The Uncanny Guest

E. T. A. Hoffmann, a pivotal figure in literature and music, shifted from a legal career to embrace writing and philosophy, influenced by German classicists and thinkers like Immanuel Kant. His most famous tale, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King," inspired Tchaikovsky's ballet, while "The Sandman" influenced both Léo Delibes's "Coppélia" and Sigmund Freud's essay on the uncanny. Hoffmann is celebrated as a master of the uncanny, making his works essential for understanding early 19th-century literature.