Peter Schlemihl

Reception and cultural influence

The story, intended for children, was widely read and the character became a common cultural reference in many countries. People generally remembered the element of the shadow better than how the story ended, simplifying Chamisso's lesson to the idiom "don't sell your shadow to the Devil."

The story popularized the Yiddish word schlemiel for a hopelessly incompetent person, a bungler.[3]


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