#e.t.a. hoffman

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Art: William Blake

* * * *

It is the phantom of our own self whose deep affinity and profound influence on our state of mind either damns us to hell or uplifts us into heaven.

E.T.A. Hoffmann

(Centre of Applied Jungian Studies)

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

*Originally published in German under the title "Nussknacker und Mausekönig"

[septembergold]

Cover of the second volume of the third German edition (1855)

Book jacket with an engraving of E. T. A. Hoffmann, Lebens-Ansichten des Katers Murr, third edition, Berlin 1855, volume 2. The title is nearly identical to that of the 1st edition; the jackets of both volumes are identical besides the caption “Erster Band.” and “Zweiter Band.” The engraving showing the learned tom cat Murr is based on an original design from Hoffmann. Hoffmann also describes exactly this picture in his preface to the 1st volume.

Date 1855

E. T. A. Hoffmann  (1776–1822)

[johnpauljaramillo]

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 17

Reading Books Together:  A Podcast with Deborah Brothers & John Paul Jaramillo  This December we discuss two Christmas-ritual themed works: Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” and E.T.A. Hoffman’s  The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Deborah gives some context for the children’s lit aspects of both selections and John Paul decides we should have read Alexandre Dumas’ The Nutcracker. (He did also…

[mornyavie]

Once you've finished "grammar 101" versions of language classes you just start taking basically regular classes but using the language, and as An STEM Student this means that personally most of my interaction with Literary Analysis is via German classes. This has a few effects on my life but the biggest is definitely that I somehow imprinted on E. T. A. Hoffman's "Der Sandmann." Every once in a while I remember it and I am compelled to consider a 200 year old short story about a creepy robot in everything I do.

[sasha4books]

Christmas Book Countdown 🎄 (Day 18)

Title: The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

Author: E. T. A. Hoffmann

[lonesplendour]

canny believe I decided to read The Nutcracker for Christmas vibes and got tricked into reading The Sandman and The Mines of Falun as well

[blacknedsoul-blog]

I think the Deans are fucking Lovecraftian gods

If you're a regular reader of my nonsense, you may have noticed that on more than one occasion I've referred to the Deans as "Nyarlathotep Tumblrsexymen": no, I didn't have a stroke on the keyboard, this is a reference to an entity that appears in the stories of Howard Phillip Lovecraft. A writer who is widely known because there were even people who thought that the Necronomicon, a fictional text part of his work, actually existed (and because he was such a recalcitrant racist that it has become a meme about how extremely racist he was).

And since I'm still going through my pile of papers on Gothic fiction, let me take a moment to talk about Lovecraft's work, why I have reason to believe that the Deans have something in common with these creatures, and what that might mean for the development of Nevermore.

A Little About Lovecraft's Gods

To understand a little bit about the kind of creatures we are talking about, I have to stop at a brief (seriously brief) description of cosmic horror: This is a type of horror that takes elements from the scientific publications of the time (which makes it close to science fiction) to give it verisimilitude, it has at its core a deep nihilism, the breaking of scientific canons, the fragility of the human mind and societies contrasted with the vastness of the universe, an enormous fear of "the unknown" for the white man (fed by his racist paranoia), and seasoned with tentacles and creatures that remind us of sea creatures, because Lovecraft had an enormous fear of the sea.

The gods in these stories represent, on a symbolic level, the vastness of the universe, the terror of the unknown, and the fragility of the human mind: they are entities older than time itself, contact with them tends to shatter the mind, and humanity must be very, very grateful that most of them are locked away or incapacitated in some way. Also, the way to access them is through very specific rituals that have been lost over time, so thankfully they're not very easy to contact either.

Similarities with the Deans

Let's start with the most obvious: the Deans, like the Lovecraftian gods, seem to operate in their own plane of existence, beyond what humans understand as "life" and "death": Nevermore is a kind of limbo, but we know, thanks to the Raven, that these guys came from another place and had enough power to kick the crap out of psychopomps without any problem.

However, just like Lovecraft's gods, these enormous powers don't make them able to do whatever they want; as I said, these entities are usually locked up or incapacitated in some way and can only have contact with humans under certain circumstances (like being summoned in rituals), and getting out of their prisons usually requires vague events like astral alignments that are completely out of their control.

The Deans, like Lovecraft's gods, seem to be subject to rules that are above them, and while they can bend them a bit to achieve their goals, it's not like they can do much about it.

Another thing they have in common with Lovecraft's gods is the ability to create servants that function as extensions of them to fulfill their designs. There are many creatures that follow this line in the stories that speak of The Myths, but the best known are the Shoggoth that appear in the novel At the Mountains of Madness: artificial beings created by the Old Ones to rule the Earth, described as amphibious, amorphous masses similar to amoebas.

Although the Deans prefer their minions in the form of animated dolls. I suspect this decision is based on the story The Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffman. I have no proof, but no doubt.

Now for the joke that brings this essay to life: the creature in Lovecraft's universe that most resembles the Deans is a being called Nyarlathotep. This creature belongs to the category of "Other Gods" (not the old ones like Cthulhu) and gets very nice nicknames like "Crawling Chaos".

