- Paperback
- Publisher: Ungar Pub Co (June 1960)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0804462755
- ISBN-13: 978-0804462754
- Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 11.4 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 204 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Book Description
This selection of Hoffmann's finest short stories vividly demonstrates his intense imagination and preoccupation with the supernatural, placing him at the forefront of both surrealism and the modern horror genre. Suspense dominates tales such as "Mademoiselle de Scudery", in which an apprentice goldsmith and a female novelist find themselves caught up in a series of jewel thefts and murders. In the sinister "Sandman", a young man's sanity is tormented by fears about a mysterious chemist, while in "The Choosing of a Bride" a greedy father preys on the weaknesses of his daughter's suitors. Master of the bizarre, Hoffman creates a sinister and unsettling world combining love and madness, black humour and bewildering illusion.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Hoffmann (1776 - 1822) studied law and entered the Prussian civil service, but his over-riding ambition was to beomce a graphic artist and painter. He turned to fiction only in his thirties and became one of the most influential authors of his time. R.J. Hollingdale has translated eleven of Nietschze'sbooks and published two books about him. He has also translated works by Schopenhauer, Goethe and Fontane.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence
It was in the Rue St Honore that the little house was situated which Madeleine de Scudery, famous for her charming poems, occupied by the grace and favour of Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
It was in the Rue St Honore that the little house was situated which Madeleine de Scudery, famous for her charming poems, occupied by the grace and favour of Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
19th Century German Horror And Fantasy,
By
This review is from: Penguin Classics Tales Of Hoffman (Paperback)
Although the previous review was negative calling this collection of E.T.A. Hoffman's stories uninspiring and meaningless, it's worth taking a better look. E.T.A. Hoffman's genius and the Germany he was familiar with. In the mid 19th century, Germany, not yet the German Empire, was a vast and varied society. Intellectuals were educated in the brand name universities (such as Heidelberg) and new waves of thought and politics were emerging such as Karl Marx's Communism. Germany had been the home of great existential philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, the freedom-loving Friderich Von Schiller and later the atheist Friedrich Nietzche. It was the home of many Romantic Era composers and writers - Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, writer Henrich Heine and our own E.T.A. Hoffman. He represented, like many other fiction writers his age, the Romanticism of the 19th century that flowered all over Europe. Germany was mostly famous for its symbolic fantasy and fairy-tales, after all this was also the home of the Grimm Brothers.Hoffman's short stories were the German equivalent for Gothic fantasy and horror, in a slightly similar style that Edgar Allan Poe wrote in America. There is even a resemblance to early science fiction novellas, though nothing like Jules Verne or H.G. Wells. "The Sandman" and "Councillor Crespel" were feautured and altered in the Jacques Offenbach French opera "Les Contes D'Hoffman" of The Tales Of Hoffman. These supernatural tales dealt with death and romantic despair. In one story, a soprano suffering of consumption is forced to sing to her death by a villainous doctor. Although the stories appear to be strange and foreign to us, it was highly regarded as great literature of science fiction or horror. For its historic value
2.0 out of 5 stars
Uninspiring,
By Brett (South Dakota) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Penguin Classics Tales Of Hoffman (Paperback)
I fear that I will be vilified for not recommending this book, but honesty requires that I say I found it remarkably unenjoyable. I was given the book as a gift, and was not previously familiar with Hoffmann. Let me say also, that I am not a complete Philistine, and I thought that if this indeed considered a "classic" then there was no reason I shouldn't like it. But the first story, "Mademoiselle de Scudery", described by the translator as Hoffmann's masterpiece, is a total train wreck. The characters are ridiculously artificial and overwrought, though this is I suppose expected in this genre of literature. But worst of all, the story is completely unable to generate any kind of tension. It was infuriating to read a banal account of these events which obviously could have been suspensful. Some of the other stories are better: I enjoyed "The Sandman" and "The Mines at Falun", but often the other stories are filled with mystical symbols and bizarre events that appear to bear no relationship between with the rest of the story. I'm all for unusual ideas and out of the ordinary happenings, but there is a penchant in these stories for meaninglessness and triviality. Maybe I'm not seeing the 900 pound gorilla in the room, I don't know. But as it stands now, I would not want to pass the gift of these stories on to anyone.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Treasury of Wonderful Stories...,
By
This review is from: Penguin Classics Tales Of Hoffman (Paperback)
E. T. A. Hoffmann is perhaps best known to American audiences as the creator of "The Nutcracker"; a story most are familar with due to the numerous stage productions each Christmas season. Hoffmann's contribution to fantasy and literature extends far beyond the Nutcracker though. He posessed an amazing imagination and true talent for spinning a story, exciting a sense of wonder and creating eccentric, memorable characters. This book, "The Tales of Hoffman", offers the reader some of Hoffmann's best, and at the same time, lesser known works. The stories included are:"Mademoiselle de Scudery", "The Sandman", "The Artushof", "Councillor Krespel", "The Entail", "Doge and Dogaressa" "The Mines at Falun", "The Choosing of the Bride" I wish I was a Hoffmann scholar, so that I could do justice in this review to these great tales. Suffice it to say, that anyone interested in superbly crafted fantasy, the supernatural interwoven with the romantic, and wonderfully crafted characters - anyone who reads and admires to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, and Bram Stoker to name just a few, should read the works of Herr Hoffmann. He is truly one of the finest, and under appreciated, authors of the fantastic.
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