The Elixirs of the Devil, Hoffmann's first major novel, presents all elements of the macabre, "the most terrifying and dreadful that the mind can conceive... In Göttingen, a student is said to have gone mad from reading this novel," wrote Heinrich Heine. The Elixirs initially immerse the reader, in the tradition of the Gothic novel, into a world of crime and dark powers. At the same time, the "nocturnal," the abyssal-demonic is also seen within humanity itself: this significantly deepens the psychological exploration, showcasing Hoffmann's modernity, which requires no fashionable updating. Alongside this novel, Hoffmann wrote numerous articles about musical events in Berlin from 1814 to 1816 and celebrated his greatest success as a musician with the premiere of his opera Undine at the Berlin Schauspielhaus.