Mademoiselle de Scuderi - Interpretations

Interpretations

As Kaiser (1988, 75) has pointed out,

"In its apparent simplicity, contradistinguishes itself from those works in which Hoffmann himself was able to view the pinnacle of his aesthetic achievement (The Golden Pot and Tomcat Murr, for example). Nevertheless, the various interpretations that the story has inspired--as deserving of criticism as each may be in and of itself--have shown that, beneath the surface of a tightly organized text, the novella is truly a multilayered work."

Some of these interpretations are reviewed below.