Nyarlathotep is a being who enjoys causing chaos, death and madness wherever they go. They can communicate with humans, which they use to psychologically torture them and make them lose their minds. Something they seem to enjoy quite a bit. In the same way that the Deans view this sadistic battle royale, they have set up a fun game.

Then there is the ability to manipulate and alter the human mind, which is called into question in stories like Nyarlathotep and The Rats in the Walls (where it is apparently Nyarlathotep who messes with the protagonist's mind so that he tries to kill his friend).

This is something we've seen manifest in Nevermore in two different ways: the ability to trigger or unlock memories.

And the ability to change them. While we can't know if what was shown to Annabel is 100% real, we do know that showing her the end of her life caused a permanent change in the way she retrieves her memories: from the end backwards. If this memory is somehow altered, we also know that the Deans are capable of photoshopping people's memories.

Finally, Nyarlathotep has the ability to shape-shift, which allows them to appear as humanoids in several stories, such as The Oniric Quest of the Unknown Kadath or Dreams in the Witch's House. His human form is considered "unnatural", "strange" and "disturbing" by those who see it (remember that Lovecraft was extremely racist, so he always presents himself as a black man). As a pharaoh in the Randolph Carter cycle and as a charcoal humanoid figure in the second story cited).

Here, the human form of whatever the Deans are is also quite atypical: not only are they ridiculously tall (7 feet), they have heterochromia with a white-colored eye (which I would venture to say may be a reference to the cataract eye mentioned in the story "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe), and their synchronized movements are amusing on paper, but possibly strange to look at for the characters.

Otherwise, there are two other entities in Lovecraft's universe whose descriptions can be loosely associated with the Deans: Yogg-Sothoth and Azathoth. Both are beings of dual nature.

The former is an entity associated with omniscience and appears in stories such as The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward and The Dunwich Horror. and is described as "the key and the door".

Azathoth represents omnipotence, is the center of the universe, and is described as "the beginning and the end" or "the alpha and the omega.

Implications for the comic

The fact that the Deans have elements in common with Nyarlathotep brings up an interesting point: although Nyarlathotep has far greater freedom than other beings, they is a servant of Azathoth. In other words, them powers are subservient to a more powerful being whose plans they must follow. They may amuse themselves in the process, but they is still essentially a butler.

On the other hand, the Azathoth connection might be vague, since this creature is a lobotomized god, so he can't do much. But if the reference is to Yogg-Sothoth, it gets a little more interesting, because that entity is the one who is supposed to release the original gods when the time is right.

And I don't know about you, but these references have me wondering if the Deans are working for something much more messed up than they are, or if they're using the souls of the students to bring back something much more sinister.

[godzilla-reads]

My Year of Gothic Reading 2024

Rules: For each month in 2024 you have to pick either a book, poem, or short story to read that carries gothic themes or aesthetic. Here's a list of suggested reading, but feel free to read something else or add others onto this list!

Books

"Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

"The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James

"Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley

"The Mysteries of Udolpho" by Ann Radcliffe

"The Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux

"Dracula" by Bram Stoker

"The Castle of Otranto" by Horace Walpole

"The Monk" by Matthew Lewis

"The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson

"Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde

"Carmilla" by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Short Stories

"The Great God Pan" by Arthur Machen

"The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe

"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving

"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Hr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

"The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe

"The Sandman" by E.T.A. Hoffman

"The Mark of the Beast" by Rudyard Kipling

"The Vampyre" by John William Polidori

"The Birds" by Daphne du Maurier

"The Cats of Ulthar" by H.P. Lovecraft

Poems

"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe

"The cold earth slept below" by Percy Bysshe Shelley

"The Lady of Shalott" by Lord Alfred Tennyson

"My own Beloved, who has lifted me" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"What Would I Give?" by Christina Rossetti

"Time to Come" by Walt Whitman

"Love and Death" by Lord Byron

"Because I could not stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson

"La Belle Dame sans Merci" by John Keats

"The End" by D.H. Lawrence

"Hymn to the Night" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"The Possessed" by Charles Baudelaire

[miladyh]

Four the Love of a Nutcracker

Summary: One Christmas in Hyrule, a girl buys herself a nutcracker with four colors. Before she knows it, mysterious things begin to happen around her. What is the secret of her new “friend”? And who is the one-eyed man who seems to know him? A Linked Universe x Nutcracker crossover. Four x Reader pairing.

Genre: Fluff, Light Hurt/Comfort, Romance

Rating: G

AO3 Link, if you prefer: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52453850

A/N: Hello! Welcome to the first fic I've written in a very, very long time! It will be multi-chapter; it will not be finished by Christmas. I don't have a lot of time available for writing right now, so I'm aiming for spring on this. Rest assured: it will be finished eventually. Next, I recommend you read The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffman (available in the public domain). While my story will not closely follow its plot, it will be fun if you can spot the references. ;) Lastly, have a Happy and Merry Christmas!

