Define Of Books The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (gesammelte Werke in fünf Bänden #3)
| Title | : | The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (gesammelte Werke in fünf Bänden #3) |
| Author | : | E.T.A. Hoffmann |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 384 pages |
| Published | : | April 29th 1999 by Penguin Classics (first published 1819) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Classics. European Literature. German Literature. Fantasy. Literature. 19th Century. Cultural. Germany |
E.T.A. Hoffmann
Paperback | Pages: 384 pages Rating: 3.99 | 1493 Users | 100 Reviews
Representaion Concering Books The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (gesammelte Werke in fünf Bänden #3)
It was E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) who first explored many of the themes and techniques which were later used by writers from Dickens to Dostoyevsky, Poe to Kafka, Baudelaire to Marquez. His career reached a glorious climax in The Tomcat Murr, perhaps the strangest novel of the nineteenth century.. "Hoffmann was a follower of Cervantes and Sterne, a pioneering 'magic realist', fascinated by Gothic horror, extreme mental states and supernatural events occurring within sharply (and sometimes satirically) rendered social settings. A talented composer and painter, he portrayed himself in the guise of Johannes Kreisler - the hypochondriac, antisocial and moody but brilliant musician. In this astonishing book, a vain and very bourgeois tomcat sets out to write his memoirs, using a biography of Kreisler as a blotting pad. By a printer's error, the two lives get spliced together into a bizarre double narrative. A supreme example of literary bravado, The Tomcat Murr is also shot through with the warmth, humanity and almost uncanny ability to captivate his readers which make Hoffmann the greatest of German story-tellers.
Identify Books Supposing The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (gesammelte Werke in fünf Bänden #3)
| Original Title: | Lebensansichten des Katers Murr |
| ISBN: | 0140446311 (ISBN13: 9780140446319) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | gesammelte Werke in fünf Bänden #3 |
Rating Of Books The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (gesammelte Werke in fünf Bänden #3)
Ratings: 3.99 From 1493 Users | 100 ReviewsEvaluation Of Books The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (gesammelte Werke in fünf Bänden #3)
One of the first magical realist novels and 'one of the strangest novel of the nineteenth century'. A fun read with some surreal moments and some rather rambling bits that ended up being a little tiring. Some bits were laugh-out-loud hilarious (hint hint!) with a little more than a sprinkling of gothic horror plus some very tear-jerking moments (especially if you are a cat lover, which Hoffman was). The introduction is very interesting and worth a read too, but I would read it after the readingThis was an initially fun read--I love the concept of a cat's autobiography spliced with a human Kapellmeister's shuffled biography, which the cat supposedly found in the wastepaper basket and wrote on the back of. The cat Murr, as are most cats, is very full of himself and his scholarly, poetical abilities and enjoys namedropping constantly in a hilarious manner. The Kapellmeister Kriesler, however, is supposedly a thinly disguised version of the author Hoffman himself, and his story becomes
MOST HONEST PORTRAYAL OF A TOMCAT EVER. (Not for children.)
Cats are supreme and disdainful creatures so in their judgments of humanity they show no quarterI dont see why an agreeable domestic pet with a happy natural disposition shouldnt be taught to read and write, or indeed why such a little creature couldnt rise to become a scholar and poet. Is that so unprecedented a thing? I wont go so far as to quote the Thousand and One Nights as the best historical source, and a source full of pragmatic authenticity; I will just remind you, my dear fellow, of
They have a party tonight in Königsberg - Mr E. T. A. Hoffmann and his friends the writers: The Tomcat Murr, Edgar Poe, Gogol, Franz Kafka, Dostoyevsky, Bulgakov, Marquez and Calvino.
This was a strange one. Two interwoven and overlapping stories, one written by a cat about his life and adventures and the other a version of 19th century courtly melodrama. Both were widely interspersed with rambles on Art, Music, Poetry and so on, which made them hard to wade through at times. But there were also sections of sublime foolishness and flights of whimsy (the cat duel is a doozy). I think of this one as fibre in my mental diet. 2.5/5
this dazzling performance proves that recursiveness and postmodernism have occurred time and time again, and are sometimes performed with blood in their veins, positively effervescent blood! This is a wonderful and perplexingly overlooked book.
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