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Nachtstücke #1
Der Sandmann
Unter Hoffmanns Werken hat Der Sandmann das weitaus größte Interesse gefunden. Sein Grundproblem ist die Selbstverfallenheit des Menschen, der aus dem Gefängnis seines Ichs nicht mehr herausfindet, deshalb in seinen Lebensbeziehungen, vor allem in seiner Liebesbindung tragisch scheitert und am Ende sich selbst zerstören muß.
83 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1816
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About the author
E.T.A. Hoffmann
2,172 books876 followersErnst 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.
Hoffmann's stories were very influential during the 19th century, and he is one of the major authors of the Romantic movement.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,673 reviews
August 12, 2025
I discovered this author because of The Literature Book. Before reading about it, I thought it was a fairytale but oh, it is so far from one. I would best describe it a horror Gothic novella because I was feeling very uneasy while reading it. I would call it a novella instead of a short story because my version had 80 pages and it took me two hours to read.
A young man, Nathanael, has a very traumatic experience as a child, something to do with an alchemic experiment gone wrong carried out by his father and a vile man, named Coppelius . As a grown up, he still cannot forget his trauma and one day confuses an Italian salesman, Coppola, with the figure who terrorised him in childhood. From that moment, his mental health seems to decrease. Some events happen and we are never sure if they are real, or a product of Nathanael's imagination.
A true classic and an excellent gothic story which predates Poe's work.
A young man, Nathanael, has a very traumatic experience as a child, something to do with an alchemic experiment gone wrong carried out by his father and a vile man, named Coppelius . As a grown up, he still cannot forget his trauma and one day confuses an Italian salesman, Coppola, with the figure who terrorised him in childhood. From that moment, his mental health seems to decrease. Some events happen and we are never sure if they are real, or a product of Nathanael's imagination.
A true classic and an excellent gothic story which predates Poe's work.
April 3, 2019
Brilliant book starting with a kid's fear of the sandman. Problem is the 'sandman' concept never truely disappears but comes again and again haunting Nathanael. Why is advocate Coppelius or the weather glass hawker Coppola associated with 'evil principle'? Is there something supernatural at work and did Coppelius really kill his father? Nathanael insults his soon-to-be wife Clara as 'lifeless automaton' as she gives a rational explanation on his fears. But what about Spalanzani's daughter Olimpia Nathanael falls in love with? Olimpia is an extremely eerie character. Her and Coppelius render this tale a gothic masterpiece. Reading through the chapters you'll constantly ask yourself: how is this story going to end. Is there a happy end for Nathanael? Coppelius is one of the uncanniest and evil character you'll ever come across. He will remain with you as the 'Sandman'. Georgous book, absolutely recommended, a true classic!
July 10, 2018
Eine Erzählung, bei der man das Gefühl hatte, ein moderner Gymnasiallehrer wäre 200 Jahre in die Vergangenheit gereist und hätte sie bei ETA Hoffmann in Auftrag gegeben. Ach, was kann man hier so herrlich erörtern, interpretieren, analysieren und vergleichen. Da erstellen sich die Aufgaben zur Deutsch-LK-Klausur, 11. Klasse, ja geradezu von selbst:
Ein Protagonist von Kindheitsängsten und Wahnvorstellungen getrieben. Ist der Sandmann echt oder nur eine Illusionen? Der Sandmann streut doch Sand in die Augen und siehe da, die Augen spielen ständig eine Rolle in dem Buch (Brillen, Fernrohre, verbrannte Augen des Vaters, Augen der Puppe). Interpretieren Sie die Rolle der Augen in der Erzählung? Analysieren Sie die Beziehung zwischen Mensch und Maschine? Warum verliebt sich Nathanael in eine Maschine? Usw.
Ich fühlte mich ungut 30 Jahre zurückversetzt und bekam beim Lesen schon einen Knoten in den Knopf aufgrund der vielen Metaphern und möglichen Interpretationsfragen, die mir gestellt werden könnten. Meine alte Deutschlehrerin liebte die Schwarze Romantik. Von der Schwarzen Spinne über die Elixiere des Teufels zum Fall des Hauses Usher (ja auch der Englischlehrer war infiziert). Ich bin froh, dass ich das Buch ohne Leistungsdruck lesen durfte. So gefiel es mir ganz gut, aber im Grunde ist mir das alles zu überfrachtet mit großen Bildern und weit ausholender Theatralik. Die Zeitgenossen Hoffmanns mögen sich darüber sehr schön geschauert haben. Ich finde es allenfalls amüsant. Aber die Bedeutung, die ETA Hoffmann als Vorläufer für die phantastischen Literatur hat, ist unbestreitbar. Insofern ist Der Sandmann schon eine Pflichtlektüre.
Ein Protagonist von Kindheitsängsten und Wahnvorstellungen getrieben. Ist der Sandmann echt oder nur eine Illusionen? Der Sandmann streut doch Sand in die Augen und siehe da, die Augen spielen ständig eine Rolle in dem Buch (Brillen, Fernrohre, verbrannte Augen des Vaters, Augen der Puppe). Interpretieren Sie die Rolle der Augen in der Erzählung? Analysieren Sie die Beziehung zwischen Mensch und Maschine? Warum verliebt sich Nathanael in eine Maschine? Usw.
