revealed not only in his life and action, but also in his writings; for
his writings are the man. Indeed German critics have said that his
works, particularly the _Fantasiestücke_, are "lyrics in prose." What
they mean by this phrase is chiefly that the things he wrote exhibit
subjective phrases of his nature, and are disconnected, or rather not
connected, not balanced parts of a systematic whole. This is true so
far as it is true that Hoffmann never did complete a long work, except
the _Elixiere_, and this work, as there has been occasion to point out,
consists of two disjointed parts. One of the things that strike us most
in reading his books is the peculiar mixture of the real and the
unreal, of matters appertaining to actual life and of fantasies born
only of the imagination. Very often the imagination would be called by
most people a diseased imagination; but it is not always so, sometimes
it is the poet's imagination. Hence, from this blending or close
alternation of reality with what is not of the earth--hence came his
love for fairy tales, tales in which we meet with kobolds, imps,
witches, little monsters of all kinds--the spirits and apparitions in
fact which used to haunt his excited fancy in such a strange way.
Several of these are poetic creatures, whom he handles in a light,
graceful, and pleasing style (_Goldener Topf_, _Nussknacker_, _Das
fremde Kind_, &c.); others, on the other hand, are drawn in horrible
and unearthly colours and awaken the sentiments of awe and dread. What
he loved especially to dwell upon was the "night side of natural
science," the puzzling relations between the psychic and the physical
principles both in man and in Nature. Hence such states as
somnambulism, magnetism, dreams, dark forebodings of the terrible,
inhuman passions, and such things as automata and vampyres, had for him
an insuperable attraction. Insanity was a mystery that haunted his
thoughts for years: it figures largely in _Die Elixiere_ and _Der
Sandmann_; and in the third part of _Kater Murr_ it was his intention
to represent Kreisler's battle with adverse circumstances as
culminating in insanity. Handling these, and states and situations
equally hideous, fantastic, and grotesque, with extraordinary clearness
and precision both of thought and of language, considering the often
misty nature of the subjects he treats of, and pouring upon the vivid
pictures he conjures up the brightness of his wit and the exuberant
gaiety and grace of his fancy, he succeeds in creating scenes,
situations, and characters which seem verily instinct with real life.
This end was attained principally by the true genius he displayed in
perception, apprehension, and description. His graphic descriptive
power is that which mainly procured him his wide-reaching fame during
his own lifetime, not only in Germany but also in France, and is that
which principally gives to his works whatever permanent value they may
possess. With a painter's eye he grasps a character or a scene by a few
of its more prominent and essential features, and with a painter's hand
and eye he sketches them in a few telling strokes. The reader must not
look to find in Hoffmann any clever or subtle analysis of the deeper
motives that work towards the development of character; all that
Hoffmann can give him will be talented _pictures_. He himself lays down
his canon of literary spirit in the introduction to the first volume of
the _Serapionsbrüder_--
"Vain are an author's efforts to bring us to believe in what he does
not believe in himself, in what he cannot believe in, since he has not
made it his own by _seeing_ it (_erschauen_). What else are the
characters of such an author, who, to borrow the old phrase, is no true
seer, but deceitful marionettes, painfully glued together out of alien
materials?... At least let each one of us [the Brethren] strive
earnestly and truly to grasp the image that has arisen in his mind in
all its features, its colours, its lights and its shades, and then when
he feels himself really enkindled by them let him proceed to embody
them in an external description."
Hoffmann has mostly succeeded in acting up to his canon and has written
in its spirit; and in so far true genius cannot be denied him. And he
possessed in no less eminent a degree the true art of the born story-
teller. The interest seldom if ever flags; and the curious anomalies of
men and of men-creatures (_Mensch-Thiere_), whom he mingles amongst his
winning heroines and his delightful satiric characters, oftener than
not quite enthrall the mind or afford it true enjoyment as the case may
be, and this they do in spite of the fact that, owing to their own
nature, they frequently stand outside the ordinary sphere of human
sympathies. Of course it may readily be conceived that the danger which
he was liable to fall into was want of clearness in conception and
sentiment, but he has avoided this rock for the most part with
wonderful skill. One of his latest productions, _Prinzessin Brambilla_,
is the one where this fault is most markedly conspicuous; nor is the
_Elixiere_ free from it.
German critics have not failed to notice the sweet grace and winning
loveliness which hover about the characters of most of his heroines.
