E. T. A. Hoffmann: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|''“Why should not a writer be permitted to make use of the levers of fear, terror and horror because some feeble soul here and there finds it more than it can bear? Shall there be no strong meat at table because there happen to be some guests there whose stomachs are weak, or who have spoiled their own digestions?”''|'''Cyprian''', ''The Serapion Brethren''}}

Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann (1776-1822), better known by his pen name '''E. T. A. Hoffmann''' (he changed Wilhelm into Amadeus out of his admiration for [[Mozart]]), was a German author of the early 1800s, the early [[Romanticism]] era, known for his [[Gothic Horror|Gothic]] and fantastical stories.

 

 

This led to a [[Rock Bottom|troubled time in Hoffmann’s life]] during which he faced poverty, separation from his wife, and the death of his infant daughter, while looking for employment all over [[All the Little Germanies|Germany]]. For the following years (spent in Bamberg, Leipzig and Dresden), Hoffmann worked as a theatre manager, music teacher, stagehand, decorator, playwright, and musical director, but neither of these jobs lasted so long or was so well paid as to put him out of financial troubles. In 1813, he was again overtaken by war when the family experienced the Battle of Dresden.

Nevertheless, Hoffmann in 1809/10 achieved breakthrough both as a writer and music critic. But only when a twist of fate allowed him to resume his civil service career in [[Berlin]], he finally enjoyed financial security. He continued to write besides his day job, but alcohol abuse and syphilis – which he had contracted during his wandering years – led to his early death at the age of 46.

 

 

 

Hoffmann's literary fame has also overshadowed that in his own time, he was a fairly respected music critic – particularly known for his reviews of [[Beethoven]] – and himself a composer of Romantic music; his probably most ambitious and successful work being the opera ''Undine''.

Some sixty years after his death, Hoffmann also got an afterlife in fiction as the protagonist of Jacques Offenbach’s opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (''Les Contes de Hoffmann''), which itself has seen several adaptations.

 

* "The Golden Pot": A fairy tale novella.

* "The Sandman": The most famous of his short stories.

* "Mademoiselle de Scuderi": A [[Murder Mystery]] (but not yet a detective story).

 

* ''The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr, together with a fragmentary Biography of Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler on Random Sheets of Waste Paper'' (unfinished)

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* [[Author Avatar]]: Theodor in the [[Frame Story]] of ''The Serapion Brethren''. Also, to a degree, Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler, a character that had started out as a pseudonym Hoffmann used as a music critic, and became a protagonist in ''Kreisleriana'' (a cycle of short stories) and ''Tomcat Murr''.

* [[Author Existence Failure]]: Invoked -- in failing health, Hoffmann abandoned writing ''The Life and Opinions of Tomcat Murr''. His pet cat, also named Murr and an inspiration for the story, had died. The book was published with a note saying that its "author", Murr, had left it unfinished at his death.

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