11 h 59 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 59 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the stranger who haunts you wears your face—and tempts you to abandon your own name?
Medardus is a gifted Capuchin monk, proud of his preaching and restless within the monastery walls. Against his prior’s warning, he drinks wine kept among the relics. His life begins to slip beyond his control, and a mysterious woman’s confession of love draws his desires into conflict with his vows.
In E. T. A. Hoffmann’s The Devil’s Elixirs, temptation leads into flight, disguise and a world of polished manners and hidden passions. Medardus tells his own story, yet cannot say whether he is guilty or cursed. When he encounters Viktorin, a count who looks like him, even his identity becomes uncertain.
What you’ll discover
- A dangerous first taste Enter a monastery where a bottle among sacred relics becomes the focus of forbidden curiosity.
- A face too familiar Meet Viktorin, whose likeness to Medardus makes another man’s identity a disturbing temptation.
- A confession under suspicion Follow a narrator whose account leaves guilt, pride and the possibility of a curse tangled together.
- Desire behind polished manners Step into a princely court where jealousy and ambition pull Medardus deeper into danger.
- The self as monster Explore the uneasy boundary between personal choice and a family’s shadow of possible damnation.
Who will love it
Readers who love Gothic tales, haunted doubles and stories of temptation, and anyone curious about German Romanticism and the way one strange bottle can make a respected man a stranger to himself.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Child Born Under His Father's Sin
- Success in the Pulpit Feeds Pride
- The Elixir Is Opened and Drunk
- A Dead Count's Name Changes Everything
- Castle Secrets Push a Monk to Crime
- A New Name, a Barber and a Strange Painter
- A Prince's Court Where Fate Is Played Like Cards
- Prison, Release and a Love That Cannot Last
- Doubles, Guilt and the Curse of Blood
- How Hoffmann Tells It
Who’s who
- Medardus (Franz)A Capuchin monk and gifted preacher, marked by his father's sin, who drinks a relic elixir and then lives under borrowed names.
- Prior LeonardusThe kind, shrewd head of the Capuchin monastery, who sees through Medardus and keeps trying to guide him back.
- AurelieA gentle, devout baroness whom Medardus loves and fears, and who longs for a love beyond the earthly.
- EuphemieThe Baron's clever and ruthless wife, who plays with people like puppets and wants Medardus as her partner.
- HermogenAurelie's brother, a broken young baron who wants to enter a monastery and sees through Medardus.
- Pietro BelcampoA comic, fast-talking barber who shaves Medardus, turns up again and again, and speaks wild words with sharp insight.
- The PainterA pale stranger in a purple cloak who watches Medardus in churches and inns and seems to know his whole story.
- Brother CyrillusAn old, gentle monk who guards the relics and warns Medardus never to open the box with the devil's bottle.
Formats and delivery
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- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Gli elisir del Diavolo
by E. T. A. Hoffmann · 1815
A monk drinks from a relic bottle of devil's wine and soon finds his own double walking beside him.
Challenging5–10 hours to readItaliano
Learn a language with challenging classicsSpagnoloFranceseTedescoItalianoGiapponesePortogheseIngleseHow we measure levels
Excellent
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In short
What happens when a holy man drinks the wrong wine? Brother Medardus is a Capuchin monk and a preacher so gifted that a whole city crowds into his church.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Child Born Under His Father's Sin
Medardus begins with what his mother told him. His father fell from wealth into poverty, committed a mortal sin, and went on pilgrimage to the Holy Linden Tree to atone. He dies at the very moment his son is born.
As a boy, Medardus meets an old pilgrim at the church. When a young artist mocks the pilgrim's group, the pilgrim curses him. Then he tells the mother that the father's sin boils in the boy's blood and that he should enter the clergy. Later an abbess presses the boy to her, and her diamond cross scratches his neck. The mark stays with him.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1815
- Language
- Italiano
- Reading time
- 7 h 50 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Hoffmann, E. T. A. The Devil's Elixirs. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-devils-elixirs.
Hoffmann, E. T. A. (2026). The Devil's elixirs. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-devils-elixirs (Original work published 1815)
Hoffmann, E. T. A. The Devil's Elixirs. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-devils-elixirs.
@book{hoffmann2026devils,
author = {Hoffmann, E. T. A.},
title = {The Devil's Elixirs},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-devils-elixirs},
note = {First published 1815}
}
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What is The Devil's Elixirs about?
It tells of Medardus, a Capuchin monk who drinks from a bottle said to hold the Devil's elixir. His pride and desire grow, he takes on false identities, and he is drawn into crime, love and a family curse.
Who is Medardus's double?
The double is a figure who looks exactly like Medardus and follows him, laughing and calling him little brother. Hoffmann keeps the question of what the double is, a ghost, a madman or a mirror of guilt, open for much of the book.
What does the elixir mean in the novel?
The elixir is a tempting drink handed down from Saint Anthony's legend. It wakes up pride and desire already in Medardus, so it stands for temptation that feeds on what a person already carries inside.
The author
E. T. A. Hoffmann
1776–1822 · German Romantic writer
E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776–1822) was a German writer, composer, and lawyer. He was born in Königsberg and died in Berlin. He wrote The Golden Pot (1814), The Devil’s Elixirs (1815–1816), Night Pieces (1816–1817), and The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (1819–1821).
More by E. T. A. Hoffmann
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