Talk:E. T. A. Hoffmann

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Needs translation[edit]

This needs to be recast completely in English. This isn't the bilingual German/English Wikipedia. Also the book titles: "His father was an Advokat and E.T.A. studied at the Gymnasium in Koenigsberg. He then worked as a Referendar in Glogau Silesia and in Berlin in Brandenburg and next in Posen? "

Ow, you're right -- if user:H.J. doesn't fix, I'll check in and see what I can do. JHK

In fact, this needs to be recast completely once again, taking advantage of the much more thorough account in German Wikipedia. --Wetman 21:43, 2 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Brilliant improvement! Everyone is to be congratulated, but above all User:Satyrdey. --Wetman 05:41, 7 August 2006 (UTC) --usually suspicious and crabby.[reply]

Thank you very much User:Wetman. My apologies for being so slow about continuing the data entry. I've been rather busy with other things of late, but I will get back to it in the near future. — Satyrdey 17:09, 27 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I am going to translate the whole of the German entry. I'd suggest placing Satyrdey's list of works into its own article, e.g. List of works by E. T. A. Hoffmann. Xanthoxyl 23:49, 24 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

May I ask if you will still be translating the whole of this article, or can it be assumed that you have now finished your work on it? Jimbo33 16:53, 8 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The German article is now less detailed than the English one. The only section which could be expanded is the one dealing with the Meister Floh affair immediately before his death. Xanthoxyl 15:39, 15 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I request that the titles of his stories please be translated into English, perhaps with German in brackets but I think since this is an english article the title of his works should be in English because many people won't be able to understand which ones are which. Thank you. 129.67.119.156 (talk) 20:03, 31 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Inventing names for Jews[edit]

One of his tasks was to invent names for Jews. He found some poetic ones like Goldbaum or Apfelbaum. Anything is possible. Still, this has a suspicious ring to it— or is it just me? User:Cautious who contributed this is substituting politically-correct modern Polish names for the historically eastern German provinces where E.T.A. Hoffmann is said to have been working. Could this inventing names tidbit be substantiated by a quote from Hoffmann? or is it more like "Legend has it that...?" Wetman 12:18, 27 Jan 2004 (UTC)

It's quite possible since he worked for the German administration. Indeed, Jews from the territories taken over by Prussia after the partitions of Poland were given family names at that time because they didn't use them before. Gdabski 18:45, 2 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This issue was discussed at a meeting of the Berlin section of the German Hoffmann Society. No one knew of a reliable source that E.T.A. was engaged in such an occupation. It is possibly a legend. Ontologix (talk) 23:12, 1 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Alexander Beider's A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Kingdom of Poland gives a good argument against the story being true. Among other things, we have no evidence that mass surname adoption (let alone assignment) occurred in Warsaw at all in those years. Davies' source in Heart of Europe is an article by Davies himself, which points back to a source that reads like a passage from a novel. Hoffmann biographers have not mentioned the story. Also, the first sentence of the passage in the article is wrong: "As chief Prussian administrator of the city from 1795 to 1806, Hoffmann was responsible..." He was there from 1804 to 1807 as is noted elsewhere in the article. And was he ever "chief Prussian administrator"? I'm removing the passage. Roger.Lustig (talk) 19:53, 16 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Spelling[edit]

If there any justification for using Hoffmann instead of the more usual Hoffman?

I, with what little I know, can tell you that this is how Baudelaire refers to his in "Paradis Artificiels." It's his name.

also, you people are crazy. what makes you think that wiki will work?

democracy may be the least bad principle for politics, but why do you think it's a good way to establish truth? (and this is, after all, the only point of an encyclopedia)

What makes you think that establishing truth is the point of an encyclopedia? If it were, do you think Wikipedia would have a rule about "no original research"? — Satyrdey 17:05, 27 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Trivial Detail[edit]

Just wondering - why in the world is this detail about a friend getting drunk by Hoffmann's gravesite included? I find it entirely irrelevant, as it tells precisely nothing about his ideas/work/life etc. I believe it would make sense to eliminate this line entirely, especially as it is only 'reportedly'. Unless of course someone wants to add an analysis of the significance? 85.212.30.87 11:15, 4 December 2005 (UTC)Kim[reply]

Still needs editing[edit]

I subdivided this article into smaller sections, split up excessively long paragraphs, and moved around whole sentences. I am not satisfied with what I've accomplished: the new sections Work and Assessment are still entangled.

The section Work should contain a brief, spare description of stories and music written by Hoffmann, with no evaluation of how good each might be.

All praise of his works, and description of how his works have influenced other writers and composers belongs in the section Assessment.

Please someone have at it.

Tom Lougheed

Move Request[edit]

It was requested that this article be renamed but the procedure outlined at WP:RM#How to request a page move did not appear to be followed, and consensus could not be determined. Please request a move again with proper procedure if there is still a desire for the page to be moved. Thank you for your time! -- tariqabjotu 23:42, 26 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Does anyone recall what the name was that was improperly requested? Did it involve anything more that adding spaces between the initials? Do we want to reinitiate the process? -- Satyrdey 17:03, 27 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Summing up[edit]

Larger then life. Faster than sound. --Philopedia 11:37, 2 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

E.T.A. Hoffmann[edit]

May this be moved to E.T.A. Hoffmann (without the spaces)? — Robert Greer (talk) 15:39, 6 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, the spaced format is standard. Xanthoxyl (talk) 10:39, 7 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Assessment[edit]

"Hoffmann's work illuminates the darker side of the human spirit found behind the hypocritical harmony of bourgeois life, ..." Is this really true? I confess I never saw his work as a critique of bourgeois life. Did Hoffman actually think this or is this the assessor's opinion intruding? 72.43.196.198 (talk) 20:54, 25 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

(Late answer) In his novels such as “Kater Murr”, “Meister Floh”, and “Klein Zaches”, Hoffmann intently criticized the hypocrisies of his contemporaries (and especially of those in leading positions). In other tales this critical attitude is more implicit, integrated in a more poetical way. His criticism doesn’t go strong in a striking manner, rather it underlies all of his major works. Uka (talk) 10:33, 17 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Later influence and references[edit]

Not being familiar with Hoffmann from before I read about his experience of the battle of Dresden: "After the main battle was over, he visited the gory battlefield. His account can be found in Vision auf dem Schlachtfeld bei Dresden." It brought to mind the book Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut, dealing with the bombing of Dresden during the 2nd world war. Is there a literary connection/influence beyond the fact of two authors experiencing war in Dresden? - User:el_fedor —Preceding undated comment added 09:01, 3 June 2009 (UTC).[reply]

Sado-Masochistic Erotica (Schwester Monika)[edit]

Why is "Schwester Monika" missing from the extensive list of works?

http://greatsfandf.com/AUTHORS/ETAHoffmann.php

Just curious

Signed: A Flagellant —Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.245.67.141 (talk) 17:33, 3 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The Serapion Brethren[edit]

Is there a reason that the article for The Serapion Brethren refers & links to E.T.A. Hoffmann, yet there is not a reciprocal section under the author's main page?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Serapion_Brethren

Kerrie (talk) 19:30, 14 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

For the record[edit]

timestamp 9.17.2014 @16:20 -Dirtclustit (talk) 23:22, 17 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Immortality[edit]

Would it help the article if the opera Les contes d´Hoffmann was mentioned? This opera by Jacques Offenbach is among the 25 most popular operas and performed all over the world. E.T.A, is made the protagonist of several of his stories, with only the Muse added as a character. Ontologix (talk) 23:18, 1 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]