Ich fühlte mich ungut 30 Jahre zurückversetzt und bekam beim Lesen schon einen Knoten in den Knopf aufgrund der vielen Metaphern und möglichen Interpretationsfragen, die mir gestellt werden könnten. Meine alte Deutschlehrerin liebte die Schwarze Romantik. Von der Schwarzen Spinne über die Elixiere des Teufels zum Fall des Hauses Usher (ja auch der Englischlehrer war infiziert). Ich bin froh, dass ich das Buch ohne Leistungsdruck lesen durfte. So gefiel es mir ganz gut, aber im Grunde ist mir das alles zu überfrachtet mit großen Bildern und weit ausholender Theatralik. Die Zeitgenossen Hoffmanns mögen sich darüber sehr schön geschauert haben. Ich finde es allenfalls amüsant. Aber die Bedeutung, die ETA Hoffmann als Vorläufer für die phantastischen Literatur hat, ist unbestreitbar. Insofern ist Der Sandmann schon eine Pflichtlektüre.
October 18, 2021
"la respuesta de mi madre no me satisfizo y mi infantil imaginación adivinaba que mi madre había negado la existencia del Hombre de Arena para no asustarnos. Pero yo lo oía siempre subir las escaleras"
"Lleno de curiosidad, impaciente por asegurarme de la existencia de este hombre, pregunté a una vieja criada , quién era aquel personaje.
—me contestó—, ¿no lo sabes? Es un hombre malo que viene a buscar a los niños cuando no quieren irse a la cama y les arroja un puñado de arena a los ojos haciéndolos llorar sangre. Luego los mete en un saco y se los lleva a la luna creciente para divertir a sus hijos, que esperan en el nido y tienen picos encorvados como las lechuzas para comerles los ojos a picotazos"
"Si realmente existe un poder oculto que tan traidoramente hunde sus garras en nuestro interior para cogernos y arrastrarnos a un camino peligroso que habríamos evitado, si tal fuerza existe, debe doblegarse ante nosotros mismos, pues sólo así ganará nuestra confianza y un lugar en nuestro corazón, lugar que necesita para realizar su obra. Si tenemos la suficiente firmeza, el valor necesario para reconocer el camino hacia el que deben conducirnos nuestra vocación y nuestras inclinaciones, para caminar con paso tranquilo, nuestro enemigo interior perecerá en los vanos esfuerzos que haga por ilusionarnos. También es cierto, que la tenebrosa presencia a la que nos entregamos crea con frecuencia en nosotros imágenes tan atrayentes que nosotros mismos producimos el engaño que nos consume. Es el fantasma de nuestro propio Yo cuya influencia mueve nuestra alma y nos sumerge en el infierno o nos conduce al cielo"
Partiendo del mito del hombre de arena, presente en muchas culturas y aveces representado de forma benigna y en otras de forma maligna. La madre de Nathaniel, como es habitual utiliza el nombre de este ser para asustar a su hijo a la hora de ir a dormir.Comienza como algo inocente, pero el siente curiosidad, se siente estimulado y quiere saber mas,a lo que recibe por parte de una criada, una versión mucho mas ominosa y siniestra de este ser, que lo interioriza y que cala hondo. y finalmente se convierte en una profunda angustia, que exterioriza dándole diferentes rostros a lo largo de su vida, y culpándolo de cualquier desgracia que suceda en la misma.
Es una obra ampliamente psicológica, simbólica,y metafórica, que explora, los trastornos, los miedos. Realmente el protagonista da una profunda lastima.
Requiere un profundo análisis, tal es así que ha sido estudiada por Freud y Lacan y es material de estudio en el Psicoanálisis.
como pieza literaria exclusivamente tal vez pueda resultar un poco densa, intrincada,la estructura no es la mas grata, pero su valor excede esto y el desafió esta en que cada uno haga su análisis a través de sus lineas y sus capas.
"Lleno de curiosidad, impaciente por asegurarme de la existencia de este hombre, pregunté a una vieja criada , quién era aquel personaje.
—me contestó—, ¿no lo sabes? Es un hombre malo que viene a buscar a los niños cuando no quieren irse a la cama y les arroja un puñado de arena a los ojos haciéndolos llorar sangre. Luego los mete en un saco y se los lleva a la luna creciente para divertir a sus hijos, que esperan en el nido y tienen picos encorvados como las lechuzas para comerles los ojos a picotazos"
"Si realmente existe un poder oculto que tan traidoramente hunde sus garras en nuestro interior para cogernos y arrastrarnos a un camino peligroso que habríamos evitado, si tal fuerza existe, debe doblegarse ante nosotros mismos, pues sólo así ganará nuestra confianza y un lugar en nuestro corazón, lugar que necesita para realizar su obra. Si tenemos la suficiente firmeza, el valor necesario para reconocer el camino hacia el que deben conducirnos nuestra vocación y nuestras inclinaciones, para caminar con paso tranquilo, nuestro enemigo interior perecerá en los vanos esfuerzos que haga por ilusionarnos. También es cierto, que la tenebrosa presencia a la que nos entregamos crea con frecuencia en nosotros imágenes tan atrayentes que nosotros mismos producimos el engaño que nos consume. Es el fantasma de nuestro propio Yo cuya influencia mueve nuestra alma y nos sumerge en el infierno o nos conduce al cielo"
Partiendo del mito del hombre de arena, presente en muchas culturas y aveces representado de forma benigna y en otras de forma maligna. La madre de Nathaniel, como es habitual utiliza el nombre de este ser para asustar a su hijo a la hora de ir a dormir.Comienza como algo inocente, pero el siente curiosidad, se siente estimulado y quiere saber mas,a lo que recibe por parte de una criada, una versión mucho mas ominosa y siniestra de este ser, que lo interioriza y que cala hondo. y finalmente se convierte en una profunda angustia, que exterioriza dándole diferentes rostros a lo largo de su vida, y culpándolo de cualquier desgracia que suceda en la misma.
Es una obra ampliamente psicológica, simbólica,y metafórica, que explora, los trastornos, los miedos. Realmente el protagonista da una profunda lastima.
