The volume combines two of Wieland's major works from 1764/1765. Der Sieg der Natur über die Schwärmerey, 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 Erzählungen (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 admitted his authorship of these risqué erotic tales, which are rightly seen as one of the major achievements of German rococo poetry.