The Golden Pot and Other Tales: A New Translation by Ritchie Robertson (Oxford World's Classics)

I have always known that E.T.A Hoffmann was a brilliant writer and a talent of magnitude in many other areas. I will go one step further and say that in my opinion, there is no better writer of grown-up fairy tales than Hoffman that I know of. Oscar Wilde is close in his fairy tales but they are usually short and not as developed as Hoffmann's.You can call him a romantic author of fairy tales, fiction, horror or fantasy but few authors have the ability to visualize such well thought out tales as Master Flea.When it come to imagination, I can't help but think that the great Sci-Fi writer Frank Herbert must have read and been influenced by Hoffmann.The Sandman is brilliant and the Golden Pot is even better. I am not sure why Hoffman is so obscure. He had tremendous imagination. I didn't like My Cousin's Corner Window as much but The Sandman, The Golden Pot and Master Flea are easily worth the price of the book even if it were double.

E.T. A. Hoffmann was a very imaginative and humorous writer, and as far as I can tell, the translation is a good one.

Bought this book for a class, overall great quality.

Wonderful book.

If Tolkien is the father of modern fantasy, then in my opinion E.T.A. Hoffmann is it's grandfather. His stories are engaging, descriptive and beautifully written.

Interesting tale

Great edition.

I know this marvellous Hoffmann prose in its original german, and I must really say that the translationis really marvellous as well. Complimenti. Dr.J.Koch

Wow! E.T.A. Hoffmann's stories are totally stunning...a real rollercoaster ride! I'd just finished the 'Weird Tales Vol 1' collection and was hungry for more so I plumped for this collection.The first thing that was a bit of a surprise was that this collection concentrates less on the sinister (or horrific) and more on the fantastic (or fairytale), the exception being "The Sandman" of course.The collection includes "The Golden Pot", "The Sandman", "Princess Brambilla", "Master Flea" and "My Cousin's Corner Window". "The Sandman" of course is an absolute classic story that is truly unsettling to read. "The Golden Pot" and "Master Flea" are amazingly surreal fairy tales that just have to be read to be believed and I'm not even going to attempt to summarise them. However the three stories "The Sandman", "The Golden Pot" and "Master Flea" are a good litmus test for the reader - if you don't like any of these stories then you may as well avoid anything else by Hoffmann.The only disappointing story for me was "Princess Brambilla" which has its moments and cracks along at a rapid pace but in the end is just too chaotic to be that fulfilling to read. Hoffmann certainly seems to like identity-confusion in his stories and this one has it in spades where the characters seem to switch identities throughout. Don't get me wrong, the story is still a fun read and would probably improve on a second reading, which was the case with "The Golden Pot".Although I didn't actually read them in order I think the collection works well. "The Sandman" seems to be an obligatory inclusion to any Hoffmann collection but in this book it acts as a bit of a counterpoint to the fantasy/fairy tales by introducing a darker element to the book. Also the final story is a fitting way to end the book. Whereas the other stories are very surreal, "My Cousin's Corner Window" has no fantastic elements but essentially consists of a dialogue between a man and his crippled cousin discussing certain characters in a market place that can be viewed from a window. It's not exactly realism but compared to Hoffmann's other tales it seems a lot calmer.Despite the slight dip in quality with 'Princess Brambilla' this collection is so close to perfection...so 5 stars it is!

Hoffmann was a great story teller. I had read his novel The Devil's Elixirs and really enjoyed it so I already knew what a great writer he was. The stories in this book confirm it. The translation is fluent. Well recommended.

Classic German tale.. use it for an university course

E.T.A. Hoffmann is a must-read for all of you who take an interest in Romanticism.

Excellent!