author
W. G. Worfel
A wonderfully elusive early-20th-century writer, remembered for a single surviving novel that carries Baron Munchausen’s tall-tale spirit into a newer, more playful age. The result is a light, extravagant fantasy full of exaggeration, adventure, and knowing humor.
1 Audiobook
Munchausen XX
by W. G. Worfel
About the author
Very little firmly documented biographical information appears to survive about this author, which makes the work itself do most of the talking. What can be confirmed is that W. G. Worfel is credited as the author of Munchausen XX, a humorous fantasy novel published in 1904 by Rand, McNally, with illustrations by Richard Harvey Curtis.
Munchausen XX continues the tradition of the famous Baron Munchausen stories, leaning into outrageous adventures, playful invention, and the pleasure of a narrator who stretches truth past its limits. Modern catalog and public-domain records suggest this is the book Worfel is chiefly known for, and no widely available, reliable source uncovered here adds much more about the person behind the name.
That air of mystery can be part of the appeal. For listeners who enjoy rediscovered curiosities from the public-domain era, Worfel stands as one of those half-hidden literary figures whose reputation rests on one eccentric, spirited book.