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The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr Penguin Classics E T A Hoffmann Anthea Bell Jeremy Adler Books

Download As PDF : The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr Penguin Classics E T A Hoffmann Anthea Bell Jeremy Adler Books

The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr Penguin Classics E T A Hoffmann Anthea Bell Jeremy Adler Books

Today E.T.A. Hoffmann is best remembered as author of the story that inspired "The Nutcracker." Hoffmann would have been pleased that many of his stories have been adapted as operas or ballets, since he was a composer in his own right and wrote one opera, "Undine." Musician, artist, writer, lawyer, and jurist, Hoffmann was a true Renaissance man who accomplished more in a span of 46 years than many people who live twice as long. A master of droll humor and the macabre, he influenced everyone from Poe and Dickens to Dostoevsky and Kafka. "The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr," widely regarded as Hoffmann's masterpiece, was unfinished at the time of his death in 1822, which I sincerely regret.. Hoffmann audaciously combined two stories--the autobiography of the aforementioned tomcat and the life of the eccentric musician Johannes Kreisler--never quite finishing one narrative thread before shifting gears. The two narratives are loosely linked through the character of Master Abraham, Murr's master and Kreisler's friend, who plays an important part in the Kreisler story. As the title suggests, Hoffmann was influenced by Lawrence Sterne's "Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy" (which alas, I have not read). The result is a funhouse mirror of a novel, a wild ride that constantly veers between comedy, tragedy, melodrama and farce as the two stories vie for the reader's attention. Murr, a cat who has taught himself to read and write and fancies himself an intellectual, is a conceited but endearing Falstaffian figure who considers himself the greatest genius of all time, superior not only to other cats but to human beings as well. His inflated self-image makes his picaresque adventures all the more hilarious as he struggles to survive in a world that does not appreciate his special gifts. Kreisler, in contrast, is a moody, high-strung nervous musician (today we would call him bipolar) whose mocking sense of humor does not endear him to the aristocracy. The novel abounds in satire: on Burschenschaften (German university fraternities, under suspicion for their radical leanings), the petty nobility and their rigid court etiquette, the intelligentsia, academia, and fashionable society. The tone constantly changes: while Murr's adventures are strictly for laughs, Kreisler's story is darker and combines romance, intrigue, and Gothic horror as well as sharply satirical humor. Since the novel is unfinished, a number of plot lines remain unresolved and the story lacks resolution.
"The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr" requires patience from the reader, since is full of confusing twists and turns and one can easily lose one's place. It assumes an urbane, cosmopolitan, well-educated readership that understands its multiple allusions to music, art, literature, philosophy, religion, current politics, and the newly-emerging science of psychology. Like the self-educated tomcat, its author was clearly a genius. An unusual book by an unusual author.


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The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr Penguin Classics E T A Hoffmann Anthea Bell Jeremy Adler Books Reviews

Anybody expecting Tales from Hoffman to resemble Tales of Hoffman will be very disappointed. This work is sadly dated. That may be the kindest thing to say about it. Interlocking stories of a pmopous gentleman and a cat with human thoughts and feline follies take over 300 pages to produce many literary references and a few whimsical spots of humor.
Always a fan of E.T.A. Hoffmann I was not disappointed by this tale of a self aware cat and his journey through life. Though not as compelling as The Tales of Hoffmann there was a lot to recommend this work of Fabulist Satire. Though considered his masterpiece, I found the Tales of Hoffmann more enjoyable -- but this is a personal choice and not meant to be read for an objective statement.

Essentially, it is the story of the self-taught cat Tomcat Murr who has written is own autobiography which, because of a printer's error, has caused his story to be spliced with the biography of the composer Johannes Kreisler -- in some ways Hoffmann's book is almost postmodern...in the same way that The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy is almost postmodern. So much for postmodernism.

Murr and Kreisler are polar opposites in temperament and this allows Hoffmann to play with the fantastic, the ridiculous and the sublime at almost the same time. Much of the book is concerned with everyday life and the genius of the work comes within the format of observations and reactions to life.

This satire is one of the most engaging novels of the 19th century.

Highly Recommend -- 4 out of 5 stars.
I have struggled to read these early ‘novels’, so I was happy that the Penguin English translation of Hoffman’s book is comfortable to read. It is not too far from our own time, so that many details are familiar. That said, I was shocked to see the protagonist is a cat.

A literate cat!

Murr tells the story of his birth, youth, education and maturity. At the same time, he is clearly a kitty from beginning to end of his autobiography. He lives a cat life, and he tries to hide his literacy from his master, Master Abraham. He loves eating a nice fish head after digesting one of his owner’s books..

“For the edification of hopeful young tomcats, I cannot neglect to remark that if I wanted to study I would leap at my master’s library with my eyes closed , then tug out the book to which I was clinging and peruse it whatever its contents. Through this mode of studying, my mind acquired that wide-ranging flexibility, that diverse and brilliant wealth of knowledge, which posterity will admire in me.”

Hoffmann, E.T.A. (2006-02-23). The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (Penguin Classics) (p. 45). Penguin Books Ltd. Edition.

On his explorations of the roof of the house where he lives, he mets a hottie, a female with a lovely singing voice.

“It is the first duty of an honest biographer to be scrupulous and not on any account to spare himself. In all honesty, therefore, paw on heart, I will confess that despite the inexpressible zeal with which I devoted myself to the arts and sciences, yet the thought of lovely Kitty would often rise suddenly before my mind’s eye, wholly interrupting my studies.”

Hoffmann, E.T.A. (2006-02-23). The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (Penguin Classics) (p. 167). Penguin Books Ltd. Edition.

Murr also falls in with a cat crowd of clubbers.

