Definition

1. Proper noun:
   • A German author and composer: Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann was a 19th-century German Romantic writer, composer, music critic, and caricaturist, best known for his influential and often fantastical short stories and novels.

Examples of Usage

• Proper noun:
  • The tales of Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann were a major influence on later Romantic literature.
  • Many operas, such as Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffmann," are based on the works of Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann.

Advanced Usage

• "Hoffmannesque": An adjective describing something reminiscent of the bizarre, fantastical, and often darkly humorous style characteristic of Hoffmann's stories.
  • The film's dream sequences had a distinctly Hoffmannesque quality.

Variants and Related Words

• E. T. A. Hoffmann: The name he is most commonly known by, as he changed his third name from "Wilhelm" to "Amadeus" in admiration of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
• Hoffmann (noun): A common shorthand reference to the author in literary contexts.

Synonyms

• Author: writer, storyteller.
• Romanticist: a proponent or practitioner of Romanticism in the arts.

Related Phrases

• The Tales of Hoffmann: The collective title often used for adaptations of his stories, most famously for Jacques Offenbach's opera.
  • We went to see a production of "The Tales of Hoffmann."

Related Idioms

Noun

1. German writer of fantastic tales (1776-1822)