The first collected edition of Hoffmann's works appeared in ten
volumes (_Ausgewahlte Schriften_, 1827-1828); to these his widow added
five volumes in 1839 (including the 3rd edition of J. E. Hitzig's _Aus
Hoffmanns Leben und Nachlass_, 1823). Other editions of his works
appeared in 1844-1845, 1871-1873, 1879-1883, and, most complete of
all, _Samtliche Werke_, edited by E. Grisebach, in 15 vols. (1900).
There are many editions of selections, as well as cheap reprints of
the more popular stories. All Hoffmann's important works--except
_Klein Zaches_ and _Kater Murr_--have been translated into English:
_The Devil's Elixir_ (1824), _The Golden Pot_ by Carlyle (in _German
Romance_, 1827), _The Serapion Brethren_ by A. Ewing (1886-1892), &c.
In France Hoffmann was even more popular than in England. Cp. G.
Thurau, _Hoffmanns Erzahlungen in Frankreich_ (1896). An edition of
his _Oeuvres completes_ appeared in 12 vols. in Paris in 1830. The
best monograph on Hoffmann is by G. Ellinger, _E. T. A. Hoffmann_
(1894); see also O. Klinke, _Hoffmanns Leben und Werke vom Standpunkte
eines Irrenarztes_ (1903); and the exhaustive bibliography in
Goedeke's _Grundriss zur Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung_, 2nd ed.,
vol. viii. pp. 468 ff. (1905). (J. G. R.)
HOFFMANN, FRANCOIS BENOIT (1760-1828), French dramatist and critic, was
born at Nancy on the 11th of July 1760. He studied law at the university
of Strassburg, but a slight hesitation in his speech precluded success
at the bar, and he entered a regiment on service in Corsica. He served,
however, for a very short time, and, returning to Nancy, he wrote some
poems which brought him into notice at the little court of Luneville
over which the marquise de Boufflers then presided. In 1784 he went to
Paris, and two years later produced the opera _Phedre_. His opera
_Adrien_ (1792) was objected to by the government on political grounds,
and Hoffmann, who refused to make the changes proposed to him, ran
considerable risk under the revolutionary government. His later operas,
which were numerous, were produced at the Opera Comique. In 1807 he was
invited by Etienne to contribute to the _Journal de l'Empire_
(afterwards the _Journal des debats_). Hoffmann's wide reading qualified
him to write on all sorts of subjects, and he turned, apparently with no
difficulty, from reviewing books on medicine to violent attacks on the
Jesuits. His severe criticism of Chateaubriand's _Martyrs_ led the
author to make some changes in a later edition. He had the reputation of
being an absolutely conscientious and incorruptible critic and thus
exercised wide influence. Hoffmann died in Paris on the 25th of April
1828. Among his numerous plays should be mentioned an excellent one-act
comedy, _Le Roman d'une heure_ (1803), and an amusing one-act opera _Les
Rendez-vous bourgeois_.
See Sainte-Beuve, "M. de Feletz et la critique litteraire sous
l'Empire" in _Causeries du lundi_, vol. i.
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