My knowledge of classical literature is greater than the average person's, although I am miles from an expert on the subject. I thought I'd heard of every such author, then one day I suffered a mild comeuppance, coming into possession of
The Best Tales of Hoffmann, a Prussian who made a great impact on the world during his short life. He died in 1822 at 46. E.T.A. Hoffmann's stories form the basis of Jacques Offenbach's opera
The Tales of Hoffmann, which, heavily fictionalized, presents the author as its hero. He is also wrote the novella
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, on which Tchaikovsky based his beloved ballet. Another,
Coppélia, is based on two of Hoffmann's stories, while Schumann's
Kreisleriana is based on Hoffmann's character Johannes Kreisler. There are ten tales in the aforementioned volume, translated from German by several personages. I read four. The first,
The Golden Flower Pot, ran 70 pages. I found it grossly overwritten and outlandish, tending toward fantasy rather than the macabre. I then decided to concentrate on the stories that comprise Offenbach's opera, the libretto of which was written in French by Jules Barbier. Outside of a few arias, I'm not a fan of the genre, but I respect the skill of the creators and performers. I've never seen
The Tales of Hoffmann, and doubt I've heard any music or arias from it. I enjoyed the three stories much more than the first. Each was considerably shorter. Hoffmann preceded Edgar Allan Poe, whose first story was published in 1833, eleven years after former's death. The two share an interest in the bizarre.
A New Year's Eve Adventure is the story of a man who loses his reflection in mirrors.
The Sand Man concerns a young man's obsession with a beautiful but lifeless woman.
Rath Krespel is about a father's overprotection of a beautiful daughter. The first two have elements of the supernatural, which must be fun in modern renderings of the opera. The last, which is a fairly standard work, involves violins and vocals, so it's easy to imagine its transfer to the stage. Hoffman was also a caricaturist, and many of his drawings are interspersed throughout the book, recreated by artists. Here is one he did of himself, which is not in the book:
Here's eye-opening news: Male sperm counts in the USA, Europe, New Zealand and Australia have dropped 50% the in the past 40 years. Although the analysis did not state any reasons why this has occurred, previous studies cite exposure to chemicals and pesticides, smoking and obesity. Whatever - it's scary.
My thanks to the gentleman who donated a wide array of books that includes classics, best sellers and non-fiction, hardcover as well as paperback. The floating book shop's inventory keeps getting better. At the moment it's probably the best it's ever been. My thanks also to the young woman who bought
Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, and to the elderly woman who bought a thriller in Russian; and to Eileen, who purchased novels by Kay Hooper and Rosamund Pilcher; and to the young man who sells books online at Amazon, who hopes he will realize a nice profit on Robert Graves'
I Claudius and two other books. I hope he does too so he'll return and buy more.
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