---

It was just the sort of evening you had hoped for. A small blaze crackled away in the fireplace, casting a cheerful glow across the floor. Shadows danced in the corners the light couldn't reach, darting and swaying with each pop of a log. A red armchair had been placed in front of the fire. Though it was bit threadbare in places, it was far less noticeable now than it had been in broad daylight. In the flickering firelight, it looked positively plush, inviting you into its soft embrace.

Placing a book and a mug of tea on the small table beside it, you surveyed your handiwork a final time before sitting. You had spent the better part of the day decorating your cottage for Christmas, and you were ready to rest. It had been several months now since you had come here. This land was quite foreign, but you had grown to love it. The people in town were friendly, and the scenery was pretty. You wondered what it would have been like to grow up in this place.

As you had worked and saved, you dreamed of how you might decorate a home of your own. Flowers in the spring and summer. Pumpkins and harvest wreaths in the fall. Fragrant greenery in winter. Candles everywhere (you were fond of candles and lanterns). As you pondered each season, you found yourself wondering about holidays. What was celebrated here? Were festivals a common occurrence, or were they on rare occasions? You had been quite curious about the local traditions. It was gratifying to find that this land also celebrated Christmas and in a very similar way to your own.

Naturally, your excitement was unmatched when you were able to afford a home. A small cottage on the edge of town: nothing large or fancy. However, it was now your home. It was a place of your own—no more staying at the local inn and being awakened by the sound of boots tromping through the hallways.

Your home – it had such a lovely sound to it. You had been settled for several weeks now, but the thought still brought a smile to your face. You had a home, it was in time for Christmas, and you had a quiet evening ahead of you. Yes, this was a peace you had craved for some time.

You settled yourself in your armchair, tugging a blanket over your legs (a wool blanket, of course—you had no desire to go up in flames. You were appreciative that Anju had gifted it to you). Curling yourself up comfortably, you glanced at the mantelpiece. Fresh greenery lined the edge, punctuated by sprigs of red berries. In the center, a wooden clock ticked quietly, flanked on either side by a pair of candles. It was simple but festive.

Your prized decoration, though, was the figure you had just purchased today: a colorful nutcracker. He looked quite charming standing on your corner bookcase, like he belonged there all along. Your thoughts drifted back to this morning. It had been an unusual day...

…...

The wind came suddenly. The first white flakes of winter had just begun to lazily make their way downward. The breeze, barely a whisper until now, rushed forth with renewed energy like a host eagerly welcoming his guests. For their part, the flakes saw fit to curtsy and bow, swirling around in a gavotte before whisking away to new ballrooms. They did not stand on ceremony.

As these harbingers of change greeted each other, the poor souls left on the street scrambled to find shelter. While wind and snow were all very well, they did not create favorable conditions for shopping.

It was far preferable to be indoors watching them rather than outdoors experiencing their bite.

The shop bell jingled merrily as you practically blew inside, and the wooden door banged shut behind you. You blew on your gloved hands, trying to shake off the cold the same way you had shaken off the snow. Glancing up, you noticed two or or three other customers who had clearly just arrived. They must have had the same idea you did: this would be a good place to wait until things quieted outside. Really, you had been planning to stop anyway, so it was rather fortuitous.

The shop was not large, but it had been packed to the brim with goods. Typical everyday items like plates, brooms, and pails were in one section. Another was filled with food items, like mushrooms and fresh eggs. Yet another held sundries like thread, sewing needles, and sturdy fabrics. You took your time browsing. There were all sorts of things from utilitarian to decorative, and you had plenty of time to work with.

“Oh!” You exclaimed as your eyes lighted on a tall cabinet in the corner. It had been stocked with new merchandise for Christmas: tins full of spiced sweets and sugared plums beckoned you forward, enticing you with the promise of rich flavors. Miniature evergreens made of dyed feathers created a small forest which any bird would be pleased to call home. Twisted glass that looked all the world like candy hung from special hooks, catching the light in their ridges.

To the right of the cabinet sat a small table stacked with bringers of light. Tin lanterns of various heights stood next to each other like a group of revelers. Each had a different pattern punched in it: moons, flowers, simple diamond shapes. Through them all, light twinkled like private constellations. Alongside these, clusters of candles lay neatly bundled, ready to be distributed and burned. The sweet scent of berries emanated faintly from them, carrying with it misty memories and nostalgic dreams.

You could have spent hours gazing at such beautiful things. There truly was a marvelous array of goods. As your gaze leisurely traveled over the shelves once more, a small cluster of wooden figures caught your attention. Upon closer inspection, you noticed that each one was painted differently. Some appeared to be soldiers, brass buttons gleaming down the front of their uniforms. Others showed their trade, such as a baker with his bread or a carpenter holding a saw. Still others were dressed for an activity, holding fishing rods, climbing gear, or even instruments. These were nutcrackers.