Requiere un profundo análisis, tal es así que ha sido estudiada por Freud y Lacan y es material de estudio en el Psicoanálisis.
como pieza literaria exclusivamente tal vez pueda resultar un poco densa, intrincada,la estructura no es la mas grata, pero su valor excede esto y el desafió esta en que cada uno haga su análisis a través de sus lineas y sus capas.
September 19, 2022
El romanticismo oscuro en todo su esplendor.
Creo que este va a ser un punto sin retorno de mí buscando más exponentes de este movimiento.
El hombre de arena es un cuento que a veces parece la historia de un delirio producto de un hombre trastornado que nos remite a la incertidumbre y el miedo. Otras veces parece una historia real y sincera que no tiene segundas intenciones. Lo genial es que hay un halo oscuro y tenebroso de comienzo a fin que se siente incrustado en todo el relato.
El cuento enfrasca la mirada sobre los traumas y el miedo de un niño hacia cierta leyenda de "El hombre de arena" que le marca de tantas formas en su infancia hasta convertirlo en un adulto que deforma su propia realidad, se vuelve obsesivo, temeroso y con un grado de demencia muy poco saludable. Es la historia del lento descenso a la locura y con algún que otro giro sorprendente o muy previsible. Una consciencia del yo muy corrompida y estimulada por el miedo, dañada hasta el punto de ver enemigos en todas partes y pintarse demasiados escenarios fatalistas hasta que el peligro se vuelve real para él y para los que lo rodean.
La verdad me ha gustado mucho pero también es cierto que hacia el final todo va muy apresurado, tiene muy buen inicio y muy buen desarrollo pero el desenlace no tanto. Necesitaba mascarse un poco más el conflicto final y no exponerlo de manera tan mediocre y anticlimática. Eso es lo que le ha restado una última estrella, pero sin duda muy recomendable y desde ya me declaro absolutamente interesado por leer más del autor.
Creo que este va a ser un punto sin retorno de mí buscando más exponentes de este movimiento.
El hombre de arena es un cuento que a veces parece la historia de un delirio producto de un hombre trastornado que nos remite a la incertidumbre y el miedo. Otras veces parece una historia real y sincera que no tiene segundas intenciones. Lo genial es que hay un halo oscuro y tenebroso de comienzo a fin que se siente incrustado en todo el relato.
El cuento enfrasca la mirada sobre los traumas y el miedo de un niño hacia cierta leyenda de "El hombre de arena" que le marca de tantas formas en su infancia hasta convertirlo en un adulto que deforma su propia realidad, se vuelve obsesivo, temeroso y con un grado de demencia muy poco saludable. Es la historia del lento descenso a la locura y con algún que otro giro sorprendente o muy previsible. Una consciencia del yo muy corrompida y estimulada por el miedo, dañada hasta el punto de ver enemigos en todas partes y pintarse demasiados escenarios fatalistas hasta que el peligro se vuelve real para él y para los que lo rodean.
La verdad me ha gustado mucho pero también es cierto que hacia el final todo va muy apresurado, tiene muy buen inicio y muy buen desarrollo pero el desenlace no tanto. Necesitaba mascarse un poco más el conflicto final y no exponerlo de manera tan mediocre y anticlimática. Eso es lo que le ha restado una última estrella, pero sin duda muy recomendable y desde ya me declaro absolutamente interesado por leer más del autor.
April 20, 2024
Nathanaels Tod war das beste was Clara hätte passieren können. Good for her
November 1, 2020
Eine Frau, welche nicht widerspricht und immer nur "Ach! Ach!" antwortet, mag selbst in der heutigen Zeit für einige Männer das ideale Liebesobjekt sein. Eine leere Hülle, in die man seine ganzen Wunschvorstellung der perfekten Gefährtin hinein projizieren kann. Insofern war E.T.A Hoffmann ein echter Visionär, wenn man bedenkt, dass der Verkauf von lebensechten Silikonpuppen längst kein Nischengeschäft mehr ist. Nicht zu reden von zukünftigen Entwicklungen im Bereich künstlicher Intelligenz. Das solche einseitigen Beziehungsmodelle auch ihre Tücken haben können, wird am Beispiel des Studenten Nathanael eindrücklich durchexerziert. Von seiner echten Freundin Clara enttäuscht (die zu seinem Leidwesen tatsächlich eigener Gedanken fähig ist!), entwickelt er eine Obsession für die Tochter seines Professors. Einem Wesen mit faszinierenden Augen, dass aber seltsamerweise recht wortkarg daher kommt. Was solls, dem Studiosus kann es egal sein. Er will nur seine Göttin Olimpia bewundern. Man kann es sich denken, dass die Geschichte am Ende nicht unbedingt zu seinem Vorteil ausgeht. Eine so spaßige, wie phantastische kurze Erzählung über Trugbilder und die Gefahren der technischen Machbarkeit.
January 29, 2024
I read this rather (no very) creepy tale years ago, and while I truly enjoyed and above all appreciated E. T. A. Hoffmann's Der Sandmann, I also do not much feel like a detailed and intense rereading at this time, as the plot, the thematics actually repeatedly produced some rather vivid and glaring nightmares when I perused it, first for a German Romanticism course in undergrad and then later for my PhD Comprehensive Examinations (I still recall that there were dancing mechnical maniacal dolls, and a sandman who was anything but benevolent and was forever watching me with strange eyes, monitoring me, and during my PhD Comprehensive preparation phase, even nastily admonishing me to read my massive and awe-inspiring reading list always and ever faster and faster, yikes, it still gives me the shivers). A most definitely imaginative and wonderful, but also more than disturbing sojourn into E.T.A. Hoffmann's dark, grasping and uncanny night of the soul (interesting, even fun at times, but Der Sandmann is basically a story that is for all intents and purposes presents a 19th century horror genre experiment), and is thus most definitely a fairy tale (a Kunstmärchen) for adults, and NOT really appropriate for young children. And by the way, the "dancing doll" episode in Jacques Offenbach's famous opera, The Tales of Hoffmann, while brilliant and evocative in and of itself, is also (at least from a creepiness and uncanniness point of view) but a pale and tame reflection of Der Sandmann (on which the episode is distinctly but still rather loosely based).
