The Devil's Elixir. From the German of E.T.A. Hoffmann; Volume 2

Die Elixiere des Teufels #2/2

by E.T.A. Hoffmann (Creator)

Hoffmann's eerie and captivating tale follows the journey of a young man who seeks the elixir of life from a mysterious stranger. With its dark twists and turns, The Devil's Elixir is classic Hoffmann, and a must-read for fans of Gothic literature. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

350 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2013

About the author

Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann, better known by his pen name E. T. A. Hoffmann (Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann), was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror, a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist. His stories form the basis of Jacques Offenbach's famous opera The Tales of Hoffmann, in which Hoffman appears (heavily fictionalized) as the hero. He is also the author of the novella The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, on which the famous ballet The Nutcracker is based. The ballet Coppélia is based on two other stories that Hoffmann wrote, while Schumann's Kreisleriana is based on Hoffmann's character Johannes Kreisler.

Hoffmann's stories were very influential during the 19th century, and he is one of the major authors of the Romantic movement.

Reviews

[Phil (Theophilus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elixir is about the dark descent into madness of a Cistertian monk. Hoffman did a masterful job of portraying the protagonist as believably sane when in reality, his psyche had split into two different ppl. I really enjoyed the character depictions & overall storyline. Disclaimer: if you are not a fan of history and your vocabulary/understanding of grammatically correct English is debatable, you probably won't like the story.

[Epikos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only issue is that the language is archaic, as is the style, but the storytelling is amazing! Highly recommended!