ABSTRACT
E. T. A. Hoffmann's career as a writer spans the period from Ritter Gluck to Meister Johannes Wacht, Des Vetters Eckfenster and Meister Floh. It is fitting that the Novelle and Märchen should both begin and crown his career, for though he did write two important novels, Die Elixiere des Teufels and the unfinished Lebens-Ansichten des Katers Murr. Hoffmann's love of the grotesque and his ironic, even 'caustic' tone have led some critics to query the depth of his Romanticism. The close relationship between music and love as revelations of the absolute is evident in the figure of Kreisler in Kater Murr. Hoffmann is certainly more capable than, Jean Paul of writing romantically evocative poetic, but he is not the complete idealist poet, and he is at his best when he recognises this. Prinzessin Brambilla is indeed an allegory of humour, and a thoroughly romantic one.