They are nearly all presented in colours impregnated with real poetic
beauty; see, for instance, Seraphina (_Das Majorat_), Annunciata
(_Doge_), Madelon and Mdlle. de Scudéry (_Scudéri_), Rose (_Meister
Martin_), Cecily (_Berganza_), and others.
Carlyle, whose brief and for the most part truthful essay upon Hoffmann
(in vol. ii. of his _German Romance_, 1829) appears to have been based
largely upon others' opinions rather than upon first-hand acquaintance
with his author, says that in him "there are the materials of a
glorious poet, but no poet has been fashioned out of them." And when we
seek for poetic elements in Hoffmann's works, we are not altogether
disappointed. We have just stated that his heroines are creations of a
poet's fancy; and in the scene between Father Hilarius and Kreisler in
_ Kater Murr_, and in the passages and characters already alluded to in
_ Die Elixiere_, in the sunny cheerful _Märchen_--_Der goldene Topf_
(which Hoffmann calls his "poetic masterpiece"), in _Das Gelübde_,
_Nussknacker_, &c., we enter the world of higher imagination. Again,
whilst in _Doge und Dogaresse_ we are arrested by the poetic charm of
the island life of the Lagune in the golden days of Venice's splendour,
in _Meister Martin_ we are no less, perhaps still more impressed by the
rich romantic beauty of life in the old mediæval town of Nuremberg. In
_Die Scudéri_ we are made acquainted with the cold glittering court of
Louis XIV. through the lovable character of Mdlle. de Scudéry; and
whilst on the one hand following with deep interest the fate of Brusson
and his love, on the other we are led to contrast the subtilty of the
plot with the fine analytic power of Poe in The _Murders in the Rue
Morgue_. When visiting with Hoffmann the weird castle of _Das Majorat_,
we are made to hear the cold shrill blasts of the Baltic whistling past
our ears, and to feel the storm and the sea-spray dashing in our faces.
These four tales are unquestionably the best that Hoffmann has written;
to them must be added _Meister Wachte_, on account of its excellent
characterisation of the hero. In striking contrast with the majority of
the things he has written, these five tales show him when he is most
objective; in them he has wielded his powers with more wise restraint
than in any of the others, and introduced less of his strange fantastic
caricatures. Next after these tales must be named, though on a lower
level, and simply because they best illustrate his peculiar genius, the
two books of _Kater Murr_, the fairy tale _Der goldene Topf_, and _Des
Vetters Eckfenster_. In the works here named we have the best fruits of
Hoffmann's pen. And if instead of asking in the mistaken spirit of
competition which is now so much in vogue. What is Hoffmann's position
in literature? we ask rather, Has he written anything that deserves to
be read? we shall have already had our answer. The works here singled
out are worthy of being preserved and read; and of them _Das Majorat_
and _Meister Martin_ are perhaps entitled to be called the best, though
some German critics have mentioned _Meister Wacht_ along with the
former as having a claim to the first rank.
It is now time to take a glance at Hoffmann's satiric power. This was
launched principally against two classes of society; the one is that of
which his uncle Otto was a type, the man who is unreasonably obstinate
in defence of the conventionalities of life, and no less so in their
steady observance: the second class was that whose representatives
aroused Hoffmann's ire so greatly at Bamberg and Berlin "tea-circles,"
or "tea-sings"--those who coquetted with art in an unworthy or
frivolous manner. Against this latter class his irony and satiric wrath
were especially fierce, as may be read in _Berganza_, _Die Irrungen_,
the _Kreisleriana_, _Kater Murr_, _Signor Formica_, &c. Perhaps the
most amusing, for quiet humour, of the former class is _Die Brautwahl_.
The force of his satiric power lay in the skilful use of sudden
contrast. Hence it plays more frequently upon or near the surface, and
lacks the depth and pathos of true humour; but it is idle to expect
from a man what he hasn't got.
In so far as this author had any serious philosophical belief, it would
appear to have been that man was a slave of Chance, or Fate, or
Destiny, or whatever it may be called. Sometimes he is the plaything of
circumstances; sometimes a defenceless victim under "Fate's brazen
hand," or of "that Eternal Power which rules over us." The real
significance of life is summoned up in the statement that it is a
struggle between contending powers of good and evil, against both of
which man is equally helpless. He believed that whenever any good fell
to a man's lot there was always some evil lurking in ambush behind it,
or, to borrow his own expressive phrase, "the Devil must put his tail
upon everything." His further views are here quoted from _Der
Magnetiseur_:--
"We are knitted with all things without us, with all Nature, in such
close ties, both psychic and physical, that the severance from them
would, if it were indeed possible, destroy our own existence. Our so-
called intensive life is conditioned by the extensive; the former is
only a reflex of the latter, in which the figures and images received,
as if reflected in a concave mirror, often appear in changed relations
that are wonderful and singularly strange, notwithstanding that these
caricatures again And their real originals in life. I boldly maintain,
that no man has ever thought or dreamt anything the elements of which
were not to be found in Nature; nohow can he get out of her."
