About this title: 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 ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780140443929ISBN:0140443924
Description: Good. Considerable cover wear and tear with creasing and scuffing to edges. Age toning. MInor markings and writting on pages. GoodwillnyBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. You may return new items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 1982-08-26
ISBN-13:9780140443929ISBN:0140443924
Description: Very good. Very minimal damage to the cover (no holes or tears, only minimal scuff marks), in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, minimal to no highlighting/under. read more
Description: Good. Minimal damage to cover and binding. Pages show light use. With pride from Motor City. All books guaranteed. Best Service, Best Prices. read more
Edition: Trade Paper
Binding: Softcover-Fair
Publisher: Grove, New York
Date Published: 1946
Description: Fair. No Jacket. Trade Paper Fiction Fiction: A trade paper edition of the classic Romantic stories. A fairly good reading copy, though with penciled marks on a few pages.a. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 1982-08-26
ISBN-13:9780140443929ISBN:0140443924
Description: Good. All books in Acceptable-Good condition. Books may NOT include Online Access Codes (InfoTrac, MyEconLab). Books MAY contain highliting/bent pages. We ship M-F. read more
Edition: Limited Editions Club
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: The Heritage Press, New York
Date Published: 1943
Description: Steiner-Prag, Hugo. Very good. No dust jacket. Both eps are cracked but remaining page block tight; several pages dimpled along front edge; else tight, square, clean; large 8vo. 344 p. Includes illustrations. Gray buckram covers with red lettering and artwork embossed on front cover and spine; profuse b&w illus. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 27/05/2004
ISBN-13:9780140443929ISBN:0140443924
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
Description: Hoffman, E. T. A., w/intro by Arthur Ransome, The Heritage Press, nd, c1943, cloth, spine slightly darkened, front inner hinge broken o/w good+, 344 pps, illus. w/sepia lithographs (& Prologue) by Hugo Steiner-Prag, 9 1/4' x 6' Steiner-Prag, Hugo. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Grove Press, New York
Description: Good. No Jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Editied by Christopher Lazarre. Hoffman's name has long been synonymous wih the fabulous, the supernatural and the grotesque. Text is clean, tight, unmarked. Cover is scuffed and dogeared. read more
"The rather long introduction to this book provides useful biographical information (Hoffman was a German Romantic, having lived from 1776-1822), insights into Hoffman's psychology, and specific comments about the tales contained in this volume. There are seven of Hoffman's stories contained herein.
"Ritter Gluck" has a flavor of magical realism; it is certainly a fantasy with a febrile quality.
"The Golden Pot" is dreamlike and phantasmagoric; the distinctions between reality and fantasy are blurred, leading the reader through labyrinthine images that shift and slide, inviting multiple interpretations. People and objects metamorphose, changing continually as in dreams, creating a kaleidoscopic mood and atmosphere, reminiscent of the writings of Kafka. There are also elements of fable contained here; typical challenges and dilemmas are set up, the reader knowing that the hero will fall into traps from which he must be extricated. The margin between everyday life and dream world becomes increasingly blurred, and the reader sometimes has difficulty distinguishing one from another. The tale culminates with a vision of Atlantis, an Edenic setting wherein nature is equated with poetry. Marvelous!
"The Sandman" is a story in which the sudden shift in perspective from the writer of the opening letters to that of a different narrator is disconcerting. Nathanael is besotted with the automaton Olympia, who is obviously not human at all, someone who is merely a mirror for whatever Nathanael chooses to project on her; he seems unable to understand or accept Klara, who is fully aware, loving, and skeptical. Eventually, haunted and pursued by the murderer of his father, Nathanael descends into madness and suicide. It is an odd and griping story.
"Councillor Krespel" is less of a fantasy than a fairytale-like story of fatal emotions, of the consequences of excessive desires and selfishness.
"The Mines of Falun" is a tale of bewitchment and tragedy, of insatiable longing and inevitable doom.
"Mademoiselle de Scuderi" is an enigma. Is this a very early detective story? If so, it certainly has an unusual number of sequential subplots. But who exactly is the detective? Desgrais? Mademoisel le de Scuderi? What a convoluted plot! Halfway through the tale, I could not even recall some of the early subplots, many of which seemed unrelated to the events now being related; but in the end, all was convincing resolved, the story reminding me of those by Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle. Very nice, indeed.
"The Doubles" is a clever extended variation on the perennially fascinating doppelgänger theme.
The Tales are unique and delightful, imaginative and well written, a notable addition to the genre of fantasy literature."
"This guy was great! What an imagination...I'm thinking one of my favorite writers, the criminally-unknown/underrated Gerald Kersh, was a Hoffmann fan because I see a lot of similarities. Really amazing stuff."
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