E. T. A. Hoffmann

Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, originally named Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann, lived from 24 January 1776 to 25 June 1822. He was a German writer of fantasy and gothic horror, and also worked as a jurist, composer, music critic, and artist. His story "The Sandman" is considered an early landmark in horror fiction, and his novella *Mademoiselle de Scuderi* is thought to be one of the first works of crime fiction. Hoffmann wrote the novella *The Nutcracker and the Mouse King*, which became the basis for Tchaikovsky's ballet *The Nutcracker*. His stories also inspired Jacques Offenbach's opera *The Tales of Hoffmann*, where a heavily fictionalized Hoffmann appears as the hero. The ballet *Coppélia* draws on two other Hoffmann stories, and Schumann's *Kreisleriana* was inspired by Hoffmann's character Johannes Kreisler. Hoffmann's work had a strong influence on 19th-century literature, and he is a key figure in the Romantic movement.

Hoffmann came from a family of jurists on both sides. His father, Christoph Ludwig Hoffmann, was a jurist in Königsberg, Prussia. In 1767, Christoph married his cousin, Lovisa Albertina Doerffer. Ernst Theodor Wilhelm was the youngest of three children, born on 24 January 1776; the second child died in infancy. His parents separated in 1778. His father moved to Insterburg with his elder son, Johann Ludwig Hoffmann, while Hoffmann stayed in Königsberg with his mother and her relatives: two unmarried aunts, Johanna Sophie Doerffer and Charlotte Wilhelmine Doerffer, and their unmarried brother, Otto Wilhelm Doerffer. This trio raised the boy. The household was pietistic and unpleasant, dominated by the uncle, whom Hoffmann nicknamed "O Weh" as a play on his initials. Hoffmann regretted being estranged from his father. He remembered his aunts fondly, especially the younger one, Charlotte, whom he called "Tante Füßchen." Though she died when he was only three, he treasured her memory and named a character after her in his work *Lebensansichten des Katers Murr*. He embellished stories about her so much that later biographers sometimes thought she was imaginary, until proof of her existence was found after World War II.

From 1781 to 1792, Hoffmann attended the Lutheran Burgschule, where he did well in classics. He showed great talent for piano, and spent time writ