August Bohse is best remembered for the galante Romane (novels of elegant eroticism) that he published between 1684 and 1708 under the pseudonym Talander. Though quite long by today's standards, they are generally shorter, with a more focused plot, than most baroque novels. Moreover, they lack the theological or transcendental underpinnings of earlier German novels, since they were written primarily for the entertainment rather than for the edification of readers. Bohse's novels are, therefore, generally regarded as early examples of popular writing without serious literary merit; but his adherence to a set of ideals that clearly derives from the baroque tradition suggests a more serious purpose. In addition to his novels, Bohse published several guides to letter writing and is believed to have been the first to use the term Briefsteller to refer not to the person composing the letter but to a handbook of various types of correspondence. Like...