As you pored over them, a particular one caught your attention. It was nestled away in the corner, almost completely hidden. Gently moving aside the figurines, you picked it up. It was shorter and smaller than the others. You might not have noticed it at all but for the colorful tunic he was wearing. It was divided equally into four colors: blue, green, red, and violet, each with gold paint mimicking embroidery. Your gaze traveled upward, and you noted that the tunic culminated in a green hood with a tassel on the end. A sword sporting a single jewel in its hilt was strapped onto the back. Above this, carved strands of blond hair hung almost to the shoulders, a headband holding it back. The level of detail was astonishing. Whoever made him had clearly put their heart into it.

The only thing that you found a bit odd was the expression: it looked almost frightened, like a startled deer. Still, no matter. You very much liked him.

As you traced your finger over the figure's tunic, you heard footsteps behind you. In your peripheral vision, a tall figure leaned close. “That one is...quite unique, isn't he?” A bit surprised, you turned fully to look at the stranger. A well-built man, quite tall, and with middling-length blond hair smiled down at you. You immediately noticed the strange markings on his face and the scar over his right eye. You would have remembered such a face.

“Indeed,” you replied. “I've never seen one like him. I...enjoy all his colors.”

The man's eyes sparkled. “Oho! You do, do you?”

He offered no further commentary or explanation. You were unsure how to respond, so you abruptly decided to change the topic.

''...are you new here in town?” You ventured. “I'm certain I haven't seen you .”

“Not exactly. My companions and I have visited before, though we rarely stay more than a few weeks.”

“I see. I'm somewhat new here myself, but not enough that I can't make recommendations. I suggest you visit the bakery before leaving. I'm told they have a new holiday bread that shouldn't be missed. Even if you're familiar with everything, new things add spice to life.” Truth be told, you hadn't tried that bread yourself. Finances were a bit tight after buying your house. But everything from that bakery was delicious, so you had no doubt that you were doing the man a favor. “Oh, and please let me know if I can otherwise be of help.”

“I'll keep that in mind.”

As you moved to put the colorful nutcracker back on the shelf, the man quickly interjected. “Oh, no, I think you should buy him now.”

“What?”

“You should buy him. Take him home, set him up somewhere. It would be...a good experience for him.”

“A...good experience?” You were confused.

“Indeed. Just now, you offered to help me. You could be of great help to me by getting this fellow here.”

...why was he so interested? His insistence was certainly strange. You started to wonder if you had been too friendly when speaking with him. Though town was generally safe, you still had a sense of self-preservation. You hoped you hadn't gotten involved with someone sketchy. But, the sensible part of you reasoned, would a dangerous person really be pushing for someone to buy a general-store nutcracker, of all things? It didn't make sense. He didn't do anything wrong or threatening; he was just pushy. It was more likely he was eccentric. Perhaps he was some sort of artisan that couldn't bear to see good work go unpurchased.

“You seem quite concerned with this,” you replied slowly. “Is it something you've worked with before?” That was vague enough. You should be able to determine something based on his reply.

The man's face remained neutral, though it almost seemed he was holding back laughter. “Indeed, it is something I have worked with before. Though I wouldn't call him my work.”

“What is your work, if I may ask?”

“In the past, I...” he chuckled. “Let's just say it involved time.”

Apparently, the man spoke in riddles. You wondered if the companions he mentioned dealt with this on a regular basis.

“Time...” The answer struck you. “Oh, like repairing clocks!” That would make sense. He would be able to discern quality woodworking, which would explain the pushiness.

His eyes twinkled. “Something like that.”

The man straightened. Something in his demeanor told you the conversation was ending. “If you need my assistance for anything, my friends and I are staying at the inn. Call me 'Time'. We may see each other in town again. ”

“And I really do advise you to buy him. You said yourself that new things can spice up your life. I guarantee that he will keep things interesting. But if you leave him now, he'll be gone in the blink of an eye.” With a friendly nod, he began to walk away.

You looked down again at the nutcracker. Just now, you had the distinct impression that he was glaring. You blinked. No, that couldn't be; the expression had not changed. It must simply be your own imagination, a passing fancy.

What a strange one the man with the scar had been. He had talked about this figure almost as if it was a real person. Perhaps that was the eccentricity of an artist.

You gazed thoughtfully at the decoration in your hands. Well, why not purchase him? You had budgeted for a few decorations, and he did catch your eye, after all. Carrying him firmly in your arms, you made your way to the front counter. Judging by the color of the sky, you'd be in here longer than you originally suspected. You might as well have a “friend” to spend it with.

….......

Returning to the present, you directed a glance at your “friend”.

“You're my first real guest, you know,” you said humorously. You had had visitors, of course, but each time had been brief. As of yet, no one had spent a whole evening in your company. Surely it wouldn't hurt to play a little and pretend he was a real visitor. “I'm sorry I can't offer you any food—you are a only decorative, after all. I would be a terrible host if I accidentally broke my guest's teeth on a nut.”

He looked a bit miffed at being called “decorative”, but he seemed relieved at your final sentence. (Of course, there was no way his expression could really have changed. This pretending business was rather fun, once you got down to it.)

“But,” you continued. “I can offer you a bit of entertainment.”

Picking up the book you had set out, you quickly flipped to the page at which you had stopped. This was one of your favorite stories. After briefly explaining the plot (you had to admit you felt a bit silly explaining it to an inanimate object), you began to read aloud.

