Book Chapter

Toying with Persephone

Blackford, Holly Virginia, Holly Virginia Blackford

2012

Overview

German romantic writer E. T. A. Hoffmann knew what it meant to cycle between worlds. He was first and foremost a musician and composer. He wished to make music his exclusive career, but he trained as a lawyer and served for most of his career as a Prussian judiciary (McGlathery, Mysticism 40-41). When Napoleon defeated Prussia in 1806 and Hoffmann lost his position, he achieved moderate success supporting himself through the arts, serving for a short time as music director and conductor of Joseph Seconda's opera company and supplementing his income through teaching music. He returned to government service after Napoleon's defeat in 1814, spending many years as a jurist and well-respected judge. His thriving creative life was his other world, possibly even his \"real\" self. In a letter dated 23 January 1796 to his friend Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel, he described his double life: \"On weekdays I am a jurist and at most a bit of a musician, during the day on Sundays I draw and in the evenings I am a very witty author until late into the night\" (McGlathery, Mysticism 64).

• Publisher: Routledge
• ISBN: 0415895413, 1138793493, 9781138793491, 9780415895415