December 22, 2024
4,5
Nachtrag
Nachtrag
October 23, 2020
I read this wonderful story (novella) in a collection of stories/novellas titled, “Five Great German Short Stories” (edited and translated by Stanley Appelbaum). I wrote my review of each of the five stories for that collection, but wanted to add a brief comment regarding Hoffmann’s work here…
I will try and refrain from giving away the plot or the story line because that’s a good chunk of the fun of reading, eh? What I did was write down some notes for each of them, and the following is a smattering of comments…there were many more that I made…I just don’t want to give stuff away…
• Amazing story.
• Nathaniel actually sees The Sandman who is a horrifying monster.
• Coppelius a lawyer is involved with Nathaniel’s father in alchemy.
• Then there’s Olimpian, an automaton created by Professor Spalanzani with help of Coppelius, and Nathaniel falls in love with her although all she says is “Ah, ah, ah”.
• Young men are advised before they take a woman as a wife to ask her at least several questions so that they are convinced she’s not an automaton.
I guess I would have to say this was one of the best short stories I have ever read. 😊 It has it all. Horror. Comedy. Macabre. Disasters. And the format of the story is so, so cool. It starts off with letters between Nathaniel and a friend Lothar but Lothar’s sister who is in love with Nathaniel reads one of them and knows Nathaniel loves her…and then the story eventually transitions to an unknown person who tells the “gentle reader” what happens to Nathaniel and others…
I will try and refrain from giving away the plot or the story line because that’s a good chunk of the fun of reading, eh? What I did was write down some notes for each of them, and the following is a smattering of comments…there were many more that I made…I just don’t want to give stuff away…
• Amazing story.
• Nathaniel actually sees The Sandman who is a horrifying monster.
• Coppelius a lawyer is involved with Nathaniel’s father in alchemy.
• Then there’s Olimpian, an automaton created by Professor Spalanzani with help of Coppelius, and Nathaniel falls in love with her although all she says is “Ah, ah, ah”.
• Young men are advised before they take a woman as a wife to ask her at least several questions so that they are convinced she’s not an automaton.
I guess I would have to say this was one of the best short stories I have ever read. 😊 It has it all. Horror. Comedy. Macabre. Disasters. And the format of the story is so, so cool. It starts off with letters between Nathaniel and a friend Lothar but Lothar’s sister who is in love with Nathaniel reads one of them and knows Nathaniel loves her…and then the story eventually transitions to an unknown person who tells the “gentle reader” what happens to Nathaniel and others…
March 14, 2021
"Se trata del fantasma de nuestro propio Yo, cuya influencia mueve nuestro espíritu y nos sumerge en el infierno o bien nos conduce al cielo. "
¡Wow!
Una obra maestra.
Muestra tantos elementos y todos orientados de diferentes formas hacia el miedo.
Nathaniel es atormentado desde su infancia por una historia en torno al hombre de arena, en un inicio solo es curiosidad aquel personaje, pero luego es testigo de algo que lo dejó marcado por el resto de su vida.
Este suceso tiene como protagonista a su padre y al sr. Coppelius quién es un personaje muy relevante en todo el resto de la historia.
Con el pasar de los años Nathaniel, se convierte en un joven quien posee una vida normal, está comprometido y posee buenas relaciones en general.
Pero en su interior hay temores, luchas muy apasionadas y ahí es donde esta obra se vuelve majestuosa, en el abordaje de estos.
La historia estará llena de incertidumbre, desesperación y locura. En la que los miedos del protagonista se presentan constantemente y están personificados, estando constantemente sometido a una presión interna y a factores que lo llevarán a recorrer el camino que se relata.
La tragedia constante que rodea la historia genera un atmósfera impactante, desarrollándose una historia inquietante y oscura del romanticismo, llena de pasión, obsesión, miedos, entre otros.
¡Wow!
Una obra maestra.
Muestra tantos elementos y todos orientados de diferentes formas hacia el miedo.
Nathaniel es atormentado desde su infancia por una historia en torno al hombre de arena, en un inicio solo es curiosidad aquel personaje, pero luego es testigo de algo que lo dejó marcado por el resto de su vida.
Este suceso tiene como protagonista a su padre y al sr. Coppelius quién es un personaje muy relevante en todo el resto de la historia.
Con el pasar de los años Nathaniel, se convierte en un joven quien posee una vida normal, está comprometido y posee buenas relaciones en general.
Pero en su interior hay temores, luchas muy apasionadas y ahí es donde esta obra se vuelve majestuosa, en el abordaje de estos.
La historia estará llena de incertidumbre, desesperación y locura. En la que los miedos del protagonista se presentan constantemente y están personificados, estando constantemente sometido a una presión interna y a factores que lo llevarán a recorrer el camino que se relata.
La tragedia constante que rodea la historia genera un atmósfera impactante, desarrollándose una historia inquietante y oscura del romanticismo, llena de pasión, obsesión, miedos, entre otros.
December 1, 2016
The work of a genius! Very creepy and enjoyable to read, but at the same time extremely intelligent and multilayered.
March 15, 2019
This famous German classic is 200 years old. And yet, with the current research interest in robotics and AI, it's more up to date than ever before.
The events of this short story are up to numerous interpretations - which seem to be a favorite pastime of those studying German literature - but basically 'The Sand Man' is the chronology of a mental illness.