The clock on the mantle ticked steadily and the fire crackled as your voice droned on. The occasional lilt and jump gave expression to the characters. It was a magical thing. Reading aloud made you feel so alive. You whiled away the evening in this pleasant manner, peeking up at your “guest” every once in a while. You must say, he did seem interested. You smiled slightly to yourself. What an imagination.

Directing a glance at the clock, you noted it was a bit earlier than you usually retired. Still, you had worn yourself out. It had been a long day, and all you wanted now was sleep. You carefully placed your book on the table beside you and carried your now-empty mug to the sink. Returning to your previous spot, you made quick work of banking the fire, making sure the coals would smolder through the night. While you could let it burn out, this had become a routine. Your mind had learned that as the fire slept, so could you.

You straightened up and stretched, taking one last look at your “guest”. As the firelight had dimmed, he had become more of a shadowy outline than anything else. Still, he cut a handsome figure. You smiled faintly. “We'll continue the story tomorrow. Thank you for your company. I'll see you in the morning.”

As you slowly trudged upstairs to your room, you blew out the few remaining candles. You didn't notice the faint light in the room behind you, gently emanating from the nutcracker.

(Chapter 1 of ??)

[rwby-soh]

“The Girl General”

Sex: Female

Race: Human

Height: 4’8”

Age (circa 99 AGW): 17

Aura Density: Above Average

Aura Reserves: Average

Aura Color: Navy Blue

Semblance: Glyphs

Weapon: Exenterator and Due

Winter and James’ daughter. Shortest member of the main cast by a metric mile, resulting in her having a bit of a Napoleonic complex. This, combined with her parents being extremely overprotective by virtue of her being a Type 1 diabetic, resulted in Liz having a desperate desire to be seen as an adult and be independent, which manifests as her trying her best to “act mature”. Liz can be very hot headed and frequently butts heads with her team leader, Belka, over the best course of action in a given situation. Rebelling against her strict upbringing and desperately trying to invalidate her self-perceived lack of maturity, she has very liberal views on nudity and intimacy, generally sleeping naked and not caring if others see her. Of course, she’d very much care if her parents caught her doing this, but otherwise she’d happily answer the door with naught but a hastily applied towel for modesty. In combat, Elizabeth uses a segmented sword whip named Exenterator as her primary weapon and carries her father’s pistol, Due, as an offhand ranged weapon. As expected, she inherited the Schnee’s family Semblance of Glyphs, though unlike her cousin’s more supportive glyph usage, primarily making use of summons to support teammates, Liz mostly uses them in a directly offensive, self centered manner, using them as platforms and shields. References the titular character of The Nutcracker from E.T.A. Hoffman’s 1816 book, The Nutcracker and The Mouse King.

[salvadorbonaparte]

2023 in Books

I didn't have a lot of time/energy for leisure reading but here are the books I finished this year

The First Man in Rome - Colleen McCullough - I listened to the audiobook because it was narrated by David Ogden Stiers but the book is really good and now I kinda want to read the whole series (but unfortunately the others aren't narrated by him)

Minificciones - Erica Engeler (eds.) - A collection of very short stories from Latin America which I read in an attempt to get back into reading and improve my Spanish, some of the stories were really good and I'd love to read more Latin American lit next year

Dead Collections - Isaac Fellman - A book that sounds like a fake book someone would make up on tumblr but it's real and I loved it, I bought it in Gay's The Word in London, it's about a trans Jewish vampire archivist who falls in love with the widow of a television writer/producer and they figure out they were in the same fan community in the 90s and vampirism is treated as a chronic illness

Abaddon's Gate - James S.A. Corey - I am still making my way through the Expanse series one audiobook at a time and I liked this one but I kinda miss some of the characters from the second book

11/22/63 - Stephen King - I really loved this one, I listened to the audiobook because it was narrated by David Nathan, I already find the whole JFK assassination thing interesting so this was great because it's part sci-fi and part historical novel but it's also silly in a very Stephen King way (crossover with It, you can only time travel through a diner in Maine), the time travel rules were cool, the ending was silly but I'm used to that from him and it actually worked for me, I kept repeating phrases from the book for days after reading it and binge watched the series too

Poems on the Underground - Benson et al. (eds.) - Found a used copy in a charity shop and you know I love poetry and the London Underground

If I Understood You, Would I have This Look On My Face - Alan Alda - The third Alan Alda book I read, honestly he makes me believe improv theatre can save the world, would recommend this to anyone who wants to be a better communicator

Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir - Very different from what I expected but I liked it and will read the other ones too

Nutcracker and Mouse King - E.T.A Hoffman - the audiobook was free and I enjoy the ballet based on it so why not, right

[german-enthusiast]

Hi :) I hope you are well.

I am learning German and was wondering if I could get some audio book recommendations on Spotify ? I enjoy historical fiction, the classics and weird surrealist literature. My favorite book in English is a tale for the time being by Ruth Ozeki I also liked that book called Perfume but I have forgotten the authors name. I would also like any tv or movie recommendations too if possible :)

Thank you !

