The E. T. A. Hoffmann Thread

[Extollager]

You mean the Golden Pot?

Ha! Yes, that's what I meant. "The Golden Thread" -- I suppose that's from Blake. It's also the title of a collection of essays on George MacDonald's fantasy.

I hope you will write more about Hoffmann. Though it took effort to finish "The Golden Pot" and "Doge and Dogaressa," I mean to keep reading him, and some other German Romantics.

 

[GOLLUM]

I had also meant to mention another factor concerning eyes... the threat of Coppelius to take out the protagonist's eyes at the beginning, followed by his casting two hot coals on his chest; and the bloody eyes which end up the same way at the end, which also "burn" him... and a question to be pondered: why "bloody", given that they were from the doll?

I'm coming to this discussion quite late in the piece but one possible interpretation might be that if we view Olympia as a ' mirror' upon which Nathaniel's narcissistic ego is projected then the bloody eyes of the 'doll' could in fact be an indicator as to how far the line between dream and reality (or as you put it real and unreal and J-Sun alluded to) has become blurred in Nathaniel’s 'world' but also how successful (to that point) his attempts to impose his personality upon Olympia have become to the extent he's animated what may seem to the reader as an inanimate object with glass eyes to 'real' flesh and blood eyes. Recall earlier when Nathaniel is speaking with Olympia how "her gaze grew more ardent and more ardent still"…thus we witness the continuing evolvement of this anthropomorphic process.

Keep in mind that Hoffmann was writing in the period of the German Romantics and therefore this story also reflects upon the Romantic ideal that the Artist (e.g. Nathaniel) embrace the world of the imagination and dream as one (of several) access points to articulating personal (and by extension collective) experience, against the imposition of form; a way of achieving a kind of divine connection with the soul and its surroundings including nature. In this way Olmypia acts as nature’s inanimate conduit for Nathaniel. Clara on the other hand represents insofar as her ‘lack of imagination’ (as she certainly equally shows she has a caring attitude towards Nathaniel) more the Logician or what’s often referred to as ‘instrumental reason’, in more general terms the Scientist if you will. In fact it’s been argued by some critics that it is Clara’s inability to connect with Nathaniel’s world and entirely appreciate his fears and anxieties that ultimately drives him to madness.

Ultimately therefore Hoffmann, like some of his contemporaries in the middle and latter stages of the Romantic period reflects the growing trend towards highlighting the tensions between the everyday and the supernatural which may eventually, as we see in the case of The Sandman with Nathaniel’s apparent madness at the end, become an unsustainable balancing act. J-Sun in his excellent musings, also touched on this point, I'm attempting here to frame this within the cultural perspective of the German Romantic movement.

Of course these are only some brief observations based upon a mix of my own knowledge of this literary movement and interpretation of this particular ‘anomaly’ in the story.

As you so excellently pointed out early on in this thread JD, Hoffman is very clever not to draw any decisive conclusions to what is already a multi-layered text thus ensuring the spawning of multiple theories that can never be fully resolved given the key elements the story touches upon…which I think is a good thing.

I intend to further articulate my observations on (and key concepts of) the German Romantic period when I post my review of the first part of the excellent German anthology recently published by Penguin, which I’m currently reading.

 

[j d worthington]

Very interesting comments, Mr. G. Despite having a liking for Hoffmann and the German Romantics, I've actually read very little of the critical work on them... something I really should rectify.

At any rate, I agree that the richness in interpretability of much of his work is one of the things which keeps it perennially fascinating. Providing answers isn't always (del Rey to the contrary notwithstanding) necessary or even desirable. Asking the right sort of questions, on the other hand....

 

[GOLLUM]

I'm glad you found my comments of some interest JD and I agree knowing what to ask can be the most pertinent thing to do and something of an art in itself...not always an easy thing.

I hope to provide further critical observations on Hoffmann and several of the other Romantics when I start posting my observations on the anthology I'm currently reading, so this may at least provide (I hope) some sort of useful pointer for you (and anyone else interested) when you do get the opportunity to further analyze this period.

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

I think I may be able to shed some light on this subject, if anyone is still interested, since Hoffmann is one of my favorite writers.

Hoffmann published three collections of stories + other writings in his lifetime, two novels, three self-standing novellas or short novels, and a number of further short stories that were collected posthumously.

