11 h 45 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the thing you fear is real—and what if your own mind gives it shape?
In Night Pieces, E. T. A. Hoffmann gathers eight tales of darkness, obsession and uncertain danger. The Sandman begins with letters from Nathanael, a young student whose childhood terror returns. His fiancée Clara offers reason and affection, but an unsettling arrival stirs fears he cannot put to rest.
Elsewhere, a shuttered building interrupts a grand Berlin street in The Abandoned House. In Ignaz Denner, the promise of wealth draws an ordinary man toward crime and darker powers. Across these stories, Hoffmann leaves strange events unresolved. You must weigh what people see against what they fear, without the comfort of a clear answer.
What you’ll discover
- A childhood fear returns Follow Nathanael as an old terror reaches into his life away from home.
- Reason meets dread Meet Clara, whose kindness and clear thinking offer a counterweight to Nathanael’s troubled mind.
- A house apart Pause before a neglected Berlin house whose shuttered rooms draw a narrator’s attention.
- The lure of wealth Enter a tale where greed and temptation pull an ordinary man toward darker powers.
- No easy certainty Feel the slow unease of stories that keep danger poised between the world and the mind.
Who will love it
For readers who love ghost stories, Gothic atmosphere and tales where the mind plays tricks, and anyone curious about the roots of modern horror.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A lawyer and musician writes of the night
- The Sandman begins with a childhood terror
- An old fear returns in a new guise
- Haunted houses and haunted rooms
- Crime, devotion, art and treasure
- What the tales are about and how they work
Who’s who
- NathanaelA young student in The Sandman, haunted since childhood by a terrifying figure, who struggles to tell what is real from what he fears.
- ClaraNathanael's fiancée, clear-minded and kind, who tries to calm his fears with reason and affection.
- LotharClara's brother and Nathanael's friend, who receives his letters and stands by both of them.
- CoppeliusA lawyer who visits Nathanael's father in his childhood, and whom the boy comes to link with the Sandman of the nursery tale.
- Giuseppe CoppolaAn Italian seller of barometers who arrives in Nathanael's student life and stirs up his old terror.
- Professor SpalanzaniA physics teacher whose house stands opposite Nathanael's lodging and whose daughter draws the student's attention.
- OlimpiaSpalanzani's daughter, seldom seen, whose still manner and fixed gaze fascinate Nathanael.
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Read and hear Contes nocturnes in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Contes nocturnes
by E. T. A. Hoffmann · 1816
Nathanael peers through his spyglass as a childhood terror returns, testing his grasp of what is real.
Challenging10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Night Pieces is a pair of story collections by E. T.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A lawyer and musician writes of the night
Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann was born in Königsberg and trained as a lawyer. He served as a judge and official in the Prussian state, and he also worked as a composer, conductor and music critic. He changed his third name from Wilhelm to Amadeus out of love for Mozart. That double life, one foot in the courtroom and one in the concert hall, shapes his fiction.
Night Pieces came out in two volumes. The first holds The Sandman, Ignaz Denner, The Jesuit Church in G., and The Sanctus. The second holds The Deserted House, The Entail, The Vow, and The Stone Heart. Together they make eight tales, and they differ a great deal in setting and mood. Some take place in lively towns, some in lonely country houses, some in churches and studios.
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What is Night Pieces by Hoffmann about?
It is a set of eight Gothic tales from 1816 and 1817. They deal with fear, obsession, haunted houses, art and the uncanny, and they often leave open whether the strange events are real or imagined.
What stories are in Night Pieces?
The first volume holds The Sandman, Ignaz Denner, The Jesuit Church in G. and The Sanctus. The second holds The Abandoned House, The Entail, The Vow and The Stone Heart.
Who is the Sandman in Hoffmann's story?
In the nursery tale, the Sandman is a figure who throws sand in the eyes of children who will not sleep. In Hoffmann's story, young Nathanael links this figure to a frightening man from his childhood.
The author
E. T. A. Hoffmann
1776–1822 · German Romantic writer
E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776–1822) was a German writer, composer, and lawyer. He was born in Königsberg and died in Berlin. He wrote The Golden Pot (1814), The Devil’s Elixirs (1815–1816), Night Pieces (1816–1817), and The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (1819–1821).
More by E. T. A. Hoffmann
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