The Life and Opinions of Tomcat Murr

Book excerpt: In E.T.A. Hoffmann's extraordinary novel, Opinions of the Cat Murr , the reader embarks on a fantastic journey through the routine activities of daily life in 19th century Germany. The confident and eclectic talents of Murr, a creature inspired by Hoffmann's own beloved cat, make him a true feline of the Renaissance, while Kriesler, Hoffmann's alter ego, is a character saturated with romantic sensibility. E.T.A. Hoffmann's strange tale evokes the supernatural, the operatic, the musical, and the psychiatric in a narrative populated by characters who cross the boundaries between madness and sanity, with a style that reflects this uncertainty. The work influenced a diverse group including Gogol, Dostoevsky, Kafka, Kierkegaard, and Jung, and in many ways foreshadowed Freud's ideas about the mysterious. Opinions of the Cat Murr is a classic and is part of the famous collection: 1001 BOOKS to Read Before You Die.