The novels, The Devil's Elixir and The Life and Opinions of Tomcat Murr, have been translated a couple of times each. Avoid the shortened 19th c translation of Devil's Elixir, which is the only one currently available on Kindle. The three novellas of 1819-1821 (Little Zach, Princess Brambilla, Master Flea) were collected in translation as Three Märchen, a volume I highly recommend if you can find a copy.

The situation is much more complicated with his short story collections. Most volumes of Hoffmann's tales in English translation mix the stories seemingly at random, with no respect to the original collections. Those, however -- the collections as Hoffmann intended them -- are by far the best way to appreciate his stories. They are:

Fantasy Pieces in the Manner of Callot (published in four short volumes, 1814-1815, revised 1819). This is perhaps my favorite collection of his. It includes, most famously, the "modern fairy tale," "The Golden Pot," but also other well-known stories such as " The Mesmerist" and "The New Year's Adventure." However, it also contains the 13 pieces collectively known as "Kreisleriana," many of them adapted from Hoffmann's own music criticism and attributed to his fictional alter-ego, Kappelmeister Kreisler. They are all simply wonderful, as essays on music, prose poems, whimsical character pieces, etc. Two other fictions in it, "Ritter Gluck" and "Don Juan," are also essays on music in fictional form. The well-known stories can be found in several collections, but at least one of the stories, "A Report on the Latest Adventures of the Dog Berganza" (a sequel of sorts to a Cervantes tale), was, as far as I can tell, only translated in the only full translation of the book, by Joseph M. Hayse (Schenectady, NY: Union College Press, 1996). Highly, highly recommended.

(Cont'd in next comment)

 

[hitmouse]

Gosh. haven't heard from Gollum in a while.

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

Hoffmann's next collection was Nachtstücke, or Night Pieces, 1817. This is the one that contains "The Sandman." As opposed to his other collections, it's almost exclusively weird tales (or proto-weird tales) rather than fantasy like "The Golden Pot." It's all fiction, a straightforward collection of short stories and novellas, as opposed to the fiction/essay/prose poem melange that was his previous collection. I've been trying to track down English translations of every Hoffmann piece, and, weirdly, I've only been able to find translations of about half of these stories, scattered among the various English-language collections. My German is pitiful, so I read the remaining ones in French.

(Cont'd)

 

[Extollager]

Many thanks, t-C, for wakening this thread with this interesting information.

 

[Bick]

Gosh. haven't heard from Gollum in a while.

No, what's happened to him??

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

Hoffmann's next story collection was his longest and possibly my favorite: The Serapion Brethren, published in four volumes from 1819 to 1821. It had a strange, lovely format. In it, Hoffmann collected his recent, unpublished stories and novellas, together with (I think, though I'm not 100% up on the publication history of each of his short stories) some unpublished ones, but gave them quite an extensive narrative framework: it concerns a group of four friends (and later five, as they vote to add one more to their group) who get together regularly to read to each other their writings, then to discuss them, reflect on them, and so on. So Hoffmann distributed his stories among these several fictional personas, and also got them to discuss his own literary productions. Actually, these dialogues in the framing narrative (including further tales the friends tell each other) are some of the best parts of the book. The most famous story in this collection is, by far, "The Nutcracker" (and, if you were puzzled by the story of the ballet, if you read Hoffmann's original telling you'll realize that's only half the story, and the backstory provided makes everything much clearer), but it also includes such well-known pieces as "Madame de Scuderi," "Signor Formica," 'The King's Betrothed," "The Mines of Falun." "Doge and Dogaressa," and "Councillor Krespel," a.k.a. "The Cremona Violin," one of the sources for Offenbach's great opera, The Tales of Hoffmann.

There is one full (and quite good) translation of the entire book, by Major Alex. Ewing, in two volumes, London: George Bell and Sons, 1886, 1892. The bad news is copies of it are extremely rare. (But I managed to snag a set, finally!) The good news is it's available for free on Kindle, with relatively few typos. I should add that, in translation, between the two volumes, it's almost 1100 pages. Most of the stories I mentioned above can be found in other more recent collections in translation, but for a number of the tales this is the only translation; also, this is the only translation of the framing narrative, which really brings the stories together into a unified work.

 

[Extollager]

What really good Hoffmann material would you say, t-C, is missing if one has the Tomcat Murr novel, the Penguin and World's Classics books that have between them

Mme de Scudery
Sandman
Artushof
Councillor Krespel
Doge and Dogaressa
Mines at Falun
Choosing of the Bride

Golden Pot
Princess Brambilla
Master Flea
My Cousin's Corner Window

-- and Anthea Bell's retelling of The Nutcracker?

