The Best Tales of Hoffmann

by E.T.A. Hoffmann, E.F. Bleiler (Editor)

E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) was perhaps one of the two or three greatest of all writers of fantasy. His wonderful tales, translated into many languages and adapted into numerous stage works, have delighted readers for a century and a half.
They open our eyes to an extraordinary world of fantasy, poetry, and the supernatural. Remarkable characters come vividly to life. With exciting speed, Hoffmann moves from the firm ground of reality to ambiguity, mystery, and romance. His imaginativeness is unsurpassed, and his handling of allegory, symbolism, and mysticism is unusually skillful. These qualities make his tales some of the most stimulating and enjoyable in the world's literature. They can be read on many levels of enjoyment; as exciting fiction brilliantly told, as a fascinating statement of many of the major concerns of the Romantic era, and as a culmination of German Romantic literature.
This collection contains ten of his best "The Golden Flower Pot," "Automata," "A New Year's Eve Adventure," "Nutcracker and the King of Mice," "The Sand-Man," "Rath Krespel," "Tobias Martin, Master Cooper, and His Men," "The Mines of Falun," "Signor Formica," and "The King's Betrothed."

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Horror, German Literature, Germany

419 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann, better known by his pen name E. T. A. Hoffmann (Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann), was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror, a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist. His stories form the basis of Jacques Offenbach's famous opera The Tales of Hoffmann, in which Hoffman appears (heavily fictionalized) as the hero. He is also the author of the novella The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, on which the famous ballet The Nutcracker is based. The ballet Coppélia is based on two other stories that Hoffmann wrote, while Schumann's Kreisleriana is based on Hoffmann's character Johannes Kreisler.

Hoffmann's stories were very influential during the 19th century, and he is one of the major authors of the Romantic movement.

Reviews

[Rick Slane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unusual and unique stories somewhat similar to those on the tv show "Twilight Zone". This collection included the stories "The Nutcracker" & "The Sandman".

[Joseph F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

One day I thought I’d download an old English version of The Sandman by Hoffmann because I heard it was good. Imagine my surprise when I was taken aback by the richness and creepiness of this amazing story. I started reading other Hoffmann tales. Before I knew it I realized I had discovered a new favorite author. I went to the bookstore and picked up this book so I could own a physical copy of some of his best stories to adorn my bookshelf. Sure, these are old translations, but every translation has its issues, and I kind of like the Victorian flourish.
I devoured the stories in this volume that I did not read from previous public domain stories I had downloaded.

Hoffmann’s tales are a blend of the fantastic, the supernatural, the magical (even alchemical). These elements peek their heads into the world of the mundane. The Sandman is about a student haunted by a traumatic experience that happened in his childhood. Here Hoffmann includes some features of the horror genre.
In The Golden Flowerpot, a clumsy awkward student finds himself hallucinating. Is he crazy, or is some other world not seen by many opening up to him?
The story of The Master Cooper is a delightful tale about friendship and how sometimes things can work in your favor, against all odds.
The King’s Betrothed is a magical story that uses the Paracelsian idea of nature elementals. What was unique in this tale was just how funny it was. I think Hoffmann was having a bit of fun with the idea of a union of a human with a nature spirit, something talked about in his circle of friends during the Romantic movement.
Automata contains a juicy little ghost story, and A New Year’s Eve Adventure is about a classic sell-your-soul-to-the-devil tale. But all the stories here are good.

It’s interesting how the readership of authors rise and fall with time. Today few people know about Hoffmann. Mention The Sandman, and people think of Neil Gaiman. But at one time this author was highly praised. Tchaikovsky based his ballet The Nutcracker on Hoffmann’s story. Offenbach wrote an opera: Tales of Hoffmann, on three of his stories. I’m hoping that with time, the tales of E. T. A. Hoffmann will once again be read more widely.

[Mary Overton]

From "The Golden Flower Pot" in which the narrator describes how the Student Anselmus feels when he is held captive inside a corked crystal bottle:
"You are drowned in dazzling splendour; everything around you appears illuminated and begirt with beaming rainbow hues: in the sheen everything seems to quiver and waver and clang and drone. You are swimming, but your are powerless and cannot move, as if you were imbedded in a firmly congealed ether which squeezes you so tightly that it is in vain that your spirit commands your dead and stiffened body. Heavier and heavier the mountainous burden lies on you; more and more every breath exhausts the tiny bit of air that still plays up and down in the tight space around you; your pulse throbs madly; and cut through with horrid anguish, every nerve is quivering and bleeding in your dead agony.
"Favourable reader, have pity on the Student Anselmus! This inexpressible torture seized him in his glass prison: but he felt too well that even death could not release him, for when he had fainted with pain, he awoke again to new wretchedness when the morning sun shone into the room. He could move no limb, and his thoughts struck against the glass, stunning him with discordant clang; and instead of the words which the spirit used to speak from within him he now heard only the stifled din of madness." Kindle location 1584

