E.T.A. Hoffmann

[Kyriakos]

He is my favourite german writer (and one of very few german-speaking authors i like). Also i think he remains a unique writer, in that no one else has developed the thematology of the double self/split self more.
A child of divorced parents, it was theorised of him by Freud that he characteristically depicted the split created in the child's life by that dramatic event.

My favourite work by him is Probably the Sandman, but i like everything i have read of his work.

Have you come into contact with his creation? And if so, what do you think of it?

[LuggageFan]

I like the fact that he was in his 50's before he started writing. Shows it's never too late to succeed at something new.

But I did read The Golden Pot, and I have a collection with other works of his, and it was interesting. It's been a while now since I read it, but as I recall, it was full of symbolism. Also, the depicted society (naturally) is highly class-conscious and rigid. So parts of the story depended on readers subscribing to certain archaic European manners. So you have to put your mind in his timeframe.

[Seasider]

One of my favourite films is The Tales of Hoffman by Powell and Pressburger. Based on the Offenbach opera of the same name. Ravishing music and visuals and direction. Especially I love the famous Russian ballerina Ludmilla Tcherina singing the Bacarolle as a duet between herself and her reflection in a Venetian canal. Gorgeous film.
There's a more modern version Les Contes d'Hoffman with Placido Domingo in the title role.

[Lulim]

@Kyriakos, I read "The Devil's Elixir" / "Die Elixiere des Teufels", and I liked it a lot. It was quite different with "The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr" / "Lebens-Ansichten des Katers Murr" which I broke off because I felt it to be rather boring.

E.T.A. Hoffmann is not very well known in Germany anymore, and I can't remember having heard of him when I've been to school. I could think of quite a few better german writers, too.

[LuggageFan]

Have you come into contact with his creation? And if so, what do you think of it?

By the way, most people have come into contact with ETA Hoffmann - he wrote the story which was adapted by Tchaikovsky which would become The Nutcracker.

[Heteronym]

I liked The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr, or at least the parts written by Murr. Imagine an intelligent cat writing his autobiography, what a fantastic, hilarious premise! The other bits, about the life of a musician, are boring as hell though.

[stlukesguild]

By the way, most people have come into contact with ETA Hoffmann - he wrote the story which was adapted by Tchaikovsky which would become The Nutcracker.

Yes... I am somewhat surprised at the assertion that he was unknown in Germany if we only consider his influence on Tchaikovsky's ballet as well as upon Offenbach's opera, Tales of Hoffmann. I quite liked what I have read by him although admittedly I have not read a great deal.

[Lulim]

(...) Yes... I am somewhat surprised at the assertion that he was unknown in Germany if we only consider his influence on Tchaikovsky's ballet as well as upon Offenbach's opera, Tales of Hoffmann. I quite liked what I have read by him although admittedly I have not read a great deal.

I didn't mean to say he is unknown in Germany but he isn't as widely known as Goethe and Schiller, or contemporary (and more recent) writers like Grass, Böll, Brecht, Heine, Hesse, etc.

[LuggageFan]

I didn't mean to say he is unknown in Germany but he isn't as widely known as Goethe and Schiller, or contemporary (and more recent) writers like Grass, Böll, Brecht, Heine, Hesse, etc.

Germans see themselves as serious, deep thinkers, and so E.T.A. Hoffmann is too whimsical and plain fun to be considered important. It's the philosophers and those whose themes deal with war and death and drama who are considered Big and Important.

[Modest Proposal]

Germans see themselves as serious, deep thinkers, and so E.T.A. Hoffmann is too whimsical and plain fun to be considered important. It's the philosophers and those whose themes deal with war and death and drama who are considered Big and Important.

I think this is a bit essentialist, in the same way that saying French men are sleazy and have mustaches is.
I'm not opposed to saying that the culture does tend to promote a 'serious' view of art but there are certainly plenty of counter examples.
I'd also add that most cultures do favor 'serious' writing as more important to their historical development.

[WyattGwyon]

Hoffmann's Beethoven criticism is still widely known. He was a composer as well.

Kyriakos:

If you are interested in literature of split selves, you must read Dostoyevsky's The Double. It is an amazing experiment. Still modern by modern standards.

[Heteronym]

Germans see themselves as serious, deep thinkers, and so E.T.A. Hoffmann is too whimsical and plain fun to be considered important. It's the philosophers and those whose themes deal with war and death and drama who are considered Big and Important.

Well, Romanticism was arguably German literature's greatest contribution to world literature. Maybe the Germans just don't like a writer who mocked this movement so thoroughly in The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr

For my part, and being extremely ignorant of German literature, I nevertheless have more admiration for the Murr sections of this novel than anything I've read by serious Germans like Goethe, Grass, Böll, and Von Kleist.

[Kyriakos]

I prefer german-speaking authors who aren't german, like Robert Walser and Kafka

I tried reading the Devil's elixiers, years ago, but gave up at some point. I might try again though

And the double, by Dostoevsky, is one of the few works by him i have not read, so i should