The novel “The Serapion Brothers” by the famous German romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776–1822) is a cycle of narratives united by the framing story of young writers - the Serapion brothers. Incredible events, vampires, necromancers, mysterious beauties come to life on the pages of a book that has not been completely published in Russian translation for more than 70 years.

In the year one thousand five hundred and fifty-one, it began to appear on the streets of Berlin for some time. , especially at dusk and at night, some very decent-looking lame gentleman, beautifully dressed, in a velvet beret with a red feather. His manners were polite, but his behavior was strange and greatly embarrassed the good people of Berlin...