Ranging from macabre fantasies to fairy tales and tales of crime, these stories from the author of The Nutcracker create a rich fictional world. Hoffman paints a complex vision of humanity, where people struggle to establish identities in a hostile, absurd world."The editors have made an excellent selection, and the result is a book of great distinction."—Denis Donoghue, New York Review of Books"The translators have proved fully equal to all the challenges o...

On Christmas Eve, Marie finds a Nutcracker doll among the family’s gifts and is charged by her parents to take special care of it. Under the cover of darkness, the Nutcracker comes to life, along with an evil Mouse King with seven heads, introducing Marie to the magical world of toys, and the brave Nutcracker who will change her life forever.E. T. A. Hoffman’s timeless and whimsical tale has become a Christmas classic since it was first published in 1816. It has been adapted numero...

What if a simple Christmas toy could open the door to a world of magic, danger, and unforgettable adventure? ✨ In The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, E. T. A. Hoffmann invites readers into a dazzling realm where toys come to life, dreams blend with reality, and the courage of a young girl transforms everything she believes. Follow Marie as she discovers the secret world hidden behind her beloved Nutcracker—a world filled with shimmering palaces, midnight battles, and a tyrannical Mouse King...

'The Serapion Brethren' is the name of a literary and social circle created in Berlin in 1818 by the German romantic writer E. T. A. Hoffmann and his friends.'The Serapion Brethren' is also the name of a four-volume collection of Hoffmann's novellas and fairy tales that appeared in 1819, 1820, and 1821.Volume 2 includes the stories: 'The Life of a Well-known Character', 'Albertine's wooers', 'The Uncanny Guest', 'Mademoiselle Scuderi', 'Gamblers', 'Fortune', 'Signor Formica...

"Strange man, how can you have eyes for sale? Eyes? Eyes?" 'The disturbing tale of a young man's obsession with the Sandman, stealer of eyes, which has inspired writers from Sigmund Freud to Neil Gaiman.One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - i...

Hoffmann's stories highly influenced 19th-century literature, and he is one of the major authors of the Romantic movement.Hoffmann is one of the best-known representatives of German Romanticism, and a pioneer of the fantasy genre, with a taste for the macabre combined with realism that influenced such authors as Edgar Allan Poe, Nikolai Gogol, Charles Dickens, Charles Baudelaire, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Franz Kafka and Alfred Hitchcock.Hoffmann's work makes a considerable contribu...

'The Jesuits' Church in G' (1844) was written by the German Romantic author E. T. A. Hoffmann, most famous for his novella 'The Nutcracker and the Mouse King' (1816) which inspired Tchaikovsky's ballet 'The Nutcracker'.The story first appeared in the 'Night Pieces' collection, published in 1816 by The Georg Reimer publishing house in Berlin.Taken "from the papers of a traveling enthusiast', it tells the story of the creative power of the visual artist Berthold. This classic...

Hoffmann's classic Christmas fairy tale, immortalized by Tchaikovsky's ballet, is brought to life by the gorgeous contemporary artwork of Finnish illustrator Sanna Annukka, and is the perfect holiday gift for adults and children alike. The Nutcracker captures, better than any other story, a child's wonder at Christmas.On Christmas Eve, Fritz and Marie excitedly await the arrival of Godfather Drosselmeier and the marvelous gifts he brings for them every yea...

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...

One of five beloved Christmas classicsWritten in 1816 by one of the leaders of German Romanticism for his children, nephews, and nieces, The Nutcracker captures better than any other story a child’s wonder at Christmas. The gift of a handsomely decorated nutcracker from a mysterious uncle sets the stage for a Christmas Eve like no other for the little girl Marie. That night, Marie’s extraordinary present comes to life, defends her from the taunting Mouse K...

Tomcat Murr is a loveable, self-taught animal who has written his own autobiography. But a printer's error causes his story to be accidentally mixed and spliced with a book about the composer Johannes Kreisler. As the two versions break off and alternate at dramatic moments, two wildly different characters emerge from the confusion - Murr, the confident scholar, lover, carouser and brawler, and the moody, hypochondriac genius Kreisler. In his exuberant and bizarre novel, Hoffmann brilliant...

E.T.A. Hoffmann's 'The Devil's Elixir' is a gothic, horror-fantasy novel inspired by Matthew Gregory Lewis's novel 'The Monk'.Medardus is the son of a sinner and is raised in a monastery to atone for his father's past. When Medardus succumbs to temptation, he is dragged into a deadly mystery that sees him travel to Rome, pursued by his murderous lookalike.At the Vatican in Rome, the monk's only hope for salvation is the beautiful Aurelie but in order to finally discover the...