The literary night piece is not sufficiently captured by E.T.A. Hoffmann's night pieces. Numerous night pieces differ thematically and materially from Hoffmann's, drawing on trivial romanticism. Their narrative intention is evident, among other things, in prefaces or afterwords and mottos, whose tone opposes Hoffmann's fantastical style. The texts examined include novels and stories from popular literature that romantically underpin and enrich the repertoire of contemporary love novels as well as knight, robber, and horror tales. The night piece varies familiar narrative forms with respect to a night-themed subject matter, presenting it in a sensational or erotic manner.