A story of love and friendship, of foible, revenge and vanity told with quiet humor and numerous digressions in Jean Paul’s inimitable language encompassing empathy and satire. The text of this edition follows Jean Paul: Werke in 2 vol., Aufbau Verlag, Berlin 1973 and leaves out interludes which Jean Paul inserted some time following the first edition of 1809. The drawings by Paul Scheurich (taken from a 1912 edition) caricature the story with a smile. To my knowledge this work has never been translated into English; I am not astonished: an impossible task to re-create a translation that comes anywhere near the original. You either love or hate Jean Paul’s writings. To Goethe and Schiller they remained an alien world, I treasure them. (VI-16) ( )