Baron von Munchausen

or Baron Münchhausen

• a fictional character
  • named for the 18th century German aristocrat, Hieronymus Karl Friedrich von Münchhausen, who was known for his lively storytelling and exaggerated accounts of his military exploits in the Russo-Turkish War of 1737 and two later campaigns against the Ottoman Empire
• later, a German writer, Rudolf Erich Raspe, used Münchhausen's name for satirical stories about an adventurer and itinerant exaggerator and liar about ridiculous events
• Raspe knew the real von Münchhausen, and used some of the real Baron's stories, along with other sources
  • he published the material during the latter years of the Baron's life
  • but used "M-h-s-n" instead of "Münchhausen" to identify the main character of his fiction
• the stories are in the same genre as Don Quixote, by Cervantes, the great Spanish writer.
  • Don Quixote is a character in some of the stories

Publications of Baron Munchausen

• "Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia"
  • published in England in 1785
• "The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen"
  • published in England in 1895
  • see The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen
  • Chapter 1 begins with the preface

[THE BARON IS SUPPOSED TO RELATE THESE ADVENTURES TO HIS FRIENDS OVER A BOTTLE.]

Some of the adventures of Baron Munchausen

• the Baron rides a cannonball
• the Baron travels to the moon
• the Baron is swallowed by a giant fish
• the Baron saves himself from drowning by pulling himself out of the water by his own hair
• the Baron fights a forty-foot crocodile
• the Barron fixes and rides his horse after it is cut in half

Illustrations of Baron Munchausen

• 

  A c. 1740 portrait of the real Münchhausen as an Imperial Russian Army officer in Riga

• 

  Munchausen rides the cannonball, as pictured by August von Wille.

• 

  The Baron travels underwater, illustrated by Gottfried Franz.

• 

  The Baron rides a half-horse, illustrated by George Cruikshank

• 

  The Baron picks up a carriage, illustrated by Theodor Hosemann

• 

  The Baron retrieved from the whale, illustrated by Gustave Doré