E T a Hoffmann

It is December 24, the house of Stahlbaum. Everyone is preparing for Christmas, and the children - Fritz and Marie - are wondering what will this time they get for a present from an inventor and godfather, senior adviser to the court Drosselmeyer, who often repairs clocks in the Stahlbaum's house. Marie dreams about the garden and a lake with swans, and Fritz says that he likes their parents' gifts more, because he can play with them (godfather's toys are usually kept away from children so that they do not break them), and godfather cannot make the whole garden.In the evening children admired the beauty-Christmas tree, near and on which were gifts: a new doll dress, hussars, etc. The godfather did a wonderful castle, but dancing dolls performed the same movement, and to get inside the castle was impossible, so the miracle of technology quickly became boring - only the mother got interested in a complex mechanism. When all the presents were sorted out, Marie saw the Nutcracker. Ugly doll seemed for the girl very pleasant. Fritz quickly broke the couple of Nutcracker's teeth in an attempt to split the hard nuts, and thus Marie began to take care of it. At night children removed toys in the glass cabinet. Marie, placing her ward with all the conveniences, became a witness of the Battle of seven-headed Mouse King and the army led by the Nutcracker doll. Dolls surrendered under the onslaught of mice, and when the Mouse King has slumped to the Nutcracker, Marie threw her shoe at him.

(Annotated Edition)

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

"The Sandman" is a short story written in German by E. T. A. Hoffmann. It was the first in an 1817 book of stories titled The Night Pieces. "The Sandman" begins with a series of letters between the protagonist, Nathaniel, his close friend Lothaire, and Clara, Nathaniel's betrothed. Nathaniel tells his friend (though the letter is accidentally read by his fiancee) about how the tale of the Sandman terrified him in his youth. According to folklore, the Sandman is a being that sprinkles sand over children's eyes to make them go to sleep."

The Sandman

In this new edition: - The 1853 Edition translated from the German of Hoffmann by Mrs. St. Simon with four illustrations on wood. The original text has not been changed.- Followed by E.T.A. Hoffmann, A Biographical Memoir. Originally published in Weird Tales, by E. T. W. Hoffmann; a new translation from the German with a biographical memoir by J. T. Bealby, B.A., formerly scholar of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in two volumes. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1885."The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" (German: Nussknacker und Mausekönig) is a story written in 1816 by Prussian author E. T. A. Hoffmann, in which young Marie Stahlbaum's favourite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive and, after defeating the evil Mouse King in battle, whisks her away to a magical kingdom populated by dolls. In 1892, the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov turned Alexandre Dumas's adaptation of the story into the ballet The Nutcracker.The story begins on Christmas Eve, at the Stahlbaum house. Marie, seven, and her brother, Fritz, eight, sit outside the parlour speculating about what kind of present their Godfather, Drosselmeier, who is a clockmaker and inventor, has made for them. They are at last allowed in, where they receive many splendid gifts, including Drosselmeier's, which turns out to be a clockwork castle with mechanical people moving about inside it. However, as they can only do the same thing over and over without variation, the children quickly tire of it. At this point, Marie notices a nutcracker, and asks to whom he belongs. Her father tells her that he belongs to all of them, but that since she is so fond of him she will be his special caretaker. She, Fritz, and their sister, Louise, pass him amongst themselves, cracking nuts, until Fritz tries to crack one that is too big and hard, and the nutcracker's jaw breaks. Marie, upset, takes him away and bandages him with a ribbon from her dress.

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (Illustrated and Annotated)

Die Nachtstücke sind ein Erzählzyklus von E.T.A. Hoffmann, der aus acht phantastischen Geschichten besteht. Sie entstanden in der Zeit von 1815 bis 1817 in Berlin und wurden dort 1816 und 1817 in zwei Teilen veröffentlicht.

Nachtstücke

The Golden Pot: A Modern Fairytale (Der goldne Topf. Ein Märchen aus der neuen Zeit) is a novella by E. T. A. Hoffmann, first published in 1814. Hoffmann regarded it as his best story (Kaiser 1988, 37), and there is wide agreement among literary scholars that it is a masterpiece of romantic literature (Feldges & Stadler 1986, 64).

Large Print

Der Goldene Topf

First published in German in 1816, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse-King" is the children's fairy tale by Prussian composer and romantic author E. T. A. Hoffman that inspired Tchaikovsky's famous ballet. Popularized by a French retelling by Alexandre Dumas in 1844 and immortalized in 1892 in the ballet that has become a part of the Christmas season tradition, Hoffman's original tale is a magical story of imagination and love. It begins on Christmas Eve as the young Marie and her brother Fritz receive their Christmas gifts, including a beautiful nutcracker that immediately catches Marie's interest. She begins to have fantastical dreams of her brave nutcracker leading all of her dolls in battle against the cruel and greedy Mouse-King and his army of mice. Her parents do not believe her dreams are real, but Marie is certain that the nutcracker is indeed her magical hero. She continues to dream of dramatic battles, the nutcracker's eventual victory over the wicked Mouse-King, and a trip to the beautiful Land of Toys. Hoffman's fairy tale of magic and devotion continues to captivate audiences and inspire adaptations around the world. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

E T a Hoffmann

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