Peter Schlemiel
First edition frontispiece
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| Author | Adelbert von Chamisso |
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| Original title | Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte |
| Translator | Leopold von Loewenstein-Wertheim |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
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Publication date
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1814 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 246906885 |
Peter Schlemihl is the title character of an 1814 novella, Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte (Peter Schlemihl's Miraculous Story), written in German by exiled French aristocrat Adelbert von Chamisso.
In the story, Schlemihl sells his shadow to the Devil for a bottomless wallet (the gold sack of Fortunatus), only to find that a man without a shadow is shunned by human societies. The woman he loves rejects him, and he himself becomes involved in guilt. Yet when the devil wants to return his shadow to him in exchange for his soul, Schlemihl, as the friend of God, rejects the proposal and throws away the bottomless wallet besides. He seeks refuge in nature and travels around the world in scientific exploration, with the aid of seven-league boots. When overtaken with sickness, he is reconciled with his fellow men who take care of him, and in regard for his sickness do not look for his shadow. Finally, however, he returns to his studies of nature and finds his deepest satisfaction in communion with nature and his own better self.
The story, intended for children, was widely read and the character became a common cultural reference in many countries. People generally remembered the element of the shadow better than how the story ended, simplifying Chamisso's lesson to the idiom "don't sell your shadow to the Devil."
The Yiddish word schlemiel—and its Hebrew cognate shlumi'el—mean a hopelessly incompetent person, a bungler. Consequently, the name is a synonym of one who makes a desperate or silly bargain. Originally the name meant friend of God, Theophilus.
E. T. A. Hoffmann wrote Peter Schlemihl into his 1815 story A New Year's Eve Adventure, which is mostly about Erasmus Spikher, who gave away his reflection to the temptress Giuletta. Schlemihl and Spikher travel together and torment each other.
Peter Schlemihl and his lost shadow are mentioned in Nathaniel Hawthorne's short stories "" (1844) and "" (1842) from Mosses from an Old Manse.
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