A young college student named Nathanael recalls a traumatic childhood experience after running into a man who reminds him of the person who caused his father's death and who haunted his childhood as a mysterious figure named 'The Sand Man' who steals children's eyes if they don't go to bed in time.
As an adult, Nathanael is aware that the tale of the Sand Man was just that. A tale his mother had made up to get Nathanael and his siblings to go to bed whenever the creepy advocate Coppelius came to visit Nathanael's father to conduct questionable alchemical experiments with him.
Experiments which, eventually, cost his father's life.
His girlfriend Clara tries to talk some sense into him, reminding him that things that disturb our souls are within ourselves, so mistaking a stranger for the man who haunted his childhood doesn't make the stranger himself a threat, as long as Nathanael doesn't allow his fear to take over his life.
Nathanael's mental constitution deteriorates further when he moves into a new apartment and sees a beautiful girl through the window, sitting silently in the apartment across the street.
He falls madly in love with the silent neighbor who is said to be the daughter of a professor in the local college.
When said professor invites the town to a ball to introduce his daughter, Nathanael makes the acquaintance of Olimpia, who simply smiles and comments everything he says with 'Oh'.
In his increasing madness, Nathanael takes her simple answers as a sign of true depth, so unlike his girlfriend Clara who always seems bored when he reads his weird and dark poetry to her.
The townsfolk comment on Olimpia's strangeness, her cold skin and dead lifeless eyes. But Nathanael is determined to marry Olimpia despite his friends' warnings.
When he arrives at the professor's apartment with an engagement ring, he witnesses the professor and a man fighting over Olimpia, tearing her (mechanical robot) body apart.
This is literally the last straw for Nathanael to fall into the abyss of madness....
It's one of the coolest stories of that era that you can find.
Humanlike robots, so called 'automats' were pretty popular back in the early 19th century, so it's no wonder this theme was used so perfectly in this story. Moving machines were considered alive by people who had no idea of engineering. So having Nathanael find himself unable to distinguish between what's a real human being and what's a machine seems to be a stroke of genius to me.
I genuinely like this story and I'm so glad I've read it again after almost 20 years (when my teacher made me hold a presentation on that book in my German lessons, LOL)
5 stars!
The events of this short story are up to numerous interpretations - which seem to be a favorite pastime of those studying German literature - but basically 'The Sand Man' is the chronology of a mental illness.
A young college student named Nathanael recalls a traumatic childhood experience after running into a man who reminds him of the person who caused his father's death and who haunted his childhood as a mysterious figure named 'The Sand Man' who steals children's eyes if they don't go to bed in time.
As an adult, Nathanael is aware that the tale of the Sand Man was just that. A tale his mother had made up to get Nathanael and his siblings to go to bed whenever the creepy advocate Coppelius came to visit Nathanael's father to conduct questionable alchemical experiments with him.
Experiments which, eventually, cost his father's life.
His girlfriend Clara tries to talk some sense into him, reminding him that things that disturb our souls are within ourselves, so mistaking a stranger for the man who haunted his childhood doesn't make the stranger himself a threat, as long as Nathanael doesn't allow his fear to take over his life.
Nathanael's mental constitution deteriorates further when he moves into a new apartment and sees a beautiful girl through the window, sitting silently in the apartment across the street.
He falls madly in love with the silent neighbor who is said to be the daughter of a professor in the local college.
When said professor invites the town to a ball to introduce his daughter, Nathanael makes the acquaintance of Olimpia, who simply smiles and comments everything he says with 'Oh'.
In his increasing madness, Nathanael takes her simple answers as a sign of true depth, so unlike his girlfriend Clara who always seems bored when he reads his weird and dark poetry to her.
The townsfolk comment on Olimpia's strangeness, her cold skin and dead lifeless eyes. But Nathanael is determined to marry Olimpia despite his friends' warnings.
When he arrives at the professor's apartment with an engagement ring, he witnesses the professor and a man fighting over Olimpia, tearing her (mechanical robot) body apart.
This is literally the last straw for Nathanael to fall into the abyss of madness....
It's one of the coolest stories of that era that you can find.
Humanlike robots, so called 'automats' were pretty popular back in the early 19th century, so it's no wonder this theme was used so perfectly in this story. Moving machines were considered alive by people who had no idea of engineering. So having Nathanael find himself unable to distinguish between what's a real human being and what's a machine seems to be a stroke of genius to me.
I genuinely like this story and I'm so glad I've read it again after almost 20 years (when my teacher made me hold a presentation on that book in my German lessons, LOL)
5 stars!
September 11, 2019
I felt sick to my stomach throughout most of this. There’s nothing overly supernatural, creepy, or terrifying - just a horribly unsettling undercurrent of tension and dread running underneath each word. It’s a marvel.
Hoffman’s skill here isn’t in depicting ghouls or demons, but in showing us the effects an encounter with such (whether perceived or otherwise) can have on the human psyche. Our protagonist is plagued by a situation from his childhood, and subconsciously seems to seek this out in his later years, leading to his descent into madness.
I enjoyed that Hoffman left everything open to interpretation - were these ghastly villains really what our protagonist thought they were, or did he merely conjure it all in his imagination, having nested there for years as a repressed fear? Either way, it’s a heart-stopping thought.
Hoffman’s skill here isn’t in depicting ghouls or demons, but in showing us the effects an encounter with such (whether perceived or otherwise) can have on the human psyche. Our protagonist is plagued by a situation from his childhood, and subconsciously seems to seek this out in his later years, leading to his descent into madness.
I enjoyed that Hoffman left everything open to interpretation - were these ghastly villains really what our protagonist thought they were, or did he merely conjure it all in his imagination, having nested there for years as a repressed fear? Either way, it’s a heart-stopping thought.
