| In many of Hoffmann's texts, issues of dwelling form a clear subtext. In "Rat Krespel," the title figure builds a house according to his own standards of comfort, a house that is meant to house more than just the owner: it must also serve as the repository for his unique collection of violins. In this text, building, dwelling and collecting are inseparable. The occupants of the decaying manor that forms the setting of "Das Majorat" would prefer to dwell elsewhere, but are unable to leave the crumbling estate, which houses an uncanny Spuk: the ghostly repetition of a crime against the previous owner. The narrator of "Das ode Haus" finds himself magnetically drawn into a home that somehow deflects attention and also serves as a kind of private asylum. As in other of Hoffmann's texts, solving the mystery of the strange house requires the narrator to intrude upon the occupants. "Der goldne Topf" presents competing modes of dwelling: a middle-class life as Hofrat for the student protagonist, or a "Leben in der Poesie." The loss of the idealized family home and the possibility (or threat) of domestic bliss contribute to the insanity that eventually claims the life of Nathanael in "Der Sandmann."; The dissertation presents close readings of these texts, supported by a reading of Freud's "Das Unheimliche" and related critical essays. Various literarycritical and historical texts on the subjects of collecting and on mesmerism, as well as a thorough reading of the literature on Hoffmann, are also employed. Hoffmann's texts are read less as marvelous or fantastic tales than as astute and subtle critiques of various problems associated with dwelling and housing, both in general and with respect to the early 19 th century Germany in which most of the narratives are set. |
