DE LA „DER SANDMANN” LA DSM
FROM THE „DER SANDMANN” TO THE DSM

Summary/Abstract: The present study approaches the model of the maladapted genius, proposed by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, in the gallery of the great lunatics of the world literature. The short story ‚Der Sandmann’ describes the evolution of a psychosis triggered by post-traumatic stress, following an event from the protagonist's childhood. The jeweler in ‚Das Fräulein von Scuderi’ narrative anticipates the motif of the double (Doppelgänger) that will be successfully used by other authors. In ‚Die Elixiere des Teufels’, the hero, a young monk, is pursued by his evil alter-ego, identified today as a symptom of schizophrenia.

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