Hi!!

I've only JUST reinstalled Tumblr and I'm so glad I saw your ask!

(I'll give short summaries of reccs and links in a list later in the post!)

Surrealist lit and classics? have i got the book for you!

Die Verwandlung von Franz Kafka (Eng: The Metamorphosis) professionally recorded on Spotify.

It might be a tough one, being classics and from 1915, but the text should be available online to read along!

Once you've finished that, I suggest reading (the english) Haruki Murakami's "Samsa in love," a short story based on Die Verwandlung!! (available online!)

Other surrealist classics could be "Der Steppenwolf" (Hermann Hesse) and "Der goldene Topf" (E.T.A. Hoffman) - both of which were works analyzed in the Abitur (german highschool graduation exams) and thus might be especially tough, but on the flip side there's thousands of German resources about the books online!

"Der Goldene Topf" is on Spotify, Steppenwolf doesn't seem to be...

However! As you progress (idk your level but classics tend to be difficult even for natives), you might come to appreciate Reclam (a german publisher) with a focus on classics (known for their small yellow books)) and, great news, they publish professional recording of German classics on Spotify!

In terms of classics, here's my favorite: Stefan Zweig, a german author especially famous for his short stories. One of them, Schachnovelle, is on Spotify by Reclam here!

To be honest, Schachnovelle is a favorite because they made it a movie a couple years ago and it is SO. FREAKING. GOOD. (bad news: incredibly different from the original story but in a way you get two great stories under one name so I'm not complaining!) on the OTHER hand, I just found out that there's an audiobook of the book of the movie on Spotify, so you can also listen to that and then watch the movie (or vice versa)

TV or Movie reccs: if you can, get Netflix and a VPN! with the vpn you should be able to make Netflix think you're in Germany and there is barely a show/movie on German Netflix that isn't dubbed (or at the very least subbed) - really, we dub everything (and it's not bad either most of the time!!)

Besides that, our "öffentlich rechtliche" (the publicly owned) channels have got "Mediatheken" (basically Netflix for their shows) and you can watch most that is published on those channels in TV here (ARD, ZDF,...) on there (often with subtitles! (i should make a post about this, damn!)

Here some german movie/TV reccs on Netflix: Fack you Göthe 1&2&3, (T)Raumschiffsurprise, Petterson and Findus, Mord mit Aussicht, der Tatortreiniger

(Reminder that most shows/movies you already know and love on Netflix will probably be dubbed in Germany! AND that in Netflix in a browser, one can browse by language!)

List of reccomendations & links:

Die Verwandlung (Franz Kafka) - man wakes up in body of a bug (link)

Der Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse) - man thinks two wolfes live inside him

Der goldene Topf (E.T.A. Hoffmann) - man falls in love with a snake who is the daughter of a magician who is a lizard or something? (link)

Die Schachnovelle (Stefan Zweig) (movie version) - austrian notary is arrested by the nazis because he has access to money of noble families, he's put in a hotelroom and deprived of mental stimulus to make him crack but he discovers chess to keep himself sane (link)

Reclam Spotify (link)

On Netflix:

Fack you Göthe - criminal poses as a teacher to get access to the basement of a school where his loot is hidden, teacher-student bonding, Eylas M'Barek (actor) national treasure

(T)Raumschiff Surprise - parody of Star Trek, really funny (maybe moreso to natives), at times a bit problematic because it's from 2004; Germans LOVE it

Petterson and Findus - old man with his cat. cute. nordic. cozy.

Mord mit Aussicht - policewoman from Cologne is relocated to a little rural town (she's a city person, yknow?), little town shenanigans, murder and cute bonding ensues (maybe quite german humor?)

Der Tatortreiniger - a man who cleans up crime scenes for a living. Each episode is him cleaning a different crime scene until a person comes around and starts talking to him (about their life, his job, ...) (similar to MmA, has got the same actor, similar humor)

ARD Mediathek: (link) https://www.ardmediathek.de/

recc: Sendung mit der Maus !!! (a show for kids with both little stories and explaining how the world works, a classic for all german kids, was aired sunday mornings and part of the sunday ritual for many!)

ZDF Mediathek (link) https://www.zdf.de/

I couldn't find non-classics on Spotify that fit your type but should I find some in the future I'll message you and maybe someone else has some reccs!!

Hope this helps!

And I really reccomend the Mediatheken!!!

[shinyzango]

I put the entire nutcracker ballet on this christmas party and now I've FALLEN INTO ANOTHER FANDOM HELP. What do I need to know going in?

Bahahaha the nut claims another victim :)

Sgnsngsns jokes aside, glad you enjoyed the ballet!

If you want to know more of the story itself, I can point out that the ballet follows a slightly different story compared to the original book by E.T.A. Hoffman. You can read it and/or the revisited version by Alexandre Dumas. If you want to watch any of the movie adaptations, the one that gets the closest to the story without going weird is The Nutcracker Prince. A lot of people also appreciate the Barbie in The Nutcracker. There are a lot more adaptations that vary between quality and story fidelity out there, but you can take your time checking them out if you grow more interested.

