Weird Tales

About this issue

This is Volume II of a new English translation of E.T.W. Hoffmann's Weird Tales (published 1885). The volume contains five Gothic and fantastic narratives by the German Romantic author. "The Doge and Dogess" opens the collection. A Berlin Academy painting depicting an elderly Doge and young Dogess stepping onto a Venetian balcony provokes debate among viewers about whether it depicts a mere allegorical moment or historical fact. A mysterious stranger reveals he can explain the picture through history. He recounts how Venice, besieged by Genoese captain Paganino Doria in August 1354, loses its compassionate Doge Andrea Dandolo at a moment of crisis. The Senate elects the nearly eighty-year-old Marino Falieri—renowned for his military prowess in the Black Sea despite his alleged fondness for Cyprus wine—to save the republic through forceful leadership. The narrative appears to explore themes of ambition, age, political necessity, and concealed passion within a Venetian historical setting. Also included: "Master Martin the Cooper," "Mademoiselle de Scuderi," "Gambler's Luck," and "Master Johannes Wacht," with a biographical essay on Hoffmann.