Sexual politics in the narratives of E.T.A. Hoffmann

Abstract

This article argues that contrary to late-eighteenth, and early-nineteenth, century sexual politics and contemporary literary practice, the work of E.T.A. Hoffman (1776–1822) subverts the accepted polarization of the sexes. This is shown in the choice and treatment of character and plot in Hoffmann's works of prose fiction, and in how he employs tone and narratorial voice. Drawing on a wide selection from Hoffmann's stories, some examined in detail, we show how his writing permits widely differing critical readings. We use Booker's theories to support our contention that Hoffmann's approach to gender is non-conformist. We also extend the critical arguments of Mattli, Bronfen, and Schmidt, and counter-argue against those of Hadlock, Asche, and Von Matt with regard to confined, comatose, and dead or dying women. We show that, in critiquing Romantic discourses on the muse, Hoffmann's work gives a voice to marginalized women, and lampoons bigoted men. We use a combination of historical, literary, allegorical, and folkloric critical approaches to support our argument that Hoffmann's fictional writing destabilizes a strict demarcation of gender; we thereby defend him against imputations of misogyny.

Keywords::

• Hoffmann
• Romanticism
• polarization
• male
• female
• narrative

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the 4 Guineas reading group and the anonymous readers from Journal of Gender Studies for their advice. We are also indebted to A. Bell, E.F. Bleiler, and R. Robertson's translations of Hoffmann's work.

Notes

^1. See Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann: collected works (Vol. 3, p. 24). All subsequent Hoffmann references are to this collection.

^2. See Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann: collected works (Vol. 3, p. 24). All subsequent Hoffmann references are to this collection.

^3. Schmidt has noticeably modified her position since referring to Hoffmann's ‘many one-dimensional static female characters’ and his conventional ‘misogyny [our italics] which imprisons women in the realm of being and denies them any conflict of identity’ (1988, p. 35).

^4. See Fantasy Pieces (2/1, pp. 17–18) and Princess Brambilla (3, p. 769).

^5. Jung's archetypes, including the animus (male) in women and the anima (female) in men, are ‘universal and inherited patterns’ intrinsic to the human unconscious (1956, p. 228). Historical contextualization accentuates Hoffmann's even-handed attitude to gender compared with Jung's gender bias. Jung interprets women as muses: ‘Just as a man brings forth his work as a complete creation out of his feminine nature, so the inner masculine side of a woman brings forth creative seeds which have the power to fertilize the feminine side of the man. This would be the femme inspiratrice…’ (1953, p. 209).

^6. In literature Liebestod (love-death) means an erotic suicide pact. In opera it has come to mean music accompanying ‘a death in an otherworldly space’ (Deathridge 1996, p. 107). Hoffmann's innovative musical use of the Liebestod pre-dated Wagner.

^7. This critical consensus is typified and perceptively encapsulated in Meldrum Brown's analysis of Hoffmann's ‘unerring ability to bring the two levels [earthbound and heavenbound] into a convincing juxtaposition… so perfectly matched that the higher world of fantasy actually gains credibility from its relationship to the lower level and the reader has no problem in suspending disbelief’ (Meldrum Brown 2006, p. 185).

^8. Following the same fairy story tradition, in Tieck's novella Pietro of Abano (1825) a singing nightingale alerts the protagonist to the presence of his dead bride, whose corpse he finds in a secret chamber, uncannily re-animated, unpolluted, and effusively vocal. Louis Spohr recreated this novella as an opera (1827).

^9. When paralysed on his deathbed, Hoffmann drew comfort from remembering the singing of a personal friend and professional diva, Johanna Eunika (Sahlin 1977, p. 333).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Val Scullion

Val Scullion holds a PhD from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. She has published in Women: a cultural review and Gothic studies. She has written on E.T.A. Hoffmann in the Journal of literature and science, and, jointly with Marion Treby, in the European review. She has contributed to Marie Mulvey-Roberts’ The handbook to gothic literature, the Encyclopedia of British women's writing 1900–1950, and The literary encyclopedia (lit.encyc.com). She has made contributions on Susan Hill and E.T.A. Hoffmann to Blackwell's forthcoming The encyclopedia of the gothic.

Marion Treby

Marion Treby gained her PhD from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. She has published in Postwar literatures in English, and contributed to The Cambridge guide to women's writing in English and The literary encyclopedia (lit.encyc.com). She has written jointly with Gina Wisker on Toni Morrison in the anthology: Teaching African American women's writing, and, jointly with Val Scullion, on E.T.A. Hoffmann in the European review.