December 10, 2022
It may be short, but it still felt like an eternity had passed while reading it.
June 18, 2021
“Mamá, pero ¿quién es ese hombre de la arena tan malvado que siempre nos separa de papá? ¿Qué aspecto tiene?”
Fascinante, intrigante, alucinante; sigo aún pensando en el final y dándole vueltas en mi mente, y sé que cuando eso sucede es porque estoy ante una gran obra.
¡Bravo!
Fascinante, intrigante, alucinante; sigo aún pensando en el final y dándole vueltas en mi mente, y sé que cuando eso sucede es porque estoy ante una gran obra.
¡Bravo!
December 1, 2018
»Ach – ach – ach!«
November 19, 2023
A wonderful, albeit very short story from 1817 which, along with Mary Shelley and Poe, is very much part of the gothic tradition. The story begins with three letters concerning the childhood incident of a young boy called Nathanael who experienced a genuine fear of The Sandman. Later he attaches this personality to a business partner of his father's called Coppelius who disappears from their life after his father's death.
As an adult, Nathanael encounters a man named Coppola and believes that he is the same sandman. His friends and family suggest this is merely a creation of his own mind. Then Nathanael meets Spallanzani, his teacher, and falls in love with his daughter Olimpia.
What follows is a genuinely creepy discovery that is both ancient in its eerie nature but also curiously modern. It involves Olimpia and results in some sincerely interesting notions about the individual, the self, the human. I found this very notion both profoundly disturbing but also very much ahead of its time. It's hard to explain without certain spoilers but ultimately it concerns what it means to be human and how we define these traits and know (if we can ever know) who is genuinely conscious and who is merely... a puppet.
A fun and fascinating little read.
As an adult, Nathanael encounters a man named Coppola and believes that he is the same sandman. His friends and family suggest this is merely a creation of his own mind. Then Nathanael meets Spallanzani, his teacher, and falls in love with his daughter Olimpia.
What follows is a genuinely creepy discovery that is both ancient in its eerie nature but also curiously modern. It involves Olimpia and results in some sincerely interesting notions about the individual, the self, the human. I found this very notion both profoundly disturbing but also very much ahead of its time. It's hard to explain without certain spoilers but ultimately it concerns what it means to be human and how we define these traits and know (if we can ever know) who is genuinely conscious and who is merely... a puppet.
A fun and fascinating little read.
December 12, 2017
“If, like a bold painter, you had first sketched in a few audacious strokes the outline of the picture you had in your own soul, you would then easily have been able to deepen and intensify the colors one after the other, until the varied throng of living figures carried your friends away and they, like you, saw themselves in the midst of the scene that had proceeded out of your own soul.”
We had to read The Sandman for our literature seminar. I was looking forward to it. I had never read anything by E.T.A. Hoffmann before and had heard great things about him.
Personally, I couldn't connect with the story. I loved the dark and psychological images it drew. The game it played, with childhood fears and madness. It is a concept with so much potential.
I think it is the way this story is written that compromises my passion and liking for it. The sentences are overly long. You could make 5 individual and complex sentences out of a single one, still. Beautiful prose doesn't have to be complicated. Simplicity has a beauty of it's own.
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We had to read The Sandman for our literature seminar. I was looking forward to it. I had never read anything by E.T.A. Hoffmann before and had heard great things about him.
Personally, I couldn't connect with the story. I loved the dark and psychological images it drew. The game it played, with childhood fears and madness. It is a concept with so much potential.
I think it is the way this story is written that compromises my passion and liking for it. The sentences are overly long. You could make 5 individual and complex sentences out of a single one, still. Beautiful prose doesn't have to be complicated. Simplicity has a beauty of it's own.
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October 23, 2020
I have never read any of ETA Hoffmann and this gothic German horror tale is a good introduction. Nathanael’s slow road to madness brought about by his fathers death to who he saw as the Sandman. The Sandman is a bogeyman who sprinkles sand on children’s eyes and they pop out if the child does not go to sleep. I am glad my mum left this fairy tale out of her stories when I was a child! I cannot help thinking insomnia could be linked to a few fairytales.
Nathaniel has a loving girlfriend and goes off to university where he gets obsessed and falls in love with a mechanical doll he sees as real. The Sandman who he links with his fathers friend a lawyer called Coppelius appears again as a barometer salesman and Nathaniel descends into madness.
The appendix with Sigmund Freud’s analysis of the uncanny is also included. Freud’s theory on the fear of the loss of ones eyes is linked to the fear of castration adds to the horror element of this gothic horror tale.
Nathaniel has a loving girlfriend and goes off to university where he gets obsessed and falls in love with a mechanical doll he sees as real. The Sandman who he links with his fathers friend a lawyer called Coppelius appears again as a barometer salesman and Nathaniel descends into madness.
The appendix with Sigmund Freud’s analysis of the uncanny is also included. Freud’s theory on the fear of the loss of ones eyes is linked to the fear of castration adds to the horror element of this gothic horror tale.
December 17, 2021
Schullektüre mehr muss ich glaub ich nicht sagen
May 31, 2023
holzpüppchen dreh dich 👹
May 12, 2011
The antiquated language and over-wrought prose on offer here will likely turn off some readers. I don’t necessarily prefer this sort of writing, and I don’t care to read it terribly often (despite my enchantment with classic horror and speculative fiction). However, part of me enjoys these elements at the same time as finding them hard to tolerate when I am not in the mood for them. Rather a contradiction, but there you have it. There’s something about the way this taste of antiquity takes me back in history, so that I can experience life as those who lived during these times experienced it.
