3 h 29 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 3 h 29 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if being called a good-for-nothing is your invitation to step into the world with a violin and a light heart?
In Joseph von Eichendorff’s From the Life of a Good-for-Nothing, a miller sends his idle son out to earn his living. The young dreamer takes to the road, playing and singing. A carriage carrying two ladies stops beside him, and his wandering leads him to a castle.
There, garden work and household duties leave room for music, daydreams and love. The narrator admires a young lady, but he is a servant and she belongs to another rank. Told in his plain, cheerful voice, this short romance follows a heart that has little use for plans.
What you’ll discover
- A cheerful wandering hero Meet a miller’s son who trusts his luck more readily than a carefully laid plan.
- Music along the road Follow the sound of a violin through a tale where songs break into daily life.
- Love across social ranks Share a young servant’s hopes as his feelings reach beyond his place at the castle.
- Gardens, castles and open roads Wander through places that give the narrator room to look, dream and sing.
- A gentle joke on usefulness Enjoy a playful challenge to the idea that every life must answer to work.
Who will love it
For readers who love wandering stories, German poetry, music and a gentle comic voice, and anyone tired of being told to be productive.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An idle son is sent out into the world
- A carriage ride leads to a castle
- Work, music and daydreams fill the days
- Misunderstandings send him back to the road
- The book is about wandering, love and play
- A simple voice, songs and a landscape of feeling
Who’s who
- The narratorA miller's son and a cheerful dreamer who plays the violin, trusts his luck and sets off into the world without any plan.
- The millerThe narrator's father, a hardworking man who calls his idle son a good-for-nothing and sends him out to find his own living.
- The young ladyA young woman at the castle whom the narrator admires from the garden and who becomes the centre of his hopes.
- The gardenerA steady worker at the castle who directs the narrator's first job there and watches his dreamy habits with doubt.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 3 h 29 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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La Vie d’un vaurien
by Joseph von Eichendorff · 1826
A miller's son leaves home with a violin and a light heart, trusting luck as he finds work and falls in love.
Medium level2–5 hours to read25 languages
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In short
From the Life of a Good-for-Nothing is a short tale by the German writer Joseph von Eichendorff, published in 1826. It is told by a young man who is called a loafer by his own father and who sets out into the world with nothing but a violin and a light heart.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
An idle son is sent out into the world
The story opens at a mill. The narrator is the miller's son, and he is a dreamer. While the mill wheel turns and the household works, he lies in the sun and lets the day pass. His father, who is busy and practical, has lost patience with him.
The father calls him a good-for-nothing. He says that the boy eats the family's bread and does nothing to earn it. It is a harsh judgment, but the story treats it lightly from the first page. The son does not argue or sulk. He takes it as the push he needed.
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What is From the Life of a Good-for-Nothing about?
It follows a young miller's son, scorned by his father as lazy, who leaves home with a violin and drifts from the road to a castle garden and on toward Italy, guided by luck, music and love.
When was From the Life of a Good-for-Nothing written?
Eichendorff published it in 1826. It is a work of fiction, not a true story, and it belongs to German Romanticism, which prized nature, song, wandering and feeling over strict order and profit.
Is From the Life of a Good-for-Nothing hard to read?
No. It is short, and its voice is simple and cheerful. The plot moves from episode to episode, and the language is lyrical but clear.
The author
Joseph von Eichendorff
1788–1857 · German Romantic poet and novelist
Joseph von Eichendorff (1788–1857) was a German poet and novelist. He was born at Lubowitz in Silesia, now in Poland. He worked as a Prussian civil servant and lived in Berlin. His novella From the Life of a Good-for-Nothing appeared in 1826. He died in Neisse, now Nysa, Poland.
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