The volume combines two of Wieland's major works from 1764/1765. Der Sieg der Natur uber die Schwarmerey, oder die Abentheuer des Don Sylvio von Rosalva (The Victory of Nature over Madness, or The Adventures of Don Sylvio de Rosalva) is his first prose novel, written in the tradition of the Cervantic picaresque novel. His expertly crafted Comische Erzahlungen (Comic Tales) in verse - the scandal of 1765 - brought Wieland a reputation as a frivolous rococo poet and the charge of indulging in "Epicurean swinishness." It was not until twenty years later that the author...