Maniacs, Specters, Automata: The Tales of E.T.A. Hoffmann

Undergraduate / Graduate

In this seminar, we will read stories by one of the most prominent representatives of Romanticism, the German writer, composer, and painter E.T.A. Hoffmann who wrote "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" on which Tchaikovsky would later base his ballet. His stories of bizarre yet psychologically compelling characters will introduce us to the "dark side" of Romanticism as well as to its fantastical aspects. Students will read Hoffmann's extraordinary stories, develop skills of literary analysis, and engage in historical inquiry by tracing the way in which Hoffmann's texts engage with the context of their time, in particular with the history of medicine (mesmerism, early psychiatry), alchemy, and law (Hoffmann worked as a legal official). Readings and discussions in English. (Original texts will be made available for those who read German).