Was this the cause or the result of the visions he used to see?
From his conception of strife between good and evil as interpreting the
significance of existence arose that dissonance which lies at the root
of nearly all his most characteristic works--that sense of want, that
failure to find final satisfaction which may be only too readily
detected. For the conflict within himself he knew no real mediatory: he
was baffled to discover a higher category in which to unite the
conflicting principles. Religion he never willingly talked about; hence
it could not give him the satisfaction he lacked. He thought he found
it in Art, however; since for Art he battled with all the strength of
his genius, and in the sacred mission of Art he believed with all his
soul. He has many enthusiastic bursts on the subject, agreeing in some
respects with the views laid down by Schiller in his _Aesthetische
Erziehung des Menschen_:--
"They alone are true artists who devote themselves with undivided love
and enthusiasm to their goddess; to them alone is true Art revealed....
There is no Art which is not sacred.... The sacred purpose of all Art
is apprehension of Nature in that deepest sense of the word which
enkindles in the soul an ardent striving after the higher life.... I do
not ask about the artistes life; but his work must be pure, in the
highest degree respectable, and if possible religious. It has no need,
therefore, to have any so-called moral tendency; nay, it ought not to
have such. The truly beautiful is itself moral, only in another
form.... Art is eternally clear. The mists of ignorance are as inimical
to her as the life-destroying carbonic acid gas of immorality. Art is
the highest perfection of human power. Heart and Understanding are her
common parents."
Music was his favourite art. It first taught him to feel; and not only
was it his unfailing solace in hours of trouble, but it brought him
messages of deeper import: it disclosed to him glimpses of another
world--it was the "language of heaven." Here again a passage from his
own works expresses his opinions upon this point better than any other
pen can express them:--
"No art, I believe, affords such strong evidence of the spiritual in
man as music, and there is no art that requires so exclusively means
that are--purely intellectual and ætherial. The intuition of what is
Highest and Holiest--of the Intelligent Power which enkindles the spark
of life in all Nature--is audibly expressed in musical sound; hence
music and song are the utterance of the fullest perfection of
existence--praise of the Creator! Agreeably to its real essential
nature, therefore, music is religious cultus; and its origin is to be
sought for and found, simply and solely, in religion, in the Church."29
Treating of Hoffmann's position with respect to music, Wilibald Alexis
says, "We do not know any other man who has expressed in words such a
real true enthusiasm for an art [as Hoffmann for music]; and
specialists assure us that few have thoroughly grasped the nature of
music so admirably."
As far as a foreigner may presume to judge of Hoffmann's language and
literary style, it would appear to be chiefly distinguished by strong
grace, ease, naturalness, and nervous vigour. German critics
acknowledge its charms, calling it a model of clearness and masterly
skill and elegance. Perhaps its beauties are best seen, that is in a
more chastened form, in _Kater Murr_. Repetitions, however, and
exaggerations in description of sentiment tend, at times, to mar the
reader's pleasure. Signs of haste, too, are not wanting, as Carlyle
pointed out. This was chiefly due to the very large number of
commissions he received from publishers and others, who keenly competed
for the productions of his pen. At the date of his death he had as many
commissions on hand as would, if he accepted them all, have kept him
fully employed for several years.
To those who love a good story, well told, the five specially mentioned
may be recommended; and for those who desire to explore the dark
by-paths (_Irrwege_) of the human spirit, to penetrate to some of its
rarest comers, and to know all its ins and outs, as well as for those
who aim at studying German literature, Hoffmann is a writer who ought
to be read at greater length.
THE TRANSLATOR.
FOOTNOTES TO "BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE":
Footnote 1 The chief sources for this biographical notice have been _E.
T. A. Hoffmann's Leben und Nachlass, von J. G. Hitzig, herausg. von
Micheline Hoffmann, geb. Rorer_, 5 vols., Stuttgart, 1839;
_Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben_, von Z. Funck [C. Kunz], Leipsic, 1836;
and various minor essays and papers.]
