A life of the nineteenth-century German writer and composer most famous for inspiringThe Nutcracker. E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776–1822) is celebrated for his supernatural fiction such as
The Sandmanas well as his musical achievements, notably the opera
Undine. This book offers a concise yet comprehensive introduction to Hoffmann as a Romantic writer, composer, and public figure. It follows his life as a lawyer, theater director, and senior judge in Berlin, where he clashed with authorities over their persecution of student radicals. Drawing on Hoffmann’s personal writings and contemporary recollections, Ritchie Robertson also highlights how historical events like Napoleon’s invasion disrupted Hoffman’s career. Considering his literary and musical contributions together, the book presents Hoffmann as a multifaceted artist whose inventiveness, both comic and spine-chilling, remains influential today.
Ritchie Robertsonis a fellow of the Queen’s College, Oxford and the Emeritus Schwarz-Taylor Professor of German at the University of Oxford. His books include
German Political Tragedy: The Machiavellian Plot and the Necessary Crime.
Introduction
1 From Konigsberg to Berlin, from Music to Literature
2 Bamberg: Medicine, Psychology and Fiction
3 Hoffmann the Storyteller
4Hoffmann in Berlin, 181422
5 Hoffmanns Literary Afterlife
References
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
"In this concise yet informative and incisive study, Ritchie Robertson investigates Hoffmann’s lesser-known achievements in music, figurative art and legal practice to generate new insights into familiar literary works. Not least, the result is a productive biographical perspective on Hoffmann himself."
"Hoffmann’s world springs to life in Robertson’s prose. The Gothic writer of longstlãÈ
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