E.T.A. Hoffmann

Originally, E.T.A. Hoffmann wanted to become a musician. But out of common sense and family tradition, the multi-talented Hoffmann became a lawyer. But Hoffmann lost his civil servant status and thus his emplyment and needed to rebuild a new existence several times in different places. Reasons were, for example, the Napoleonic wars. He suffered years in extreme poverty. It was not until 1814, when he moved to Berlin for the third time, that he found success as a lawyer and writer. Hoffmann achieved fame with his fantastic works such as "The Sandman" or "The Golden Pot". Hoffmann was a very progressive poet for his time. By managing to erase the boundary between dream and reality in his works, he became a pioneer of fantastic and horror literature.

Hoffmann was a dazzling figure of Romanticism. His circle of friends and admirers included Tieck, Chamisso, Eichendorff, and Humboldt. He spent his days between the wine tavern and the court, drank and partied a lot and had countless affairs. But especially in the last years of his life Hoffmann was very productive. He died of a severe paraplegia at the age of only 46.

The poet, illustrator, musician, theater director and lawyer E.T.A. Hoffmann was one of the most popular authors of his time. Today, however, his influence on music, science fiction, literature and art is hardly known. The 200th anniversary of his death in 2022 is a good occasion to take a closer look at his life and work. Hoffmann's themes, such as artificial intelligence, the limits of reality or one's personality development in the context of social constraints, are still extremely relevant today.