Eta hoffmann biography
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| Born: | January 24, 1776 Königsberg, East Prussia |
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| Died: | June 25, 1822 Berlin, Brandenburg, Prussia |
| Occupation(s): | jurist, author, composer, music critic, artist |
| Nationality: | German |
| Writing period: | 1809-1822 |
| Literary genre: | fantasy |
| Literary movement: | Romanticism |
Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann (January 24, 1776 – June 25, 1822), better known by his pen nameE. T. A. Hoffmann, was a Romanticauthor of fantasy and horror, a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist. Hoffmann was one of the key authors of the later the Romantic movement and a transitional figure. His most familiar story, Nussknacker und Mausekönig ("Nutcracker and Mouse King," 1816), was the basis for Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker (1892); despite its appeal to children it contains dark psychological themes and social commentary on the issues of the day.
His work combined the strong emotion of Romanticism with the elemen
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Master of the fantastical: the life and work of ETA Hoffmann
His tales are about singing automata, somnambulistic girls, mysterious snake women, fairies and alchemists, misguided monks, vampires and witches. Everyone knows the stories of “Ghost Hoffmann”, as the poet and one of the most important representatives of German Romanticism, ETA Hoffmann, was called during his lifetime. His supernatural, sinister characters are incredibly apt representatives of the German Dark Romanticism, known as Gothic Literature in England. However, not only the fantastical, the marvellous and the eerie, but also comedy, satire and irony as well as social criticism permeate Hoffmann's entire artistic œuvre, and thus his fantastical tales and grotesque characters are often written with a wink.
Known today primarily for his literary works, it fryst vatten often forgotten that ETA Hoffmann, a multi-faceted artist and universal genius, also practised as a lawyer, composer, Kapellmeister, music
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E. T. A. Hoffmann
A jurist, a reveller and a poet: the life of this exceptional character was full of contrasts. He was both a conscientious clerk and a passionate artist. In his works, everyday life and fantasy stood side by side and often merged and became one.
“On weekdays, I am a jurist and somewhat of a musician at most; on Sundays I draw during the day and in the evening, I become a very witty author until late into the night.”
Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann was born on 24th January 1776 in Königsberg (Prussia, now Kaliningrad). Four years later, his father Christoph Ludwig, who was known to be a temperamental lawyer and drinker, divorced his mother Lovisa Albertina (née Doerffer), who was described as a hysterical and obsessively orderly woman. Hoffmann spent his childhood in the house of his grandmother Lovisa Sophia Doerffer. One of his uncles would give the young boy drawing and music lessons and he created his first compositions aged 13.
At the age