Simplicissimus
Page 44
Farewell, o world, o base, vile world, o stinking, miserable flesh! It is because of you, for following, serving and obeying you, that the unrepentant sinner is sentenced to eternal damnation where nothing awaits him for all eternity but suffering without respite instead of past delights, thirst without assuaging instead of carousing, hunger without repletion instead of gluttony, darkness without light instead of splendour and magnificence, pain without relief instead of pleasure, wailing, crying and moaning instead of power and triumph, heat without cooling, fire without quenching, cold without measure and misery without end.
God be with you, o world, for then, instead of your promised pleasures and delights, evil spirits will seize the condemned soul and drag it down to hell in the twinkling of an eye where all it will see and hear will be the terrible figures of the devils and the damned, nothing but darkness and smoke, fire without brightness, screaming, wailing, gnashing of teeth and blasphemy. All hope of grace and mitigation will be gone, rank and position will count for nothing, the higher a person has risen and the greater his sins, the lower he will be cast down, the harsher the torment he will suffer. From those to whom much has been given, much will be demanded; the more splendour a person has received from you, o base, vile world, the more suffering and torture he will be given here, for that is what divine justice requires.
God be with you, o world, for although the body remains with you for a while, lying in the earth and rotting, it will rise again on the Day of Judgment and after the final sentence will burn in hell for all eternity with the soul. Then the poor soul will say, “Curses on you, world! You made me forget God and myself and follow you in dissipation, evil, sin and shame all the days of my life. Cursed be the hour when God created me! Cursed be the day when I came into the base vile world! O mountains, hills, rocks, come and fall on me and hide me from the terrible wrath of the Lamb, hide me from the face of Him who sits in the Seat of Judgment. Alas, woe is me, for all eternity alas!”
Therefore, o world, o unclean world, I beg you, I beseech you, I implore you, I admonish you, I protest that you shall have no part of me; and I for my part want no part of you, will not place my hopes in you, for you know what I have resolved, namely Posui finem curis, spes et fortuna valete – I have put an end to cares, hope and fortune, farewell!’
I pondered deep and long on all these words and was so moved by them that I abandoned the world and became a hermit once more. I would have liked to live beside my mineral spring in the depths of the forest, but the local country folk would not allow it, even though it was the right kind of wilderness for me. They were still afraid I would reveal the existence of the spring and their ruler would force them to build roads and paths to it, now that peace was well established. Therefore I went to another wilderness and once more lived the life I had in the Spessart, though whether I will persevere in it, like my father, I cannot say. God grant us His grace so that we all come to that which we most desire, namely a blessed
END.
German Literature from Dedalus
Dedalus features German Literature in translation in its programme of contemporary and classic European fiction and in its anthologies.
Androids from Milk – Eugen Egner £7.99
Undine – Fouqué de la Motte £6.99
The German Refugees – Johann Wolfgang Goethe £6.99
Simplicissimus – J. J. C. Grimmelshausen £12.99
The Life of Courage – J. J. C. Grimmelshausen £6.99
Tearaway – J. J. C. Grimmelshausen £6.99
The Great Bagarozy – Helmut Krausser £7.99
The Other Side – Alfred Kubin £9.99
The Road to Darkness – Paul Leppin £7.99
The Angel of the West Window – Gustav Meyrink £9.99
The Golem – Gustav Meyrink £6.99
The Green Face – Gustav Meyrink £6.99
The Opal (& other stories) – Gustav Meyrink £7.99
Walpurgisnacht – Gustav Meyrink £6.99
The White Dominican – Gustav Meyrink £6.99
On the Run – Martin Prinz £6.99
The Architect of Ruins – Herbert Rosendorfer £8.99
Grand Solo with Anton – Herbert Rosendorfer £9.99
Letters Back to Ancient China – Herbert Rosendorfer £6.99
Stefanie – Herbert Rosendorfer £7.99
The Maimed – Hermann Ungar £6.99
The Class – Hermann Ungar £6.99
Anthologies featuring German Literature in translation:
The Dedalus Book of Austrian Fantasy – editor M. Mitchell £10.99
The Dedalus Book of German Decadence – editor R. Furness £9.99
The Dedalus Book of Surrealism – editor M.Richardson £9.99
Myth of the World: Surrealism 2 – editor M. Richardson £9.99
The Dedalus Book of Medieval Literature – editor B. Murdoch £9.99