Compare this to J.B. Ballard's "The Crystal World."
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Adam Browne · Rating 4 out of 5]

fevered, delirious, operatic, fairytale gothic, pre-Freudian, neurotic and gemlike, these tales (they feel like tales, not stories) should be requisite reading for all writers of fantasy

[Adam Carnehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why isn't Hoffmann every bit as famous and well-loved as any other great author from the 19th century? Hoffmann very well may be among the greatest of all! Who else can combine his shocking imagination, surprising wit, and flawless skills as a prose stylist? Who else can sprinkle such gleaming nuggets of musical, religious, historical, artistic, and even alchemical learning into virtually every tale or poem? Who else writes with such stunning verve or delicious irony? Hoffmann was an accomplished composer, conductor, and theatre manager. He was also a famous musical critic, writing celebrated reviews of the great Romantic works of his day (which are still highly respected). Finally, he was a poet, humorist, and author, whose tales never fail to excel in imagination, wit, and originality.

In this Dover collection there are a handful of light, romance and adventure tales that never fail to entertain, and then there are Hoffmann's fantastic fairy tales. It's difficult to believe that anyone could write fairy tales like Hoffmann; they're so weird and wonderful, and they stand the test of time incredibly well. I can see how ones like "The Golden Flower Pot," "Nutcracker and the King of Mice," and "The King's Betrothed" (my favorite) inspired later fairy tale and fantasy writers. I think Hoffmann (writing in the first two decades of the 19th century) is one of the greatest fantasy authors of all. He certainly was forging a new path from the fairy tale genre which was declining in popularity at the turn of the century, and his tales have far too much joyous humor and supernatural strangeness to "fit in" with the other Gothic or Romantic short stories of his time. He is, in my opinion, one of a kind, and I can only wish he left us another novel or collection of stories, before his short life ended in 1822.

[Neal Fandek · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first few tales here are amazing, six star quality, as much horror as fantasy: i’ve never read anything quite as imaginative and horrible as Golden Flower Pot. The imagination of this guy! Automata is scary, Nutcracker and the King of Mice are also amazing, as is the Sandman. After that… the last few are traditional fairy tales, a little dark, very 19th century, not nearly in the same league as the other others.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

My fave was "The King's Betrothed" cuz it satirized bad poetry and the, uh, poets that write it. Which, really, is about as difficult as embarrassing a tweener. But that's fun, too, so there ya have it.

[Don Gubler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unequaled imagination.

[Steve Ewing · Rating 3 out of 5]

19th century writer, interesting short stories and the basis of one of our favorite operas

[Daria]

I read the stories I got the book for for now (Sandman, New Years Adventure, Krespel) and all were great! Maybe I'll go back and read the rest at some point and give it a full rating!

[Erich C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nonsense and fever dreams.

[Swandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Golden Pot
- I didn't know that a salamander would be involved. Liking it so far.
- From my very crude impressions of 19th century Prussia/Germany, it's giving patriarchy v. femininity, science v. mysticism, the enlightened self v. the mob. It's basically what I love so much in German lit esp Hesse. Yes it's a tad narcissistic but oh to be a sensitive young STUDENT who loves psychology and music, and getting dragged into occult shenanigans. It's self-aware but never shies away from the eccentricities and sense of magic. PEAK for a fairy tale for people in their twenties.
- I love snakes that are described as youthful and spirited. Like don't get me wrong, I love a cunning slithering forked-tongue rascal, but this was so fresh! Okay mayyybe the Salamander is evil but the green snake daughter is so cute so who cares :目

Updates:
Seven! Headed! Mouse!

Lord if I have to read one more love at first sight remix #9 I will defenestrate someone

V... vegetable queen?

???

[Michael Kneeland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anything by Hoffman is generally good, though the "essential" piece to read from his works is "The Sandman," which is one of those narratives that taps into archetypal characterizations and feelings and leaves you like Jerry Seinfeld after George Costanza confesses his deepest fears and darkest capabilities: mouth agape and face pulled back in sheer terror.