As for the Fandom itself, just enjoy your time! Folks in here are just having fun creating their own version of the story. Feel free to explore around!

[power464646]

So I guess I promised some friends a breakdown of the PMMM trailer

I think I should kick this off by saying I'm really writing this so I have a fast way of dropping all my hypothesising into a chat in one go. If you're not someone who knows me, I mean I guess you can read on anyway but like... don't expect these notes to be super coherent if you're not familiar with my arcane manner of diction. I'm only warning you, dear reader, because I love you.

Ok that got kind of weird. Let's start at the only place it really makes sense to.

Part 1: What on Earth actually happened at the end of Rebellion?

I see a lot of people who are confused about what exactly the final act of Rebellion implies. I see one of these people every time I look into a mirror. Still, let's try breaking it down.

So Homura, having broken out of the isolation field, is suddenly free to reunite with her girlfriend who is probably literally heaven. You almost can't tell that this anime is influenced a lot by nineteenth century theatre.

So that's all well and good, until Homura grabs Madoka's wrists and does... something.

What the hell's happening here?

...actually, the concept movie of all things does clarify a little, which someone's been kind enough to upload to Youtube with subtitles.

Now, you may be wondering: "The concept movie? Is that even still on the cards? I thought it was just a bunch of concept art and short animations." Or maybe you're thinking, "What the fuck is the concept movie?" And look, the thing is we're going to get to that.

Fuck me sideways this is going to be a long post.

So it appears Homura has somehow removed Madoka from the Law of Cycles - this is reinforced in Rebellion a few scenes later when she suggests as much to Sayaka, who she theorises was pulled back to Earth alongside Madoka (and Nagisa). But what's interesting about the concept movie is the implication that somehow there now exists a Madoka in heaven AND a Madoka on Earth.

Immediately after she does the Mysterious Thing, Homura's labyrinth grows to encompass the entire universe. Homura then bites down upon, and shatters, her own soul gem - and on a side note, Rebellion has surrounded her with the imagery of E.T.A. Hoffman's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, in which biting through and swallowing the legendary nut Krakatuk is the only way to break the curse of the Mouse Queen. In biting through her own soul gem, Homura is presumably no longer cursed, whatever that means. This probably has something to do with her speech about having risen above hope and curses, and now having mind-melded with the gay allegations. The rumour come out, and it conquer the universe. Is she immortal now? Resistant to being cursed? Who knows?

Following this, she gets some crazy kind of power up, which largely seems to involve wearing a hideous cocktail dress. Conspicuously absent in the extremely low cut of the dress is her heart surgery scar.

What?

Like, we know she's had heart surgery. This is one of the first facts we learn about her. Have you ever seen the scars from heart surgery? They're huge! So where is it? It's almost like the writer is a hack fraud who keeps forgetting that his own protagonist is severely disabled. But come on, there's no way that's the case, right?

Um.

So moving on, it's now the Incubator's turn to bear the world's suffering in the stead of magical girls. I... don't think it's super clear what this means?

"To handle all the curses that have spread around our world, you Incubators are now necessary for us. So you'll be staying to help, Incubator."

From the looks of the little dude in the ending scene, though, I'd not be too shocked if he was out of commission for a while.

I could talk about the school hallway scene but I know you himedanshi fucks know that like the back of your hand. Instead I'm going to talk about

Alright this image isn't really doing me any favours straight after I say I'm not going to talk about yuri. But bear with me here.

Homura appears to be capable of completely wiping Sayaka's memory by simply clapping her hands - which is all well and good, as spinoff material (especially Wraith Arc- aww nuts, I'm going to have to talk about Wraith Arc too now) states that memory manipulation is her power in the post-episode-12 universe.

Meanwhile, in her own labyrinth in Rebellion, Homura seems to be able to stop time just fine. Could it be that now that her labyrinth is the new universe, she has access to both powers? Well, she disappears instantly after wiping Sayaka's memory, so it could be the case.

What if she starts manipulating the memories of other people too...?

I'd like to briefly bring up another moment from Wraith Arc, where Homura expresses frustration with being able to remember a world nobody else can, and how it makes her own account of the past harder to believe. If she starts clearing the past from the memories of everyone around her...

...would she have a hard time remembering it, too?

Part 2: So I basically watched the new trailer frame by frame like some kind of nerd

Here's some shit I noticed.

We open on this smug jerk who looks a lot like Homura but is smiling way too much. At first I presumed she was some new girl who looks a lot like Homura and that's as far as the connection goes, plus she has a telephone that fucking sucks. I thought this because she also appears on the movie poster, which also has a phone that sucks.

Look at that thing. What the hell.

But then I noticed:

The lounge she's sitting on is in the shape of a lizard, and

The red energy from which she conjures her phone is also a lizard.

