#the nutcracker eta hoffman

[marine-indie-gal]

Inktober 2024 Day 11: The Mouse King

The Main Antagonist from E. T. A. Hoffmann's Christmas Story, "The Nutcracker" (sometimes known as the "Rat King").

Describe being a Seventh-Headed Mouse, the Mouse King's Mother, Madame Mouserinks (The Mouse Queen) knew about the Nutcracker for she cursed Drosselmeyer's Nephew into a Nutcracker in a Royal Family's castle for when his Mother tried to have Princess Pirlipat be Ugly after when his Mother was killed, he took over and became the New Ruler of Mice.

The Mouse King plays a significant role in the story as the Main Villain where he serves as The Nutcracker's Arch-Nemesis since He & his Army terrorized Clara/Marie's house & even in Toyland.

His Death has a different fate in both versions.

In the Novel, Marie was threatened by the Mouse King but the Nutcracker saved her life by killing him off.

In the Play, Clara (The Other "Name" besides than "Marie") throws her own slipper at the Mouse King to where he falls over into his death, instantly killing him.

The Mouse King (c) E. T. A. Hoffmann

[johnpauljaramillo]

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo holiday re-run

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 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…

[angstandhappiness]

INTERESTING

I was writing out my thoughts on the Nutcracker-inspired imagery in Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion, when I came across the entry for the Lotte soldiers in the Material Book included in the Blu-Ray:

The fact that they’re described as tin soldiers is another allusion to The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, and its use of toys in the battle against the Mouse King. What stood out to me is how the kaiju-sized ones shown in the film’s final act are designated as “Brocken-class.” This is, of course, a reference to the Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz mountain range, which in traditional folklore–and as referenced in Goethe’s Faust–is where the witches celebrate on Walpurgis Night (a night whose name has great significance in the Madoka Magica universe). The term being applied to the gigantic Lottes is most likely an allusion to the Brocken Spectre, which may have also influenced the design for the Witch Kriemhild Gretchen in the original series.

[tornrose24]

Knowing that Christmas is coming up next month and thinking ‘what would be a good holiday self insert TGAMM au?’ I know @candyheartedchy  has dibs on a Frosty one (and possibly a Grinch one). Then I amused myself trying to imagine a Nutcracker au…. And then realized I’m better off mainly referencing the ETA Hoffman story because I’m only mostly familiar with the first half of the ballet (and a few things from the second half). I haven’t seen a recorded version of it or even did any real ballet (despite having theater and dance experience) since I was a small kid.

(And in case anyone asks, I am familiar with that 1990 animated nutcracker film. I’ve also seen that one 1970s animated Russian one as well).

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

Read in December 2024

one more amazing reading month to top off the year 😌 I finally got through The Locked Tomb books and I had so much fun with them. I tried Murderbot again with a little less success BUT I discovered Daniel Kraus and I definitely have a new favourite author on my hands <3

other standouts include Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay, Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman and Come Out, Come Out by Natalie C Parker

Series read:

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir

Gideon the Ninth - 5/5 (audio)

Harrow the Ninth - 4/5

Nona the Ninth - 4/5 (audio)

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

All Systems Red - 3/5 (reread)

Artificial Condition - 3/5 - (reread)

Rogue Protocol - 4/5 (audio)

Exit Strategy - 2/5 (audio)

Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner

The Thief - 3/5 (audio)

Familiar authors:

Furious by Jamie Pacton & Rebecca Podos - 3/5 (audio)

Where the Heart Should Be by Sarah Crossan - 4/5

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix - 5/5 (audio)

Cujo by Stephen King - 3/5 (audio)

The Pallbearer’s Club by Paul Tremblay - 3/5 (audio)

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay - 2/5

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay - 4/5 (audio)

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward - 3/5 (audio)

Other reads:

The Shape of Water by Guillermo Del Toro & Daniel Kraus - 4/5 (audio)

The Living Dead by Daniel Kraus & George A Romero - 5/5 (audio)

Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong - 3/5 (audio)

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - 4/5 (audio)

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke - 3/5

The Nutcracker by ETA Hoffman - 1/5

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James - 2/5

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus - 5/5 (audio)

Bent Heavens by Daniel Kraus - 4/5 (audio)

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman - 5/5 (audio)

Come Out, Come Out by Natalie C Parker - 4/5 (audio)

A Light Most Hateful by Hailey Piper - 2/5 (audio)

Graveyard Shift by ML Rio - 5/5

The Polar Express by Chris van Allsburg - 5/5

[warrioreowynofrohan]

I’ve thought about doing a tournament for the best literature (fiction) by decade – for each decade, one or more polls determines the favourite book, and then we run the top book of each decade against each other.

I like the idea of starting with the 1800s, because 1) I’m honestly having trouble finding enough fiction for the decades prior to then – the 1800s are when the novel really takes off, 2) it really gives a sense of the progress of the novel taking off, as the numbers of major classic works gets larger and larger, 2) it’s fun to realize which books are contemporary with each other and 3) there’s a huge number of fantastic books from this era.

For example, here’s the 1810s alone (based on a quick look at Wikipedia, and heavily slanted towards Britain):

1810s

The Lady of the Lake (epic poetry) by Sir Walter Scott

Rokeby (epic poetry) by Sir Walter Scott

Waverley by Sir Walter Scott

Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott

Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage by Byron

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Emma by Jane Austen

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Grimm’s Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss

The Nutcracker and the Mouse-King by ETA Hoffman

Rip van Winkle by Washington Irving

Is this something anyone would be interested in?

[lreaper127]

I love the story of The Nutcracker, more specifically the original short story by Eta Hoffman which inspired the ballet. The book is 14 chapters and 58 pages. The ballet is 2 acts, with each act being about an hour. Something to note is that there are other ballets, such as Swan Lake and Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty that are more than 2 acts, and are a little over than 2 hours or 2 hours and 30 minutes. The Nutcracker ballet is a good ballet and I do love it. It’s what inspired my love of ballet and dancing ballet in the first place. However, from a story perspective and an adaptation perspective, it isn’t bad, but isn’t good. This ends up hurting some characters, mostly the Nutcracker Prince himself. He does not have much personality in the ballet because there is no room to explore it. In the original story? He is sweet and attentive and devoted and loyal. He cares deeply for the other toys and Marie and wants to protect them. He feels a small disdain towards Drosselmeyer and can get a little cold when Drosselmeyer is mentioned. He is prone to moments of grouchiness and frustration when he feels that the show some citizens in the snowy forest performed for him and Marie was terrible and he apologizes to her. With the ballet version, he is shown to be caring and sweet and a little protective, but that’s really it. In ballets with more than one act, you usually have a few different scenes where the plot progresses. This is where I get into how the ballet as an adaptation of the story isn’t as good as it could be. There are many scenes in Swan Lake, where even in just the first 2 acts, the same length as the entire Nutcracker ballet, there is so much character exploration and emotional and sweet scenes. So the length of the ballet is not really a viable excuse, in my opinion. It even hurts Marie’s character. In the ballet, her big moment is her throwing her slipper at the Mouse King so he turns to her and Nutcracker has a chance to finish him. In the short story, the toys lose the first battle and so the Mouse King makes Marie give up some of her Christmas gifts and other cherished things with the threat that if she doesn’t, he will eat Nutcracker. He then will eat and chew on whatever he makes her give. This distresses her but she does it anyway. She then tells Nutcracker about it after the third night of it happening, and cries about how he may ask to eat her after everything else is gone and then nothing will be there to protect Nutcracker. He then has a short bout of coming to life where he tells her how to help him, which she previously begged him to do while crying. In the story, she’s selfless and she is quiet and a daydreamer and she worries deeply about those she cares about. In the story, after Marie throws her shoe at the Mouse King but the toys must retreat, she ends up fainting after getting a deep cut in her arm from the glass of the toy cabinet which broke and she must rest for a few days. While bedridden, Drosselmeyer tells her a long and mostly not needed backstory about a few things, but he also mentions how the Nutcrackers curse came to be. In the ballet, we don’t get an explanation as to how. It was actually the Mouse Kings mother who cursed him after the Nutcracker, at that point human, stepped on her neck when walking backwards to free someone else from their curse. (This is the needless backstory I briefly touched upon.) Drosselmeyer also gets some depth but it’s mostly how he got from the Land of Sweets where he was in the royal court to Germany, where the story takes place. 