Nathanael is a broken man. The horrific events of his past have destroyed him in the most fundamental of ways. He is not free to be a happy, joy-filled man, content with the love of a good woman and the friendships of those around him. He is haunted by the dark memories and the malevolent figure of Coppelius, who murdered his father. This figure became intertwined in the imaginings of a childhood dark fable about the Sandman, who will punish bad children who don’t go to bed in a timely fashion.
Years later, the memory of that diabolical man taints everything, even his relationship with Clara, his beloved. Nathanael goes back to University and starts falling in love with Olimpia, the daughter of his physics professor. She is literally the perfect woman: an exquisitely correct danger, a pianist without flaw, and beautifully mannered. She listens carefully to everything he says, not dismissing him as Clara does when he goes off on a melancholy bent. He adores and is obsessed with her, even though his friends and acquaintances find her repellent in her lack of animation. Unfortunately, his beloved is not as she seems.
The Sandman is a study in psychological horror. Like many good horror stories, this one is laced with ambiguity. Is the malevolent figure continuing to haunt Nathanael, or has he lost his sanity, stricken by hallucinations and mental malaise; his mind broken by those terrifying events in his childhood? I wasn’t quite sure because there was evidence to suggest that it was not completely a figment of Nathanael’s imagination.
The Sandman is an important short story because it is one of the first works of fiction to include an artificial human, the precursor to the robot of later fiction and scientific reality today. I have wanted to read this story for a while, and I enjoyed it more than not. Despite the author’s penchant for using five words when one would suffice, and the somewhat disjointed narrative structure, I found myself becoming very enthralled as I read this story. Mr. Hoffman shows a vivid imagination, and his prose caused me to become involved in the story to a level in which I was quite worried about how the story would conclude. Although this won’t be to all tastes, I recommend that admirers of classic fantasy and horrors read this one at least one, because it does have something of merit to offer to the literary world.
Nathanael is a broken man. The horrific events of his past have destroyed him in the most fundamental of ways. He is not free to be a happy, joy-filled man, content with the love of a good woman and the friendships of those around him. He is haunted by the dark memories and the malevolent figure of Coppelius, who murdered his father. This figure became intertwined in the imaginings of a childhood dark fable about the Sandman, who will punish bad children who don’t go to bed in a timely fashion.
Years later, the memory of that diabolical man taints everything, even his relationship with Clara, his beloved. Nathanael goes back to University and starts falling in love with Olimpia, the daughter of his physics professor. She is literally the perfect woman: an exquisitely correct danger, a pianist without flaw, and beautifully mannered. She listens carefully to everything he says, not dismissing him as Clara does when he goes off on a melancholy bent. He adores and is obsessed with her, even though his friends and acquaintances find her repellent in her lack of animation. Unfortunately, his beloved is not as she seems.
The Sandman is a study in psychological horror. Like many good horror stories, this one is laced with ambiguity. Is the malevolent figure continuing to haunt Nathanael, or has he lost his sanity, stricken by hallucinations and mental malaise; his mind broken by those terrifying events in his childhood? I wasn’t quite sure because there was evidence to suggest that it was not completely a figment of Nathanael’s imagination.
The Sandman is an important short story because it is one of the first works of fiction to include an artificial human, the precursor to the robot of later fiction and scientific reality today. I have wanted to read this story for a while, and I enjoyed it more than not. Despite the author’s penchant for using five words when one would suffice, and the somewhat disjointed narrative structure, I found myself becoming very enthralled as I read this story. Mr. Hoffman shows a vivid imagination, and his prose caused me to become involved in the story to a level in which I was quite worried about how the story would conclude. Although this won’t be to all tastes, I recommend that admirers of classic fantasy and horrors read this one at least one, because it does have something of merit to offer to the literary world.
May 22, 2017
Nathanael’s childhood is haunted by the mysterious figure of Coppelius, a lawyer-friend of his father who regularly turns up at their house for night-time alchemical sessions. Nathanael associates Coppelius with the mythical Sandman, the legendary being said to steal the eyes of children who refuse to go to sleep. When Nathanael’s father dies as a result of an experiment gone wrong, this ominous mental link is sealed once and for all. Years later, with Nathanael now a university student, unwelcome memories are reawakened by the arrival in town of Italian barometer salesman Coppola. Could he be Coppelius under an assumed name? And what is his association with Professor Spalanzani? Nathanael’s ruminations increasingly skirt obsession. His infatuation with Olimpia, Spalanzani’s perfectly-formed but strangely uncommunicative daughter, only adds to his emotional confusion.
I have the impression that continental Gothic tends to be more earnest and intense than English Gothic. No doubt this is a generalisation which invites any number of exceptions. However, it is certainly true of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Sandman (1816). Almost unremittingly dark, its bleakness is only tempered, if at all, by occasional bursts of black humour. The plot is underpinned by vague aura of supernatural dread, although from the start there is a strong suggestion that this is a tale not of ghosts or monsters but of a very human madness which may be more terrifying than any phantom.
A classic of its kind, The Sandman has inspired later authors including Poe and composers such as Delibes and Offenbach. This annotated Alma Classics edition features a new translation by Christopher Moncrieff and includes in an Appendix a few pages from Sigmund Freud’s The Uncanny – a celebrated essay which gives a predictably psycho-sexual interpretation of Hoffmann’s novella.
I have the impression that continental Gothic tends to be more earnest and intense than English Gothic. No doubt this is a generalisation which invites any number of exceptions. However, it is certainly true of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Sandman (1816). Almost unremittingly dark, its bleakness is only tempered, if at all, by occasional bursts of black humour. The plot is underpinned by vague aura of supernatural dread, although from the start there is a strong suggestion that this is a tale not of ghosts or monsters but of a very human madness which may be more terrifying than any phantom.
