The Wounded Storyteller

The Wounded Storyteller Synopsis

E. T. A. Hoffmann's classic tales of Gothic horror and fantasy are presented in a new translation accompanying the beguiling drawings of Natalie Frank

"Sumptuous. . . . [Natalie Frank's] artwork . . . is gruesome perfection."-Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal

E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) was one of the greatest German Romantic authors of fantasy and a pioneer in the genre we now call Gothic horror. His innovative stories explore ideas of madness, genius, doppelgängers, artificial intelligence, and the boundaries between realities and dreams. Artist Natalie Frank and leading fairy-tale scholar Jack Zipes have joined forces in this lavishly illustrated volume of five of Hoffmann's most influential tales: The Golden Pot, The Sandman, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, The Mystifying Child, and The Mines of Falun.

In addition to offering fresh translations, Zipes introduces the project and sheds light on how Hoffmann's lifetime of personal traumas shaped his writing. Frank's richly rendered gouache and chalk pastels reveal Hoffmann's worlds in full-page drawings and marginalia. Pivotal scenes of transformation, courage, love, desire, and betrayal are illustrated through a feminist lens, focusing on strong, self-aware female characters. A foreword by novelist Karen Russell delves into the influence the tales had on her own literary career and the ways in which she emulates Hoffmann today. The Wounded Storyteller will introduce Hoffmann's timeless work to a new generation of readers.

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