ABSTRACT
The Judit Bartha's book consists of several parts. Bartha dedicates a specific chapter to questions of irony, Romanticism as well as the alter ego respectively. According to Bartha, a literary alias would not necessarily imply lying low, especially since it was apparent to all contemporary citizens of Copenhagen whom the alias referred to. Bartha is right to claim that melancholy is a side effect of being a genius. Bartha's interpretation of Hoffmann seems correct. The purpose of her analysis, that spans the chapter titled "The Rhetoric of Duplication", reveals how the concept of irony is applicable in practical terms. The concept of anxiety plays an essential role in Bartha's book. Soren Kierkegaard's book describes anxiety as a predicament that originates in the state of innocence. Bartha presents despair as the last stage the romantic poet will attain. The romantic self is of the utmost importance in Hoffman as well as in the era in which he lives.