"The Sandman" tells in epistolary form (at first; Hoffman abandons this after three letters between the principal characters) the story of a young man named Nathanael, who tells us early on of how his nanny told he and his siblings terrifying stories of the Sandman in order to get them to sleep, things like, "Go to sleep or the Sandman will come and take your eyes." Horrifying for a completely sane person, to be sure; completely mind-altering if you're a manic narcissist like Nathanael. He also explains of how his father was involved in alchemical experiments with a strange and terrifying man named Coppelius; these experiments apparently led to his father's early death. The important memory here deals with a time when Nathanael, going against the small amount of good sense in his neurotic mind, sneaked into the room where his father and Coppelius were performing their experiments: Coppelius flew into a rage upon being caught and...does things...to Nathanael. What things exactly, we're never sure. Certainly not sexual (it seems), but more along the lines of (it seems) twisting his hands and feet around in an inhuman fashion. And, of course, when Nathanael first sees what his father and Coppelius are doing, it seems to him that they are pulling "masks" from a fire, complete except (of course!) for little holes where eyes should be.

[Note: while (it seems that) nothing sexual was going on between Nathanael's father and Coppelius, I should point out that the language used very subtly suggests that something sexual was indeed going on: in fact, Nathanael says at one point that "[Coppelius'] intercourse with my father began to occupy my fancy ever more and more." Joking aside, the traditional use of this phrase simply means the working relationship between Nathanael's father and Coppelius. But a modern psychoanalytic critic could write volumes about Hoffman's language in this tale--in fact, many psychoanalytic critics have written volumes about the language. This story appeared in no fewer than three of my English theory courses in college. And indeed, Freud had a field day with this story.]

This terrifying moment leads Nathanael--in later life, at least--to associate Coppelius with the Sandman. In his first letter, he writes that a barometer salesman named Coppola is none other than Coppelius, returned in disguise. And Nathanael wants justice.

Over the course of the sordid tale, Nathanael comes to accept that Coppola is not actually Coppelius: Coppola is clearly Italian while Coppelius was unmistakably German (duh!). But Nathanael still continues to visibly suffer from what we would call post-traumatic stress disorder, and when Coppola returns later on in the story to sell a sort of eye-glasses ("pretty eyes, pretty eyes!" he calls, much as Coppelius shouted, "Eyes here! Eyes here!" in Nathanael's sordid childhood memory), Nathanael very obviously flips out.

This story--like the majority of Hoffman's tales--are worth a read at least once. He was a man of his times, to be sure, writing strange and horrifying tales about alchemy and unnatural manipulation, not unlike what Mary Shelley does in Frankenstein. It is a shame more people don't know about him or his works--he is a clear forefather of the horror genre.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who doesn't know the Nutcracker ballet or, if you're an opera fan, Les Contes de Hoffmann? But who knows the actual stories that Hoffmann wrote?

This book contains all four stories that the above are based on plus several others. The better known stories are great; some of the rest are also. But a couple just left me flat.

The Nutcracker and the King of Mice is not exactly The Nutcracker. The young girl's name is Maria and she witnesses the first battle with the mice in which most of the toys participating are broken by the mice. She falls into a faint and breaks the glass on the display case with her elbow and has to remain in bed for several weeks. In the meanwhile, Godpapa Drosselmeier tells her a story over several days of a young princess who is saved by a young man who can crack open an impossible nut. Later, the Mouse King is threatening Maria every night for her candy and her toys or he will bite off the head of the Nutcracker. Etc., etc. you know the rest.

But Hoffmann's style is sometimes even better than his stories. He occasionally writes as the intrusive narrator - "I appeal to you, kind reader (or listener) - Fritz, Theodore, Ernest, or whatsoever your name may be - and I beg you to bring vividly before your mind's eye your last Christmas table, all glorious with its various delightful Christmas presents....."

In the Nutcracker he even throws in a literary quote which is so subtle, some might miss it - "Hussars and heavy dragoons came charging up at [Nutcracker], and he shouted in wild despair: 'A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!'"

The stories are replete with these kinds of witticisms. The plots are widely varied: the man who falls in love with an automaton, the man who loses his reflection, the woman who will die if she sings, the master cooper who promises his daughter to the cooper who can make the most perfect masterpiece and ONLY a cooper, and others.

Several stories carry the old plot - boy meets girl, falls in love, vows to get girl in spite of numerous obstacles. The twist (and greatness) in Hoffmann is the obstacles and the way his characters get around them

If you don't read this grouping of Hoffmann, please read others. He's too good to miss.

[Jigar Brahmbhatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The introduction by E.F. Bleiler is quite helpful. Hoffmann is called the quintessential Romantic writer, and in his works one can find the DNA of Poe and Dostoevsky. The bizarre and the everyday merge quite well in "The Golden Pot", but it is a tad bit difficult to read, what with the references of places in early 19th century Dresden and the description of the muse-en-scene, and above all the language. I kept at it none-the-less. There are instances of macabre or something outright magical, mythic references too about a beautiful land in the Atlantis. But that's the catch here. For me, the stories in themselves (the writing in fact) are not as interesting as the lore surrounding them. What is written about Hoffmann seems more interesting to me, but that might be my inability to understand the nuances of Romantic writing. One of the stories, "Automata", seems like a mishmash of ideas (story within a story, a ghost sighting, and the mechanical machine called the Talking Turk), not very coherent but oddly readable.

