Of the few surviving books and treatises by Kuhnau, perhaps the most important is "Der musicalische Quack-Salber" ("The Musical Quack"), a satirical novel published in 1700. It describes the fictional exploits of Caraffa, a German charlatan who strives to make a name for himself as musician by posing as an Italian virtuoso. The novel's literary qualities have been noted, one writer venturing to call it linguistically innovative, and it has also proven to be a singularly valuable source for performance practices of the late 17th century. Two other satirical works by Kuhnau are known: "Der Schmid seines eignen Unglückes" ("The Maker of His Own Misfortune", 1695) and "Des klugen und thörichten Gebrauchs der Fünf Sinnen" ("On the Clever and Foolish Use of the Five Senses", 1698). Some of Kuhnau's satirical concepts and story turns are influenced by Christian Weise's novels. Kuhnau knew Weise from his days at Zittau, where Weise worked as Rector of the Gymnasium, and Kuhnau used to provide music (now lost) for Weise's school plays.