E. T. A. Hoffmann, born Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann, was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror as well as a jurist and composer.
Hoffman's family on both maternal and paternal sides were involved in law; his father, Christoph Ludwig Hoffmann, was a barrister in Prussia who married his cousin, Lovisa Albertina Doerffer, in 1767. Ernst was born the youngest of three children, though the second child died in infancy and the eldest, Johann Ludwig Hoffmann, went to live...
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In “The Sandman” by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Nathanael composes a letter to his fiancée’s brother Lothar recalling the terror of the legendary Sandman who would steal the eyes of children who wouldn’t go to bed and feed them to his own children in the...
E.T.A. Hoffman’s “The Sandman” could easily be read as a satire that rails against meek, docile women. However, when looking at the form of feminism in this story, one finds that the protagonist Nathaniel seems to struggle with an abstract mind,...
E.T.A. Hoffmann never reveals the true nature of his protagonist Nathanael’s childhood incident, and thus by design creates ambiguity within The Sandman. This ambiguity leads to two possible interpretations of the story, one of reality and one of...
The portrayal of women written by E. T. A. Hoffmann in The Sandman can appear to be shockingly misogynistic. However, it is written in such a parodic way that it is clear to the reader that these are not Hoffmann’s views, but rather, his critique...
Sigmund Freud’s interpretation on the notion of the unheimlich, or as it was translated into English, the uncanny, in his 1919 essay with the same title was famously supported by his unique literary analysis of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s short story...
Childhood affects one’s creativity and enables the activity of lively imagination. However, the upbringing plays a central role to the development of those qualities. On the one hand, The Manuscript Found in Saragossa and The Sandman are...
