Quirinus Kuhlmann is one of the most remarkable figures among German baroque authors and beyond in all of German literature. He himself regarded his life as a unique “miracle”, before he knew that his journey as a great poet and mystic would – after many fiery and rather grotesque undertakings – end at the stake. He was burned alive together with his books which testify to his chief goal in life: to restore the untainted Adamic word of God in German through his ecstatic language feats. This could only be achieved in his self-assumed role as the new poetic Messiah of the coming kingdom of Jesus.

Born in Breslau (Silesia) on 25 February 1651 to a Lutheran merchant, the first two decades of his life seem to f

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First published 02 July 2007

Citation: Hoffmeister, Gerhart. "Quirinus Kuhlmann". The Literary Encyclopedia. 2 July 2007.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11804, accessed 9 February 2010.]