DAS FÄULEIN VON SCUDERI (1819) is one of Hoffmann's best known works; it has always attracted an enthusiastic readership, and the large number of critical works written about it continues to grow. Considerable disagreement remains, however, as to how the novella is to be interpreted. Very soon after its publication, two quite distinct readings had emerged. In February 1820, Rahel Varnhagen wrote: “Da blühen die Unwahrscheinlichkeiten und Widersprüche nur so […] Und vive l'auteur! schreit das deutsche Publikum. Nicht zum Verstehen.” In the same year a reviewer writing in the Jenaische Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung noted: “Der charakteristische Werth dieser Darstellung scheint uns in der genialen Leichtigkeit zu liegen, mit der der [Verfasser] nicht geringe Unwahrscheinlichkeiten beseitigt.”

Such differences of opinion, which still persist, revolve around two key issues. First, who is the main character? Is it Cardillac or Scuderi? And second, how does the story end? Does it end on a positive note insofar as the central protagonists bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion, or are we invited to take a more skeptical view of the denouement? Given the number of diametrically opposed interpretations of the story, it is hardly surprising that some critics have turned their attention to the formal qualities of the novella instead and viewed it as an early example of a detective novel. Fascinating though such discussions of genre are, they tend to be of little help in resolving differences of interpretation.