3 h 15 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the sensible life is the one that keeps you from the world you long for?
In Dresden, poor, clumsy student Anselmus hears wonders in an elder tree. Serpentina, a small golden green snake with deep blue eyes, draws him toward a hidden world. Around him, coffeehouses, clerks and tea parties carry on as though common sense can explain everything.
Archivist Lindhorst hires Anselmus to copy rare manuscripts, but his strange house unsettles the student. Meanwhile, Veronica Paulmann loves Anselmus and imagines a comfortable marriage. In E. T. A. Hoffmann’s The Golden Pot, he feels the pull of two lives: respectable security, and a world of poetry, nature and love.
What you’ll discover
- Magic amid ordinary streets Enter a Dresden where wonders break into the familiar world of clerks and coffeehouses.
- A wonderfully awkward dreamer Follow Anselmus as his clumsiness meets a longing that ordinary life cannot satisfy.
- Two futures pulling hard Feel the tension between Veronica’s comfortable hopes and Serpentina’s invitation to a hidden world.
- Common sense meets wonder Meet orderly schoolmasters and an odd archivist in a fairy tale with sly humor.
- A story told in darkness Explore twelve short vigils whose shifting narrator and dreamlike logic keep certainty out of reach.
Is it for you?
This is for readers who like fantasy with a sly sense of humor, and for anyone curious about German Romanticism. If you want a plain plot with clear rules, the dreamlike logic and the shifting narrator may feel slippery.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A clumsy student meets an elder tree
- Respectable Dresden pulls the other way
- The archivist's house is not what it seems
- A rival love and an old woman's spell
- Two worlds, and a soul pulled between them
- Twelve vigils and a narrator who steps forward
Who’s who
- AnselmusA poor, clumsy student in Dresden who hears and sees wonders in an elder tree and longs for a life of poetry.
- SerpentinaA small golden green snake with deep blue eyes, whose voice and gaze draw Anselmus toward a hidden world.
- Archivist LindhorstA stern, odd official who collects rare manuscripts and hires Anselmus to copy them, and who seems to know far more than he says.
- Veronica PaulmannThe Konrektor's sensible daughter, who loves Anselmus and dreams of a comfortable married life with him.
- Konrektor PaulmannVeronica's father, a schoolmaster who likes order, company and a good bowl of punch, and who trusts only common sense.
- Registrator HeerbrandA young court clerk and family friend who is steady, ambitious, and sure of his place in the practical world.
- Old LieseVeronica's former nurse, a fortune teller with dark powers, who becomes tied to the apple woman Anselmus offended.
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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The Golden Pot
by E. T. A. Hoffmann· 1814
A student is drawn between ordinary life and a magical world.
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Language: English
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A clumsy student meets an elder tree
The story opens on Ascension Day in Dresden. Anselmus, a student with no money and a talent for disaster, hurries toward the Black Gate in the afternoon crowd. Just before he reaches it, he crashes into a basket of apples and cakes belonging to an old market woman. Everything spills, and she curses him in a way that is far too fierce for a simple accident. She tells him he will end up under glass, crystal in a crystal.
Shaken and almost penniless, Anselmus gives her the little purse he has been saving. Then he wanders off to the banks of the Elbe and lies down beneath an elder tree to feel sorry for himself. This is where the fairy tale begins. He hears a rustling and a tinkling in the branches, like tiny crystal bells, and then whispered words that seem to come from the leaves.
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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).
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What is The Golden Pot about?
It tells of Anselmus, a poor student in Dresden who sees magical snakes in an elder tree and takes work with a mysterious archivist. He must choose between an ordinary life and a world of poetry and wonder.
Who is Serpentina in The Golden Pot?
Serpentina is one of three golden green snakes Anselmus sees in the elder tree. She has deep blue eyes, speaks to him in a tinkling voice, and stands for his longing for the poetic, hidden world.
What does a fairy tale from modern times mean here?
Hoffmann sets the marvels in real, contemporary Dresden, with clerks, coffeehouses and city gates, rather than in a faraway kingdom. The point is that wonder can break into everyday life at any moment.
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