Customer Reviews

The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Anyone who ever laughed at the exploits of tall-tale heroes such as Paul Bunyan will instantly recognize the character of the Baron von Munchausen as the king of such heroes. His amazing and daring exploits are rife with hilarity and implausibility. It's part fairytale, part tall tale. The Baron is a figure of pure imagination (loosely based on a real person), a Quixotic figure. Do not confuse this book with a biography or history! Clearly the purpose of the book is to entertain and delight, which it does. The writing displays a superb creativity and imagination, combined with brilliant storytelling of the highest level. Just as you would not read Journey to the West seeking information on beauracratic procedures of ancient China, or Don Quixote de la Mancha seeking knowledge about Spanish funerary customs, you should not read this book looking to learn about the Munchausen family's history or current state. You should read it for the pure thrill of reading a good tale.

Most would be familiar with the image of Munchausen telling implausible tales with happy glee. The Raspe version is the "canonical" Munchausen story and it's very entertaining. I think that stories for children that mock reality are very good for both amusement and education and this book certainly has its share - for instance the Baron's famous pulling himself out of a bog by his own hair (in an alternate version by the bootstraps, which seems to have formed the origin for the word "bootstrapping" and a general metaphor). His tales also have the classic sense of unbelievable exploration tradition from works like the Arabian Nights and Marco Polo's travels, where exotic lands are described as being populated with people with one giant foot each and other niceties.

We laugh at Munchausen but not only so much for the tallness of his stories but also for his character traits such as his pomp and sense of self-importance. As is the case with MANY good children's books, they are philosophical and suit adults as well.

The only possible dent may be the portrayal of the Turks which would seem racist by some today. However, this is extremely mild compared to racism in many other classic works, and was certainly not enough to detract from my enjoyment (as was the case with certain other authors from the last few centuries).

If you've seen The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, you've only experience a fraction of the mischief Baron Munchausen got up to.

Beginning with an endorsement by Sinbad, Aladdin, and Gulliver notarized by the the Lord Mayor's porter, the Baron's adventures begin gently and pick up speed. The chapters are of an excellent length for a bedtime story, and weave together whimsy and vivid images. Fending off a lion and a crocodile at the same time (choking the croc with the lion), travelling by balloon over Turkey and Egypt, escaping beheading, travelling to the moon and back, mixing it up with the Sphynx, and meeting lovely ladies at every turn.

Brilliant, visionary, fun, ridiculous, with only a gentle touch of irony. A distinct improvement over the sullen irony that dominates the arts today. The Baron and the author are passionate and irreverent, and represent a high point in English literature.

Surrealism, fantasy, science fiction, and a host of artists of every stripe can trace their inspirations back to this magnificent work of imagination.

E. M. Van Court

The first half is a collection of tall tales. Most of the second half is the story of an expedition into the heart of unexplored Africa. I'd give the first half five stars and the second half two-and-a-half or three stars. Overall, it is worth the read. It's a fun book.

I read this book because I saw the old movie and wanted more of it. I wan't disappointed, though I think the first half was more exciting than the second half. This book is in public domain now so you can download it for free for an e-reader or on project Gutenberg.

This collection of anecdotes, adventures, and travelogues pretends to describe the life of the famous Baron Munchausen of Bodenweder in and around the turn of the 19th century, but it doesn't take long to realize what ridiculous fancies have been subducted throughout the text. Rather than seeking to preserve the facts, Munchausen's biographer has delved into the wildest of tall tales, ranging from the situationally bizarre to physically impossible to geographically untrue. Perhaps these stories, when they were first told to an uninformed public or to children, may have been treated with respect, but it takes a very unlearned person in today's age to believe more than a sentence of Raspe's fiction. In one narrative, the Baron rides his horse around on a dining room table. In another, he travels to Russia.

Perhaps the most telling aspect in the Baron's reputed travels is his repeated refutation of exaggeration and lie. The very introduction of this book is prefaced by a notice claiming complete ignorance of the absurdities filling his stories. Munchausen then vindicates the biography's factuality with affidavits allegedly sworn at the Mansion House in London. Who, however, supports his claims? In a testament to arrogant lying, Munchausen here is backed by none other than Gulliver, Sinbad, and Aladdin - three literary figures of equally unbelievable travel myths, none of whom were alive to sign such statements, and the former of which bearing a well-known and specific author attached to his conceptualization. Munchausen is not only making a mockery of his readers sensibilities, but fouling the reputation of notary officers in the royal British government.

What absurdities haven't been attributed to this hardly historical character? What does this say about the living Munchausen family but that they are unparalleled liars and scoundrels - should we continue such slander to such an established German name? Please leave this in the dustbin of low English storytelling.