To wrap things up, I do not hate the way the ballet shows the story. I really do like it! But when you compare it and really think about it as an adaptation, it lacks in area which other ballets show is possible to be bountiful in. 

[gesamkuns-twerk]

hi, this is about the Frozen Charlotte's drawing I'm doing- do you have any reference for what kind of Dame Darcy themed outfits one would wear? trying to search her resulted in a variety of clothes so I wasn't sure what to pick 😅

Hiii!!! I am SO excited that you’re doing this! Unfortunately I couldn’t find as many photos of her that I would like (as you probably have seen, her artwork is INSANE and amazing), but one look I had in mind was kind of like this: eclectic, decadent, glamorous but kind of messy

Lots of lace, fur, ribbons, and other luxurious materials as well as some funky old-timey accessories.

Have fun! I can’t wait to see!

Edit: I had another thought. Since Worthikids uses so many art/film/literary references, maybe Frozen Charlotte’s could use names from the tales of ETA Hoffman (early 1800s) “The Nutcracker” and “Coppelia” (which were originally horror stories.) There are some good names, like Marie, Clara, Olympia, Franz, and even an evil doctor, Coppelius. He uses themes about autonomy, AI, and dreams and usually there’s a creepy doll and an old man who shouldn’t be allowed around children.

I love the Dr. Caligari and “It” references so much, it would be like adding another branch of classic horror to the mythology.

[mando-lore]

ETA Hoffman (author of The Nutcracker) changing his name from Wilhelm to Amadeus bc he liked Mozart so much - absolute simp. Understandable though.

[chemicalico]

still thinking about how in the original nutcracker short story by eta hoffman it just ends with the 8 year old getting married. to a teenager/young adult. like it’s a very nice children’s story with fantastical elements and then boom. child marriage ☹️

[monotonous-minutia]

In for some spooky reading

[freckles-and-books]

This edition of the Nutcracker 😍

To be read while listening to Tchaikovsky of course.

[rantreader]

On a scale from one to killing members of a family because they stole an ingredient from you, how extra are you?

[tomtefairytaleblog]

I re-watched The Nutcracker and the Four Realms on Netflix, and one detail I noticed this time around is that while none of the characters are toy-sized (like in the original story), there appears to have been some effort to evoke that idea in the film.

I think the most obvious (in the “you probably didn’t notice it but your brain did” sense) example is the Engine Marie used to give sentience to the people of the Four Realms, which vaguely resembles a giant microscope; then there’s the Mouse King, which is just a horde of mice combined into one giant, rat-like being (kind of like the Rat King in Grimm). And then there’s Mother Ginger’s circus/mecha, which the novelization even likens to a giant porcelain doll stomping around the Land of Amusements.

It’s mostly background detail, but it is clear that there was thought put into it.

[professorsparklepants]

Listen..................... who do I have to kill to get a new Nutcracker and the Four Realms trailer that has Clara talking to her incredibly cute clearly black Nutcracker Prince love interest who doesn’t have any speaking lines in the trailer so far 

DISNEY!!!!!!!!!!!! GIVE ME THE BOY!!!!!!!!!

[artwordbw]

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A post shared by Sarah | book & gift blogger (@bookgiftblogger)

picturebooksblogger -- A striking reinterpretation of a 19th century classic #TheNutcracker by #ETAHoffman Illustrated by @sannaannukka in her inimitable style @penguinukbooks @penguinrandomhouse