Originally published as author's thesis (Ph.D.--Trinity College, Cambridge).

E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) was a man of diversified talents, an artist, composer, conductor, critic, jurist, and writer. Although he is best known for his stories, he was a music critic and composer for years before he wrote his celebrated Tales. Hoffmann has long been considered an extremely important force in the shaping of musical romanticism, yet this volume is the first adequate documentation of his influence. Because much of the primary material upon which the study is based, has not previously been available in English, the author has chosen an unusual but especially appropriate format, in which translations of Hoffmann's writings and the author's critical commentary alternate. This book not only fills a unique gap in the history of the Romantic Movement by showing the effect of Hoffmann's writings on the early phases of musical romanticism in Germany, but also presents an over-all picture of romanticism in its incipient years.

This book offers a long-awaited opportunity to assess the thought and influence of one of the most famous of all writers on music and the musical links with his fiction. Containing the first complete appearance in English of Kreisleriana, it reveals a masterpiece of imaginative writing and whose profound humour and irony can now be fully appreciated.

The essays in this volume address a very broad range of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s most significant works, examining them through the lens of “transgression.” His writings, perhaps more than those of any other German Romantic, portrayed the “dark side” of existence, which the following essays investigate for an Anglophone audience.

This collection of essays on the writing of Robertson Davies addresses the basic problems in reading his work by looking at the topics of doubling, disguise, irony, paradox, and dwelling in "gaps" or spaces "in between." The essays present new insights on a broad range of topics in Davies' oeuvre and represent one of the first major discussions devoted to Davies' work since his death in 1995.

Exposes the secret history of drink and drugs, from creative stimulant to addictive poison.

An aspect of dying in opera, rarely observed or commented on, is Sudden Unexpected Death. There are many deaths in this melodramatic genre: most follow expected causes like murder, suicide, or old age. This book explores those deaths which occur without obvious natural causes. These are often central to the overall drama of the opera, representing denouements forming the epiphany of the story and the apotheosis for the audience. The book identifies 50 operas where such events occur, exploring the role of the dramatis personae, the circumstances of their dying, and specific themes that emerge. These include a preponderance of females, especially in the 19th century, who die mainly at the end of the operas, often in the context of tragedy. It charts the growing awareness in the medical sciences of the unconscious forces driving human behaviour, including liminal mental states and trances, which influenced these operas and continue to affect human behaviour to the present day. In addition, the changing philosophies that are intertwined with operatic narratives, in particular stemming from Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, are important in the book’s exegesis, as is the special role of Wagner’s compositions. This leads to the exploration of recurrent concepts such as the Liebestod, the ewig Weibliche and redemption itself.

Tournier treats pairs both lowly and exalted - moving from fork and spoon, horse and bull, cat and dog, to fear and anguish, poetry and prose, body and soul, being and nothingness. Hardly an exhaustive inventory of traditional pairs, his selection nonetheless opens the door to patterns deeply embedded in culture and civilization, speech and writing, memory and habit.