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

Well, "The Golden Pot" and, especially, "Princess Brambilla" (I'm getting to it! I was going to discuss it in more detail after going through the story collections) are my favorites. They are part of a series of "modern fairy tales" he wrote that also includes "Little Zack," "The Nutcracker," and others. That is, if you want, his more fantasy stories, as opposed to his (horror-ish) weird tales such as "The Sandman" and his non-fantasy adventure/suspense stories (including some gothic-flavored ones). I'd say it's less a matter of individual stories, than the fact that Fantasy Pieces in Callot's Manner and The Serapion Brethren were meant to be read as unified volumes, and all the stories in there gain a lot by being read in that context. But, if I had to pick individual stories, I'd say "The Mesmerist" and "The New Year's Adventure" (aka "The St. Sylvester's Night Adventure") from Fantasy Pieces.

Also, I highly recommend this translation of "The Nutcracker": Amazon.com: Nutcracker (9780385348645): E.T.A. Hoffmann, Maurice Sendak, Ralph Manheim: Books

And the translations of "Princess Brambilla" and "Master Flea" in the Oxford Classics book are a bit wooden. I prefer the ones here: Three Märchen of E. T. A. Hoffmann: E. T. A Hoffmann: 9780872491885: Amazon.com: Books

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

If you read Tomcat Murr and you love the figure of Kappelmeister Kreisler, you will want all the stories/essays/prose poems about him in the two "Kreisleriana" sections in Fantasy Pieces in Callot's Manner, which make up a full half of that book. And, as I said above, one of my favorite things that Hoffmann wrote is the framing narrative to The Serapion Brethren. "Kreisleriana," BTW, is also available in a volume called E.T.A. Hoffmann's Musical Writings, from Cambridge University Press, which also contains a good chunk of his music criticism. Did you know that it was his review of Beethoven's Fifth that made it famous for the first time, probably accounting for much of the fame the symphony has today? (That volume is ridiculously expensive, though.)

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

Is the Penguin you're referring to the Hollingdale translation? That's one I don't have. I've heard his translations are quite (perhaps overly) free. As in, he drops things/references that he thinks today's reader wouldn't know about or get, etc. On the other hand, I love Hollingdale's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, so maybe it's good.

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

If you'll forgive such a nerdy post, my Hoffmann collection, guarded over by Bob and the Log Lady.

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

Also, here is Natalie Dessay brilliantly singing Olympia's aria from Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann. She's the funniest automaton ever. In the intro, she says her performance was inspired by Shirley Temple and her then 2yo daughter.

 

[Extollager]

Thank you for all this bibliographical help, t-C! Fun to see your collection.

Yes, the Hollingdale's what I have. Think I'll get a copy of that Nutcracker edition you recommended.

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

If you read e-books, I strongly recommend the Kindle version of The Serapion Brethren. After all, it's free. At least look at the beginning. And the translations are quite good. (Note: each volume is a separate e-book.)

 

[Extollager]

I'm reviving this thread as an invitation for discussion -- of course -- and also because I'm substituting some Hoffmann for two or three of the books in my earlier plan for Finishing By The End Of This Year.

So is anyone up for reading and discussing Hoffmann's "Princess Brambilla"? It's about 120 pages in my Oxford World's Classics paperback The Golden Pot and Other Tales, and that's about all that I know about it. But I think I'll try to finish the stories in my World's Classics Hoffmann collection before the year's end.

Already discussed here was "The Sandman" (at length -- a model series of postings!), while discussion of "The Mines of Falun," "Doge and Dogaressa," and "The Gold Pot" didn't really take off; maybe some other time.

Anyone else have project to complete a bunch of books by end of the year?

There are some books, such as short story collections and volumes of poetry, that we might well take a long time to finish, without regrets, since the items in those books are more or less independent of each other. Thus I started reading the complete Grimms' tales back in 2009, and still...

www.sffchronicles.com

 

[Extollager]

.... I won't deceive you... I read 25 pages of "Princess Brambilla" and it didn't hold my interest. The translator said this might be ETAH’s “most bewildering” story. The Roman Carnival - commedia dell'arte etc. stuff doesn't tend to appeal to me.