Footnote 2 Later in life he adopted the name of "Amadeus" instead of
"Wilhelm," out of admiration for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the great
musician (see _Erinng._, pp. 77-80).]
Footnote 3 Another account (see H. Döring's article "Hoffmann," in
Ersch und Gruber's _Allgem. Encyk._) states 21st Jan., 1778. The date
in the text is the one, however, that is generally accepted, and now
without question; it is the one confirmed by Hoffmann himself (cf.
Letter 15 in _Leben_).]
Footnote 4 These two books, together with Schubert's _ Symbolik des
Traums_, were favourites with him throughout life. In his youth he was
a most diligent student of the new literature of his native country;
English he also read to a large extent, Shakespearian quotations being
very frequent in his letters; and we find the names of Sterne, Swift,
Smollett, &c. Later in life he hardly read anything unless it were
exceptionally good, and then only when recommended to do so by his
friends. Political papers he never read, and scarcely ever criticisms
on his own works.]
Footnote 5 That is, after Hippel had completed his academic career, and
left Königsberg.]
Footnote 6 That is, after the king's death in 1797. She afterwards
married the Holbein here mentioned.]
Footnote 7 _Romeo and Juliet_, iii. 9.]
Footnote 8 _Leben_, iii. pp. 231-233.]
Footnote 9 A suburb or park of Warsaw, beneath the tall beeches of
which Hoffmann loved to lie dreaming, or sketch from Nature.]
Footnote 10 An equestrian statue of John Sobieski, the deliverer of
Vienna from the Turks.]
Footnote 11 Polish for "moustaches."]
Footnote 12 _Leben_, iii. pp. 251-254.]
Footnote 13 A very comic incident, of which Hoffmann himself was the
hero, took place on the occasion of Werner's reading his new tragedy
_Das Kreuz an der Ostsee_ to a select circle of friends. Unfortunately
it cannot be compressed into sufficiently short space to be quoted
here. Hoffmann relates it in _Die Serapionsbrüder_, vol. iv., after _
Signor Formica_.]
Footnote 14 _Leben_, v. pp. 18-20; cf. also _ Erinnerungen_ p. 1, &c.,
where Kunz details the circumstances under which he was introduced to
Hoffmann.]
Footnote 15 Several of Calderon's, mainly at Hoffmann's suggestion and
by his assistance; the "Worship of the Cross" was particularly
successful in the Catholic town of Bamberg.]
Footnote 16 Kunz tells us how they used to go down into the cellar, sit
astride of the cask, and drink, and _sich des heitern Lebens freuen_
with genial and sprightly sallies; and his picture has no faint smack
of Auerbach's Keller (_Faust_). See _Leben_, v. p. 177, note.]
Footnote 17 Compare Nanni in _Meister Wacht_, Clara in _ Der Sandmann_,
Rose in _Meister Martin_, Cecily in _Berganza_, &c.]
Footnote 18 See _Erinnerungen_, pp. 60 _sq._]
Footnote 19 See _Leben_, iv. p. 95, v. p. 27; _ Erinnerungen_, pp.
28-31.]
Footnote 20 These adventures are described in one of the most humorous
chapters (iv.) of the _Erinnerungen_.]
Footnote 21 It is treated of in _Don Juan_ and in _ Die Fremdenloge_,
in the _Fantasiestücke_. A recent critic has declared that this essay
will always have value in connection with the stage-representation of
the problem of Don Juan (cf. _Die Gegenwart_, 24th May, 1884).]
Footnote 22 _Leben_, vol. iv. pp. 58, 59.]
Footnote 23 _Leben_, vol. iv. p. 140.]
Footnote 24 Contessa and Koreff are strikingly portrayed in the
_Serapionsbrüder_ (vol. ii.), the former as "Sylvester," the latter as
"Vincenz."]
Footnote 25 The sexual relations are handled in a mystical, sensuous
way; something of the same kind of treatment occurs again in _Das
Elementargeist_.]
Footnote 26 _Leben_, vol. iv. pp. 118-120.]
Footnote 27 _Leben_, iii. pp. 120-123; iv. p. 60.]
Footnote 28 "Behold the lot of mankind--joy to-day, to-morrow grief,"
Walther von Eschenbach's _Parzival_, ii. 103, ll. 23, 24.]
Footnote 29 _Serapionsbrüder_, vol. ii., Introduction to part iv.]