E. T. A. Hoffmann! Perhaps the most influential fantasy writer who ever lived, yet for some reason, nowhere near as popular as he should be. I wonder why that is....


Mark

I wonder myself

It's really a shame

It often seems that people prefer watered-down imitations of an original source above the original source itself, which makes no sense at all to me... but then, I fail to understand many things. ;)

Believe me
One may assume the younger generation understands, but we blatantly fail to.

Imitations are often more attractive than the original as they are made to meet the desires of the sought target audience.

There's nothing wrong about being inspired by something, but dull imitations bother me.

What really fascinates me about some of the great 19th Century fantasists like Hoffmann and Sheridan Le Fanu, and even some of the minor figures like Jeremias Gotthelf and Ludwick Tieck, was how uncompromising they were as they confronted their own obsessions; they had no concern at all for any target audience, because they were too busy staring down their own nightmares, and as a result, they seem amazingly modern and relevant today -- and some of them, like Isidore Ducasse (AKA Comte de Lautréamont) are just as shocking and disturbing now as they were more than a century ago. I truly believe that young people today would respond to such work with real understanding and enthusiasm, if they only knew that these writers existed.

Which is why I'm always gratified to learn that someone like you has been inspired by Hoffmann, that someone like NailBunny has been inspired by Harry Clarke: it shows that the past is still alive, still influential, and still haunting our imaginations.

It's good to know the past. Instead of rushing forward recklessly we should more often stop and take a step back to watch the whole picture. The past is where we come from, we sould never forget that

I'd really like to have known of Hoffmann's work earlier...I'm still only scratching the surface of the 19th century fantasists...I will check out the ones you've mentioned. The short description of Les Chants de Maldoror I just read sounds very disturbing and frightening. I will read it asap
thank you

Most young people today dislike literature due to the manner they are confronted with it in school. The whole joy is taken... a work of art is cut into a thousand pieces which are observed separately...we never really READ anything...

Nice job.