The Sandman The Elementary Spirit

No literature can produce a more original writer than Ernst Thcodor Wilhelm Hoffmann (1776-1822), a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror, better known by his pen name E. T. A. Hoffmann (Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann). His works are very numerous and were published at Berlin in fifteen volumes. He is the subject and hero of Jacques Offenbach's famous but fictional opera The Tales of Hoffmann..Of the two tales in this book, The Sandman is from the collection "Night Pieces," and The Elementary Spirit is from his "Later Works." In these stories, Hoffmanns purpose is to point out the ill-effect of a morbid desire after an imaginary world, and a distaste for realities. Different as their adventures are, there is a striking similarity in the characters of Nathaniel (in The Sandman) and Victor (in The Elementary Spirit). However wild may be the subjects of Hoffmann, and however rambling his method of treating them, his style is remarkably lucid..The story of the Sandman had its origin...