"The Nutcracker" is a beloved Christmas story featuring Godpapa Drosselmeier, the brave Nutcracker, and the evil Mouse-King. "The Golden Pot" is widely considered Hoffmann's finest story.

Hoffmann is among the greatest and most popular of the German Romantics. This selection, while stressing the variety of his work, puts in the foreground those tales in which the real and the supernatural are brought into contact and conflict. The humour of these tales is a result of the incongruity of supernatural beings at large in an ostentatiously everyday world. They include The Golden Pot, recognized as Hoffmann's masterpiece by himself and posterity; its spine-chilling companion tale, The Sandman, which Offenbach drew on for his opera Tales of Hoffmann, and which Freud examines in his essay `The Uncanny'; two longer and more elaborate fantasies, set respectively in Germany and Italy; and the late story, My Cousin's Corner Window, which shows the powers of the imagination being applied to everyday urban life, and marks a transition in European literature generally from Romanticism to Realism. Ritchie Robertson's detailed introduction places the stories in their intellectual and historical context and explores their compelling narrative complexities.

"This is a beautifully well done crochet book. The Nutcracker story is told with each vignette, introducing a different character or accessory to craft. I would highly recommend adding this to your collection." — Fit2BTiedLife Experience the enduring charms of the holiday classic in an entirely different way! This version of the beloved tale is illustrated with full-color images of crocheted characters. Each chapter of the adventure ― from the Christmas Eve party to the fierce battle between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King to the visit to Toyland and beyond ― features complete instructions for crocheting charming representations of the story's personalities and props. Twelve easy-to-follow patterns depict Marie and her Nutcracker, the Mouse King, the enchanted clock, a Christmas tree surrounded by wrapped gifts, and other festive figures. Well-illustrated instructions specify yarn colors, materials, gauge, and abbreviations for stitches; a Techniques section offers guidance to crocheters. All patterns specify yarns that are readily available in craft stores. The ideal gifts for all Nutcracker enthusiasts, these amigurumi figures are keepsake treasures that will brighten every holiday season

Gothic cinema, typified by the films of Universal, Hammer, Amicus and Tigon, grew out of an aesthetic that stretches back to the 18th century and beyond, even to Shakespeare. This book explores the origin of Gothic cinema in art and literature, tracing its connection to the Gothic revival in architecture, the Gothic novel, landscape, ruins, Egyptology, occultism, sexuality, the mythology of werewolves, the philosophy of Hegel, and many other aspects of the Romantic and Symbolist movements.

The original stories behind everyone's favorite Christmas ballet It wasn't until the 1950s that seeing The Nutcracker at Christmastime became an American tradition. But the story itself is much older and its original intent more complex. This eye-opening new volume presents two of the tale's earliest versions, both in new translations: E.T.A. Hoffmann's Nutcracker and Mouse King (1816), in which a young girl is whisked away to the Land of Toys to help her animated nutcracker defeat the Mouse King, and Alexandre Dumas's 1845 adaptation, The Tale of the Nutcracker, based on Hoffmann's popular work. Irresistible tales of magic, mystery, and childhood adventure, these timeless delights and fresh interpretations about the importance of imagination will captivate readers of all ages. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.