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Rating: 
Summary: Trapped Between Harsh Reality and Evil Fantasy
Review: (This review refers to the book which contains three of Hoffman's many tales.) If you enjoy European fantasy, Hoffman invites you to enter his dark realm where the distinctions between the Real and the Impossible are blurred. Allow yourself to be lead into a parallel universe, where nightmares take on frightenting intensity; where the solid world melts into obsessions, doppelgangers and the scent of brimstone. Where men sell their souls (or their reflections) for passion, fame or talent. Such is the literary milieu created by ETA Hoffman, which inspired Jacques Offenback to compose an opera on three of these chiaroscuro vignettes. Each tale features a different protagonist--a passionate but morbid young man ensnared by insidious evil or a warped mindset. Still we empathize their their various predicaments as they inevitably fall prey to the schemes of devious men, or even worse--their own propensity for paranoia. It is left to the reader to judge each case for himself. Certain elements are common to all three tales; the importance of Music, superfluous references to artists, scientists and writers of the day, and the quaint contrivance of protecting the identity of the cities by merely giving their first initial. Hoffman's themes are depressing but fascinating; so often the love of good women can not avail the heroes, who simply refuse salvation. Permit the mists of confusion and tempatation to swirl through your brain until you are gradually released from your stifling bondage to the
Normal with its limitations of the senses. Surrender to the dark side--from the safety of your armchair!
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