Emily Maria
asked:
Is there a difference between Hoffmann and Dumas' adaptations of The Nutcracker story?
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Michael Watson
Tiffany's correct, E. T. A. Hoffman's version of the story was the original, and was adapted by Dumas. It was the Dumas version that inspired the ballet.
Dumas explicitly acknowledged Hoffman within the text of his version of the story. Hoffman's version is generally considered to be somewhat darker.
The stories are broadly similar, although Hoffman gives Marie's family the name "Stahlbaum", or "Steel Tree," and depicts the parents as perhaps somewhat more rigid in the sort of conformity they want, and Dumas gives them the lighter name "Silberhaus," or "Silver House." The Hoffman version presents Drosselmeyer as a perhaps more subversive figure, less willing to help Marie until he is convinced that she is going to persist in believing what she believes, and not meekly conform to her parent's wish for her to curb her imagination. According to an essay by Jack Zipes that accompanied the edition that I read, Hoffman explicitly felt that challenging the then-conventional view that children should be treated as little adults was an important goal of fairy stories.
Dumas explicitly acknowledged Hoffman within the text of his version of the story. Hoffman's version is generally considered to be somewhat darker.
The stories are broadly similar, although Hoffman gives Marie's family the name "Stahlbaum", or "Steel Tree," and depicts the parents as perhaps somewhat more rigid in the sort of conformity they want, and Dumas gives them the lighter name "Silberhaus," or "Silver House." The Hoffman version presents Drosselmeyer as a perhaps more subversive figure, less willing to help Marie until he is convinced that she is going to persist in believing what she believes, and not meekly conform to her parent's wish for her to curb her imagination. According to an essay by Jack Zipes that accompanied the edition that I read, Hoffman explicitly felt that challenging the then-conventional view that children should be treated as little adults was an important goal of fairy stories.
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