The Poet and the Composer

E. T. A. Hoffmann, born in 1776 in East Prussia, shifted from a potential legal career to literature and philosophy, influenced by German classicists and thinkers like Immanuel Kant. His notable works include "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King," which inspired Tchaikovsky's famous ballet, and "The Sandman," which influenced both Léo Delibes's ballet "Coppélia" and Sigmund Freud's essay "The Uncanny." Hoffmann is celebrated as a master of the uncanny in literature, and this edition aims to make his classic works accessible to modern readers.