Bottomless
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Peter Schlemiel is the subject of an 1814 story by aristocratic French author Adelbert von Chamisso. In the story, Schlemiel sells his shadow to the Devil for a bottomless wallet, only to find that a man without a shadow is shunned by human society. The woman he loves rejects him, and he spends the rest of his life wandering the world in scientific exploration.
The story was widely read and the character became a common cultural reference in many countries, much as many of us might refer to "Robin Hood" to mean anybody who tries to help the poor by hurting the rich. As with Robin Hood, the story was basically intended for children. Generally, people remember the part about the shadow and forget how the story ends, simplifying Chamisso's lesson to "don't sell your shadow to the Devil."
Schlemiel appears in Offenbach's opera Les Contes d'Hoffmann.
The name is spelled a number of different ways, and the original was titled "Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte" ("Peter Schlemihl's Remarkable Story").
Sources:
- Peter Schlemiel : The Man Who Sold His Shadow