This collection of three uncanny tales highlights the best of a 19th-century German author who is seen by many as the father of modern sci-fi and fantasy. In 'The Sandman', young Nathanael grows up terrified of a legendary figure who will steal his eyes if he's caught out of bed at night - but it's only when Nathanael has grown to adulthood, seemingly settled and happy, that the full, terrifying truth unfolds. A living doll, a series of doppelgangers, and the seeds of madness combine in this classic story of self-destruction.'The Cremona Violin' also deals with obsession and thwarted desire, this time between an overbearing father and a musically talented daughter who may die of heart failure if she unleashes the full power of her extraordinary voice. Suppressed passion and possessive control prove a fatal mix in this powerful and claustrophobic story. 'The Golden Pot', meanwhile, is a novella-length tale which Hoffmann believed was his masterpiece. Disturbing, exciting and dream-like, it introduces us to the bumbling Anselmus, whose romantic tribulations are complicated by a witch's curse and the fact that he's in love with a girl who also happens to be a snake.Influential in the worlds of both literature and music during his lifetime, Hoffmann's doppelgangers, unattainable love objects and sinister puppet masters have lived on, becoming key figures in the modern imagination.



Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776-1822) was a writer, artist and composer, and one of the major figures of the German Romantic movement. Raised in a strict, pious household, Hoffmann qualified in law and held a series of posts in the Prussian bureaucracy, living variously in Berlin, Warsaw and smaller provincial cities. A tendency to dissolution and a scandal caused by his caricatures of military officers created several setbacks in his official career, but his efforts as a writer and composer grew increasing praise and attention, and he eventually abandoned work for the Prussian state to collaborate with various theatre and opera companies and write stories. Sadly, his drinking kept pace with his renown, and he died of complications from syphilis and alcohol abuse aged only 46. His darkly imaginative works are still celebrated as foundational texts of modern sci-fi, fantasy and horror, and his writing inspired Freud, as well as forming the basis for two famous ballets, The Nutcracker and Coppélia, and the opera Tales of Hoffmann.