I finally finished E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Devil’s Elixirs. Since Hoffmann wrote in German and I know maybe thirty German words at most, I read this in translation. The one I happened to pick up is by Ronald Taylor and I have no complaints about it. The English was smooth and easy to read. The novel was confusing in parts, but I think that’s the story’s fault, not the translator’s. I’m sure the story is just as complicated in German. The novel is narrated by the monk Medardus, who becomes the center of not one but two very complicated storylines.

The first starts out pretty simply: Medardus was born in a convent and raised to become a monk. He wants to be a good person, devoted to his faith, but he has a deep well of lust and pride and eventually the temptation is too much for him. He abandons his monastery to see the world and find the woman of his dreams. Fate, aided by the Devil’s Elixir (a holy relic he stole from his monastery), leads him to his doppelganger, a stranger who looks exactly like him. From that moment, both men’s fates are intertwined as Medardus becomes a debauched murderer and his doppelganger is blamed for Medardus’s own crimes. Medardus struggles with guilt that almost drives him mad, but even as he repents and returns to his faith he is still sorely tempted by pride and lust. The details get a bit confusing, but the way the two men’s stories intertwine gives the book a sense of drama and mystery that I quite liked.

The second plot explains why Medardus and his doppelganger look so much alike. This plot is so complicated that I resorted to writing diagrams of it, and even with that I’m confused on a few points. But this I know: Medardus and his doppelganger are half-brothers, the last brothers in a long line of incestuous, murderous sinners. It is up to them to resist foul temptation and end their cursed, sinful line forever. Neither man knows his family’s full story, and their ignorance only leads them further into temptation.

On the one hand, the confusing plots were no big deal, because the book is a lot of fun and Medardus’s emotional struggles are relatable and easy to understand. All the really important plot points are perfectly clear and exciting to read. On the other hand I got really frustrated–why make me puzzle out these crazy plot twists and impossible family connections if they’re not even important to the story? They’re just a distraction from the main conflicts.

There’s way too much confusion, but some of it serves a purpose. While the novel searches the depths of Medardus’s soul, it also questions the nature of reality. The lines between natural and supernatural, reality and hallucination, madness and conscience are all blurred. The main plot is confused partly because Medardus himself sometimes loses track of which are his own crimes and which are his doppelganger’s. At times the plot is like a hall of mirrors, where it’s hard to tell what’s real and which way to go. It’s silly and fun, but also deeply disturbing.

I enjoyed this novel. I’m not sure I entirely understood it, but I enjoyed it. The Devil’s Elixirs was inspired by Matthew Lewis’s infamous novel The Monk (which I read), and the parallels are pretty clear. Both are about young, handsome monks seduced by the world’s temptations and, more specifically, hot women who look like saints. Both feature intrigue and murder and Satanic forces. I think Hoffmann did it better, though. Both novels have their flaws, but Hoffmann’s characters are much more compelling and nuanced. Lewis is mostly trying to shock and excite his audience, but Hoffmann wants us to feel something more than that, and I think he succeeds.

I give The Devil’s Elixirs three haunted stars for high drama and thematic depth.