A classic of its kind, The Sandman has inspired later authors including Poe and composers such as Delibes and Offenbach. This annotated Alma Classics edition features a new translation by Christopher Moncrieff and includes in an Appendix a few pages from Sigmund Freud’s The Uncanny – a celebrated essay which gives a predictably psycho-sexual interpretation of Hoffmann’s novella.
January 30, 2024
I hate school for doing this to me 😭🔪
November 19, 2022
Los demonios y traumas, los miedos infantiles. El hombre de arena, en España se decía por la noche a dormir niños que viene el tío arenero, o cuando alguno tenía sueño, se te ha metido arena en los ojos…es todo lo mismo. Niños al cine de las sábanas blancas, no juguéis con el fuego que os meáis en la cama, etc. Que viene el tío del saco.
Esos mitos mezclados con los problemas de la mente hacen crecer monstruos y leyendas y da lugar a un gran relato como este.
Hoffmann es el precursor de la novela fantástica del S.XIX por delante incluso de Poe.
Este cuento forma parte de una edición que tuteló Italo Calvino de cuentos fantásticos del s XIX, el cual tenía por casa y había leído la mitad, el segundo estuche (Kipling, Turgueniev, Vernon Lee, Poe, Leskov, etc).
Ahora continuo con Jan Potocki.
Esos mitos mezclados con los problemas de la mente hacen crecer monstruos y leyendas y da lugar a un gran relato como este.
Hoffmann es el precursor de la novela fantástica del S.XIX por delante incluso de Poe.
Este cuento forma parte de una edición que tuteló Italo Calvino de cuentos fantásticos del s XIX, el cual tenía por casa y había leído la mitad, el segundo estuche (Kipling, Turgueniev, Vernon Lee, Poe, Leskov, etc).
Ahora continuo con Jan Potocki.
May 28, 2018
Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream
Make him the cutest that I’ve ever seen
Give him the word that I’m not a rover
I'm sorry but that's all I can think of right now and now the song's stuck in my head :)))) Toodles!
Make him the cutest that I’ve ever seen
Give him the word that I’m not a rover
I'm sorry but that's all I can think of right now and now the song's stuck in my head :)))) Toodles!
March 18, 2023
woman dislikes my work. woman bad. woman listens to me like i'm a god. woman good.
March 7, 2018
Such a short but brilliant book. I remember hating it when I was forced to read it back in school but somehow ended up loving it even back then- I choose to write my final examination about its characters.
Rereading it, I'm still amazed by Nathanael's story. Although the book is rather short, it offers a lot. Beginning with the retelling of a horrible incident in his childhood, it proceeds to show how this early incident shapes his years as a student. Nathanael is the prime example of a youth in his time. Smart and cultivated, with a suitable marriage in his future. On the downside, he seems to be too sensitive. He can't shake the past's happenings and continues to be deeply disturbed by them. One reason may be that he isn't allowed to talk about them. He tries to write about his feelings in a letter but his fears get easily dismissed by friends and family. I feel sorry for him.
Being a little older now, I can also appreciate the horror aspects of the story a lot more. My 16-year-old-self was disappointed because I just wasn't scared by the story. I've always been a fan of the horror genre - always seeking a book to be spooked by but to be honest, this isn't the purpose of this Kunstmärchen (a literary fairy tale?). Nevertheless, it starts to scare you if you continue thinking about it. There is something creepy about an automaton that seems to be the perfect woman. A person that is, nevertheless, described as dull and mechanical. A young man who can't tell reality from imitation. I also imagine that it was scary to think about artificial humans back when the book was first published in the early 19th century.
I'm a big fan of the book - the only downside being its shortness - and plan on reading more by E.T.A. Hoffmann soon.
Rereading it, I'm still amazed by Nathanael's story. Although the book is rather short, it offers a lot. Beginning with the retelling of a horrible incident in his childhood, it proceeds to show how this early incident shapes his years as a student. Nathanael is the prime example of a youth in his time. Smart and cultivated, with a suitable marriage in his future. On the downside, he seems to be too sensitive. He can't shake the past's happenings and continues to be deeply disturbed by them. One reason may be that he isn't allowed to talk about them. He tries to write about his feelings in a letter but his fears get easily dismissed by friends and family. I feel sorry for him.
Being a little older now, I can also appreciate the horror aspects of the story a lot more. My 16-year-old-self was disappointed because I just wasn't scared by the story. I've always been a fan of the horror genre - always seeking a book to be spooked by but to be honest, this isn't the purpose of this Kunstmärchen (a literary fairy tale?). Nevertheless, it starts to scare you if you continue thinking about it. There is something creepy about an automaton that seems to be the perfect woman. A person that is, nevertheless, described as dull and mechanical. A young man who can't tell reality from imitation. I also imagine that it was scary to think about artificial humans back when the book was first published in the early 19th century.
I'm a big fan of the book - the only downside being its shortness - and plan on reading more by E.T.A. Hoffmann soon.
March 21, 2021
Nathaniel está obcecado com "o homem da Areia" um ser que joga areia no olho das criancinhas que não vão dormir no horário certo. Ele vê essa criatura em Copelio advogado e amigo de seu pai, em um oculista chamado Coppola. Mas será que o que Nathaniel vê é real ou ele está ficando louco? Tudo muda quando ele ,de repente ,se apaixona por Olímpia , filha do professor Spalanzani, uma garota muda porém muito bela. Nathaniel esquece de sua mãe, seu pai, sua namorada e até de sua Obsessão pelo" homem da areia" .Mas será que essa garota também não é um produto de sua imaginação? Um belo conto onde não sabemos o que é real ou imaginário, artifício psicológico muito usado por Hoffman em suas histórias .Hoffmann é o mestre incomparável do estranho na literatura.! Um conto estudado a fundo por Freud em um artigo publicado em 1919.
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