I don't know if you've noticed, but lizards are kind of Homura's thing now. See the epithet she gives herself in the screencaps of the concept movie above. If you're still not convinced, go back through Rebellion, and count the number of times a weird squiggly lizard shows up in association with Homura. I count at least three. Here's one on her new not-soul-gem:

So, alright. What we have here is some kind of mysterious doppelgänger fooling about, maybe. A product of Homura's soul absorbing the universe? Potentially. We've seen a fair share of doppelgängers in her soul gem, of varying degrees of dubiousness:

Another doesn't seem too far-fetched, even if she does appear prominently enough in this promotional material to imply she could be her own character.

Not sure I trust her dress sense, though. Those frills look a little familiar.

The rest of this section of the trailer appears to be Madoka and this smiling Homura finishing each other's sentences, which is also how the concept movie opened. Is Madoka being puppeteered about? Is she under some kind of spell? Is there also some dubious other-Madoka and she and other-Homura are doing some Wario and Waluigi shit? I don't know. I don't know.

We immediately get a montage of Walpurgisnacht and Homura in black and white, using archival footage from the TV series and Rebellion. It ends with a gradually increasing focus on some kind of freaky eye motif:

It feels like it bears mentioning a similar focus on a singular freaky eye in the concept movie:

Could this have any sort of relationship to the giant eye at the end of the Magia ED?

fucking i dont know this is all guesswork

After the montage, we're introduced to this figure. Who are they?

I think we can only guess. Probably Madoka, since other main characters have been getting new outfits, and if I may yet again refer to the concept movie, this wouldn't be our first look at Madoka in a darker outfit than normal:

But it still looks pretty different. In fact, it seems to incorporate elements of Homura's and Mami's older outfits.

now the rational hypothesis is shes finally hit her growth spurt and is getting everyones hand me downs,

Next we get to what I think is the single most interesting shot in the whole trailer:

Some figure (maybe the figure in the last shot, maybe Madoka, maybe they're the same person) becomes absorbed by what I've taken to calling the "Legendary Beast Wraith" (LBW), which doesn't really fit the bill of what wraiths look like at all. The electronic text seems pretty par for the course, as the more powerful a wraith gets, the more its physiology assumes the form of primitive, abstract shapes. From Wraith Arc:

The concept movie corroborates this explicitly by having Oktavia fight a Satori wraith.

But the gratuitous German and the gnashing teeth don't seem to fit with a wraith's M.O. at all. whatever LBW has going on seems far more up a witch's alley.

There's...

There's precedent for this.

The premise of Wraith Arc, for the uninitiated, is that wraiths are wary of the power of emotions, positive or negative, and that while they're not lethal like witches, they do incapacitate people by stealing their emotions and processing them into grief cubes.

A powerful group of wraiths stole Homura's emotions this way, but found themselves incapable of properly processing her feelings, and instead began taking on the likenesses of people she knew. One particularly powerful wraith, which had taken the bulk of her emotional energy, began to mutate and take on the qualities of Kriemhild Gretchen. It became known as the spindle witch.

Don't ask too many tricky questions about this. Nobody understands Wraith Arc's final chapter, and it's not good. All I'm saying is there's precedent for wraiths with witch qualities.

But witch whic-

But whitch-

But which... witch... has LBW taken on qualities from, if this is the case?

Well, I'd like to bring to your attention four points.

The text in the latter of the screenshots of Leg Before Wicket's miasma reads "who" (I can't read Japanese, I'm just the messenger here) which feels like it's teasing the wraith's identity.

Walpurgisnacht is conspicuously absent in the second half of a trailer of a movie named after her.

Lower Body Workout's first initial stands for "Legendary", so it might be safe to presume we're looking after a monster of great renown.

That monochrome montage from earlier put forward a name that might fit the bill:

If witches don't exist in the new world, wraith!Walpy seems about as plausible as anything else.

It also bears mentioning that whoever this is jumping into it appears to have left their shoes on the ledge they're jumping from. I doubt they expect to survive whatever's happening to them in this shot.

Bear with me. It looks like the eggheads at Tumblr are telling me to pack this in at thirty images. I'm going to have to make a second part to this.

[sherbertilluminated]

symptomatic of my longstanding & somewhat disturbing curiosity that my eyes zoom in on any mention of opticians, such as on pg 17 of the Altmann biography

of all the artisanal goods produced in the 16th-19th century, glasses & other lenses seem to be coded as Jewish in contemporary literature. This pattern is particularly visible in E.T.A. Hoffman's short story "The Sandman," where the antisemitically-coded mad scientist Coppelius (a.k.a. my favorite character) reappears as a seller of magical lenses which deceive the protagonist Nathanael into falling in love with the automaton Olympia.

Within Hoffman's tale the glasses Coppelius handles are associated with the dominant eye-motif of the story & possibly with the alchemical instruments of Nathanael's father, but it doesn't offer an explanation for the broader use of glasses to feminize/racialize/demean Jewish characters in literature. Was optics a field of production not regulated by guilds with restrictive religious covenants? Was it a result of the lingering obsession with Spinoza? Something else entirely?

I know prejudice doesn't "make sense" but I wonder if there's not a term paper in here somewhere. Probably about Knobloch's symbolic inversion of the Coppelius encounters in his descriptions of Dr. Schiff within Herr Moses in Berlin.