Rudolf Erich Raspe (Author of The Adventures of Baron 惭眉苍肠丑补耻蝉别苍)

Rudolf Erich Raspe鈥檚 Followers (39)

Rudolf Erich Raspe

Born

in Hannover, Germany

March 20, 1736

Died

November 16, 1794

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Science, Nonfiction

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Rudolf 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 G枚ttingen and Leipzig and worked as a librarian for the university of G枚ttingen. In 1762, he became a clerk in the university library at Hanover, and in 1764 secretary to the university library at G枚ttingen. 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 p Rudolf 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 G枚ttingen and Leipzig and worked as a librarian for the university of G枚ttingen. In 1762, he became a clerk in the university library at Hanover, and in 1764 secretary to the university library at G枚ttingen. 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 惭眉苍肠丑补耻蝉别苍, 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 惭眉苍肠丑补耻蝉别苍 tales were made famous when they were "borrowed," translated into German, and embellished somewhat by Gottfried August B眉rger in 1786 鈥� 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 ...more

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Average rating: 3.78 · 8,925 ratings · 443 reviews · 98 distinct works 鈥� Similar authors

	The Adventures of Baron 惭眉苍肠丑补耻蝉别苍 3.80 avg rating — 8,186 ratings — published 1785 — 619 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen 3.42 avg rating — 428 ratings — 171 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolf Erich Raspe, Thomas Seccombe (Afterword), William Strang (Illustrator) 3.30 avg rating — 189 ratings — published 1785 — 47 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	袩褉懈泻谢褞褔械薪懈褟褌邪薪邪袘邪褉芯薪袦褞薪褏邪褍蟹械薪 by Rudolf Erich Raspe, 袗薪谐械谢袣邪褉邪谢懈泄褔械胁 (袩褉械褉邪蟹泻邪蟹邪谢), 啸褉懈褋褌芯袞邪斜谢褟薪芯胁 (啸褍写芯卸薪懈泻) 4.23 avg rating — 69 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	袩褉懈泻谢褞褔械薪懈褟斜邪褉芯薪邪袦褞薪褏邪褍蟹械薪邪 by Rudolf Erich Raspe, 袪褍写芯谢褜褎协褉懈褏袪邪褋锌械, Alphonse Daudet 3.96 avg rating — 28 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Karnamay Nawab Tees Maar Khan Ke / 讴丕乇賳丕賲蹝賳賵丕亘鬲蹖爻賲丕乇禺丕诤讴蹝 by Rudolf Erich Raspe, Ibn e Insha (Translator) 4.60 avg rating — 5 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	袩褉懈泻谢褞褔械薪懈褟斜邪褉芯薪邪袦褞薪褏谐邪褍蟹械薪邪 / 效褍写械褋薪芯械锌褍褌械褕械褋褌胁懈械袧懈谢褜褋邪褋写懈泻懈屑懈谐褍褋褟屑懈 by Rudolf Erich Raspe, Gottfried August B眉rger, Selma Lagerl枚f 4.50 avg rating — 4 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Children's Munchausen (1921) by Rudolf Erich Raspe, Gordon Ross (Illustrator), John Martin (Editor) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2008	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Aventuras del baron de M眉nchhausen really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Surprising Adventures of聽Baron Munchausen 2.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Rudolf Erich Raspe (?)

“Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever.”
― Baron Munchausen

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“If the Baron meets with a parcel of negro ships carrying whites into slavery to work upon their plantations in a cold climate, should we therefore imagine that he intends a reflection on the present traffic in human flesh? And that, if the negroes should do so, it would be simple justice, as retaliation is the law of God! If we were to think this a reflection on any present commercial or political matter, we should be tempted to imagine, perhaps, some political ideas conveyed in every page, in every sentence of the whole. Whether such things are or are not the intentions of the Baron the reader must judge.”
― Rudolph Erich Raspe, The Surprising Adventures Of Baron Munchausen

tags: slavery

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“Some travellers are apt to advance more than is perhaps strictly true; if any of the company entertain a doubt of my veracity, I shall only say to such, I pity their want of faith, and must request they will take leave before I begin the second part of my adventures, which are as strictly founded in fact as those I have already related.”
― Rudolph Erich Raspe, The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen

tags: fiction, raconteur, truth

1 likes

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Polls

May 2016 Old School Classic Poll

1877, Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, 245 pages

41 votes, 18.6%

1880, The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 776 pages

36 votes, 16.3%

1853, Villette by Charlotte Bront毛, 573 pages

29 votes, 13.1%

1852, Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, 438 pages

21 votes, 9.5%

1796, The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis, 386 pages

15 votes, 6.8%

1867, Th茅r猫se Raquin by 脡mile Zola, 201 pages

14 votes, 6.3%

1895, Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, 310 pages

13 votes, 5.9%

1833, Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin, 240 pages

11 votes, 5.0%

1886, The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, 445 pages

10 votes, 4.5%

1869, Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert, 460 pages

9 votes, 4.1%

1864, Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, 477 pages

8 votes, 3.6%

1785, The Adventures of Baron 惭眉苍肠丑补耻蝉别苍 by Rudolf Erich Raspe, 224 pages

8 votes, 3.6%

1859, Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov, 567 pages

6 votes, 2.7%

221 total votes

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