[The mentally ill artist in the work of E. T. A. Hoffmann in relation to psychological theories at that time].

The work of one of the greatest writers of German Romanticism, E.T.A. Hoffmann, incorporates a great deal of current medical knowledge, which Hoffmann used in a skillful and detailed manner in the portrayal of his characters and their motives. Immersed as he was in contemporary medical practice, an interest fuelled by his own deep-seated hypochondria, he was particularly taken with the works of Philippe Pinel, Johann Christoph Reil, Carl A.F. Kluge, and Gotthelf Heinrich Schubert, who were all interested in the working of the mind. This article demonstrates how attention to Hoffmans's medical reading list offers insights useful for critical understanding of his work, using as an example the analysis of the mad goldsmith Cardillac in one of Hoffmann's most famous stories, 'Das Fräulein von Scuderi'.