The story that inspired the legendary ballet presented in a beautiful hardcover edition
perfect for giving as a gift.Written in 1816 by the German Romantic E. T. A. Hoffmann for his
children nephews and nieces The Nutcracker captures better than any other story a child's
wonder at Christmas. Since its publication it has inspired hundreds of artists and adaptations
most notably the legendary ballet scored by Russian composer Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Today
the story - and its enchanting images of sugar plums and nutcrackers mistletoe and the Kingdom
of the Dolls - continues to cast its fantastical spell on readers of all ages.E. T. A. Hoffmann
(1776-1822) was one of the major figures of European Romanticism specializing in tales of the
fantastical and uncanny. He was also a music critic jurist composer and caricaturist. His
Tales of Hoffmann available in Penguin Classics includes such masterpieces as 'Mademoiselle
de Scudery' one of the earliest example of crime fiction and Hoffmann's terrifying version of
'The Sandman'. Joachim Neugroschel won three PEN translation awards and the French-American
Foundation Translation Prize. He translated Thomas Mann's Death in Venice and Sacher-Masoch's
Venus in Furs among other works for Penguin Classics.
