's first-person voice, unspooling the fantastical adventures in a somewhat matter-of-fact, deadpan manner with an air of subdued bewilderment, which is quite charming and effective. The second half of the book, "The Sequel to the Adventures of Baron Munchausen," stories written later by other authors, are no match for the original tales: not nearly as fanciful, and told by far lesser storytellers. John Carswell's exhaustive introduction provides a wealth of background material on the history of the Munchausen tales.

[greeniezona · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[jhemlock-1711 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very enjoyable. Fast paced and exciting. Some of the pickles the Baron gets himself into are funny. Some are pretty dark. Overall a good, quick read.

[andy_dingley-103481 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A classic, but oddly disappointing. Indeed "the movie was better".This is just so fast-paced that there's no room for any depth or "texture" to it. Each escapade is only a page or two, so there's hardly room for an adjective. Those that are are mostly implausible superlatives. So it's a fascinating narrative and skeleton for a tale, but there's no meat on these bones.