C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann (1776–1822)
Hoffmann, Ernest Theodor Amadeus (originally Wilhelm). One of the most original of German story-tellers; born at Königsberg, Prussia, Jan. 24, 1776; died in Berlin, 1822. He led an irregular, dissipated life; ranging at different times from councilor in the Supreme Court at Posen,—where his cleverness at caricature led to his dismissal,—musical conductor at Warsaw, and scene painter. In 1816, having secured a clerical appointment at Berlin, he settled down to a quiet life, but weakened by the excesses of his early career, died in 1822. The magic and demoniac element pervades the majority of his works, among which may be mentioned: ‘The Devil’s Elixir’ (1816); ‘Night Pieces’ (1817); ‘Fantastic Pieces in Callot’s Manner’; ‘The Brothers of Serapion.’ (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).