Romantische Subversionen

The reception of E. T. A. Hoffmann as a representative of Dark Romanticism is firmly established in popular cultural institutions: This is particularly evident in contemporary productions of the opera »Les Contes d’Hoffmann« by Jacques Offenbach and Jules Barbier. In this study, the often trivialised understanding of Dark Romanticism is countered with a perspective that comprehends the phenomenon using the ideas of German Romanticism. Using Hoffmann’s texts and their re-conception in Barbier’s libretto, this study shows that scenographic forms of irony, the grotesque, subjectivism and the Serapiontic Principle provide the basis for Hoffmannesque Dark Romanticism—and are also effective beyond popularised stereotypes.