the reception of e.t.a.hoffmann in 19^th century britain

Petra Bauer

PhD Thesis by research

Kingston-upon-Thames, January 1999

Table of contents

	Preface	1
0.	Introduction	5
0.1.	The response to German Literature, and in particular to Hoffmann’s writings in England in the early 19^th century.	5
0.2	Articles on translations of Hoffmann’s works in English literary periodicals	9
0.2.1.	The Review of The Devil’s Elixir in 1824 in the Blackwood’s Magazine	16
0.2.2.	The article Hoffmann and fantastic literature published anonymously in The Athenaeum 1847	19
1.	The translations of Hoffmann’s work by R.P. Gillies	24
1.1.	Biographical background	24
1.2.	R.P. Gillies as a translator.	27
1.2.1.	Gillies’s Translations of Hoffmann’s work	30
1.2.1.1.	Gillies’s 1824 translation of Die Elixiere des Teufels	32
1.2.1.1.1.	Omissions from the German original	34
1.2.1.1.2.	Additions to the German original	37
1.2.1.1.3.	Other changes to the original	43
1.2.1.2.	The review of The Devil’s Elixir	44
1.2.2.	The translation of Das Fräulein von Scuderi and Das Majorat in Gillies’s collection The German Stories of 1827	46
1.2.2.1.	Das Fräulein von Scuderi	46
1.2.2.2.	The translation of Das Majorat	49
1.2.2.2.1.	Omissions from the original	50
1.2.2.2.2.	Additions to Hoffmann’s story	51
1.2.2.2.3.	Other changes to the original	53
1.2.2.2.4.	The reviews of German Stories	56
2.	Sir Walter Scott and E.T.A.Hoffmann	61
2.1.	Hoffmann and Scott, the contemporaries	62
2.2.	Sir Walter Scott’s article: ‘On the Supernatural in Fictitious Composition, and Particularly on the Works of Ernest Theodore William Hoffmann’	71
2.3.	The Implications of Scott's Article for the Reception of Hoffmann’s Work	80
2.3.1.	Hoffmann's life style	83
2.3.2.	The battle of Dresden and Leipzig	85
2.3.3.	Hoffmann’s Influence on Scott’s A Surgeon’s Daughter	88
2.4.	The Reception of Scott's article on Hoffmann	91
3	Thomas Carlyle and German Romanticism	100
3.1.	Carlyle on E.T.A.Hoffmann	106
3.2.	Carlyle's Translation of Hoffmann's "Der Goldene Topf"	116
3.3.	"Sartor Resartus" and "Lebensansichten des Kater Murr"	121
3.3.1.	The 'German-ness' of Carlyle's language in 'Sartor Resartus'	124
3.3.2.	The role of the editor	126
3.3.3.	Johannes Kreisler and Diogenes Teufelsdroeckh	128
3.3.4.	The Open End	134
3.4.	Conclusions on Carlyle and Hoffmann	135
4	George MacDonald	137
4.1.	The sources of MacDonald’s inspiration	139
4.2.	George MacDonald's idea of imagination and fantastic imagination	149
4.3.	The connection between Hoffmann and MacDonald	155
4.3.1.	The Image of the Eyes	155
4.3.2.	The conflict between reality and fantasy	162
4.3.3.	The idea of the dream	169
4.3.4.	The motif of the shadow/ Doppelgänger	175
4.3.5.	The motif of the mirror	184
4.3.5.1.	The mirror as a medium of transition	186
4.3.5.2.	The mirror as a reflection of the world outside	188
4.3.5.3.	The mirror as an instrument of power and control	189
4.3.5.4.	The mirror as a psychological aid to self‑discovery	190
4.4.	Summary	193
5	“Musik, ja die holde Musik”: the changing perception of E.T.A. Hoffmann.	195
5.1.	Hoffmann's concept of music	197
5.1.1.	Music and the Listener	200
5.1.2.	'True' music	201
5.1.3.	Hoffmann's musical concept in his literary works	202
5.2.	Vernon Lee: Music and Beauty	213
5.2.1.	Biographical Background