The structure of "Automata" is really curious:

1) There is a frame story in which characters meet and tell stories.

2) In one of the stories told by a character, two characters meet and exchange another story.

3) This 3rd level story is the one in which the title character, the nonexistent man inside the Automata, appears.

I have observed similar structuring in the "Seven Gothic Tales" by Isak Dinesen. These are Gothic tales for sure, written by a man who was clearly out-of-place with the times he lived in. Bleiler gives a brief sketch of his life in the intro and has written about the genesis of each story in a concise manner, like in an essay. I kept returning to this "essay" after reading each story.

These tales, finely plotted, could make for a racy read if written in the milieu we could relate to. I think I understand what Romantic means now, but I can't put that in words here. Its very unconscious. There are helpful essays available by Isaiah Berlin.

A stop-motion film called "Hoffmaniada" is about to release by 2015 which will feature 3 of his stories. It'll be interesting to watch.

[johanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved this series of short stories. it was very inspiring to me as i like to tinker, Tales of Hoffmann is one of my favourite operas, and i perform Olympia as a solo performance often. It was great to get to read the 3 stories that Offenbach used to write Tales of Hoffmann. These stories gave me so much insight to the opera. The actual story of The Nutcracker is even more wonderful and fantastical than the ballet and i loved his descriptions. My one major criticism is that when i read all these stories one after the other i saw how often Hoffmann was writing about the most beautiful girl you could ever imagine. Although each story had its unique plot i could see that he was quite hung up on this topic of love. He being a composer as well, his descriptions of music are incredible. You can really hear the music he is describing and his stance on music is very clear in his writing. Overall, i enjoyed this collection immensely. At times the reading was a bit heavy but as i moved through the story i was sucked it.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Hoffman's stories that glow with a vivid imagination and profound meaning. Sometimes it's hard to get to the bottom of his complex metaphors, but it's well worth the work. So far, my favorite story was the Golden Flowerpot, but I also really enjoyed his original "The Nutcracker And the Mouse King" . It's strange to see how the popular ballet adaptation "Nutcracker" began with a simple children's story, a lot of which can feel like childlike nonsense and dreamscape imagery. And yet, his ideas of beauty beyond the superficial make his tales pregnant with a significance that I can't dismiss as a 'fairy tale'. Hoffman is like some wise grandfather (Drosselmeyer?) who shares brilliantly concocted fables with his grandchildren, who have no idea of the meaty ideas that are being smuggled in with these seemingly 'harmless' bed-time stories. Here's an author that keeps you guessing at his meaning, while amusing you with the apparent absurdity of his characters. Fun stuff.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hoffmann is an amazing writer of Weird tales (a very modern type), and all the more for his being someone who lived so long ago: he died in 1822. This is a great compilation of his short tales and unlike the Penguin Classics version includes the delightful tale of "Nutcracker and the Mouse King" and one recognized as his finest short story "The Golden Flower Pot." They are certainly his two most famous, so it is odd that they're missing from the Penguin Classics title "Tales of Hoffmann." This dover edition also includes "The Sandman" which is also very good and classic Hoffmann. Highly recommended reading. Everything he wrote is very entertaining.

[Paul Vidich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hoffman's romantic German tales are of a style and manner very different from today's writing, but they had a deep influence on Poe and the Russians and so bear rereading to understand the provenance of some of the 20th Century's literary tropes.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved all the stories here but "The Golden Flowerpot" is the one that really fed my imagination. If I ever get around to it I think this would be a lovely story to illustrate. The pictures it makes in my head make my eyes dance and sparkle.

[Aras · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://electric-pages.livejournal.com...

[Patrick]

I only read "The Sand-man." I was always curious about the story after reading Freud's interpretation of it in his essay "The 'Uncanny.'"

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories you must read from this collection: The Sandman, The Nutcracker, and The Golden Pot. ETA Hoffman writes ecstatically and honestly and I love his work.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deliciously bizarre!

[Vincent Bandini · Rating 5 out of 5]

lovely

[Lulu]

Automata 1814
A New Year's Eve Adventure 1815
Nutcracker and the King of Mice 1816
Tobias Martin, Master Cooper, and His Men 1818
Signor Formica 1819
The King's Betrothed 1821

[Ella Jay- Göattl · Rating 4 out of 5]

WEIRD!!!