“Let it suffice to say that for some time I continued to lead a cheerful, merry life on the roof-tops of the neighbourhood as a feline fraternity member, in the company of Muzius and other excellent, honest, trustworthy young fellows, white, ginger and tabby.”

Hoffmann, E.T.A. (2006-02-23). The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (Penguin Classics) (p. 205). Penguin Books Ltd. Edition.

Murr makes an astonishing friendship with a poodle, and on that account learns ‘poodlish’.

“My new friendship had made a deep impression on me, so that as I sat in sun or shade, on the roof or under the stove, I thought of nothing, reflected on nothing, dreamed of nothing, was aware of nothing but poodle, poodle, poodle! I thereby gained great insight into the innermost essence of poodlishness which dawned upon me in brilliant colours,…”

Hoffmann, E.T.A. (2006-02-23). The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (Penguin Classics) (p. 47). Penguin Books Ltd. Edition.

“I adduced several examples from the two languages, drawing the reader’s attention to the identical roots of bow-wow– miaow-miaow– yap-yap – snap – grrr – purr – huff-huff – hissss, and so forth.”

Hoffmann, E.T.A. (2006-02-23). The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (Penguin Classics) (p. 47). Penguin Books Ltd. Edition.

The book title is a satire of another book, also an early satire, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, while the content satirizes a type of novel circulating in Germany at the time, ‘Romances’.

(One of the confusions for today’s readers in determining what an earlier century’s book is about is they used the descriptor Romance or Comedy to describe what we would call a Fantasy or Adventure Drama.)

Unfortunately for the General Reader (my opinion), Murr’s funny autobiography is mixed in with ‘waste paper’ Murr used to blot his opus, a biography of another person, a human by the name of Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler. Murr accidentally sends in the ‘blotting’ paper to the printer with his own pages, and so his printed book ends up in alternating pages between his own writings and that of the biography of Kreisler.

I did not enjoy Kreisler’s pages so much. Kreisler’s life was written in a dull dull dull manner, despite the fact it was a satire of German gothic novels. Kreisler fixes organs, and he is a musician. His skills permit him access to various classes of society, as well as involvement in various adventures. He is of a nervous disposition, a bit of a frail personality; but this was a time period when some artists were considered to be of delicate emotional constitutions. His acquaintances are aristocrats, some of whom go mad, common folk, religious priests, and merchants. Psychology was a new science, lately introduced to European society, and it was interesting to read a book which was one of the first to use psychological terms, not just elements, as part of a gothic story. There is a magician (Master Abraham, a character in both intermingled pages), a seeress who sees the future, automatons, possible ghosts, attempted murder, etc. The aristocrat family is full of the arranging of marriages and other corruptions which were usual at that time and in previous centuries.

As befits a novel written for the educated European reader, who were considered elites of these times, there are also tons and tons of literary and cultural references of high-culture Art books and theme paintings, especially those of German, French, Latin and some Greek studies, although satirically inserted and used.

Many historians think of 1815 as the date when our modern times began, so that places this book on the cusp between medieval world values and the beginning of the industrial ages. In my opinion, that makes this book an interesting novel, seeing a bit of the intersection of the two periods of European/German idea and philosophical development. I also adored Murr. However, I did not enjoy reading about Kreisler; I thought his sections a chore to read through. Other readers have felt exactly the opposite of what I felt.
Today E.T.A. Hoffmann is best remembered as author of the story that inspired "The Nutcracker." Hoffmann would have been pleased that many of his stories have been adapted as operas or ballets, since he was a composer in his own right and wrote one opera, "Undine." Musician, artist, writer, lawyer, and jurist, Hoffmann was a true Renaissance man who accomplished more in a span of 46 years than many people who live twice as long. A master of droll humor and the macabre, he influenced everyone from Poe and Dickens to Dostoevsky and Kafka. "The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr," widely regarded as Hoffmann's masterpiece, was unfinished at the time of his death in 1822, which I sincerely regret.. Hoffmann audaciously combined two stories--the autobiography of the aforementioned tomcat and the life of the eccentric musician Johannes Kreisler--never quite finishing one narrative thread before shifting gears. The two narratives are loosely linked through the character of Master Abraham, Murr's master and Kreisler's friend, who plays an important part in the Kreisler story. As the title suggests, Hoffmann was influenced by Lawrence Sterne's "Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy" (which alas, I have not read). The result is a funhouse mirror of a novel, a wild ride that constantly veers between comedy, tragedy, melodrama and farce as the two stories vie for the reader's attention. Murr, a cat who has taught himself to read and write and fancies himself an intellectual, is a conceited but endearing Falstaffian figure who considers himself the greatest genius of all time, superior not only to other cats but to human beings as well. His inflated self-image makes his picaresque adventures all the more hilarious as he struggles to survive in a world that does not appreciate his special gifts. Kreisler, in contrast, is a moody, high-strung nervous musician (today we would call him bipolar) whose mocking sense of humor does not endear him to the aristocracy. The novel abounds in satire on Burschenschaften (German university fraternities, under suspicion for their radical leanings), the petty nobility and their rigid court etiquette, the intelligentsia, academia, and fashionable society. The tone constantly changes while Murr's adventures are strictly for laughs, Kreisler's story is darker and combines romance, intrigue, and Gothic horror as well as sharply satirical humor. Since the novel is unfinished, a number of plot lines remain unresolved and the story lacks resolution.
"The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr" requires patience from the reader, since is full of confusing twists and turns and one can easily lose one's place. It assumes an urbane, cosmopolitan, well-educated readership that understands its multiple allusions to music, art, literature, philosophy, religion, current politics, and the newly-emerging science of psychology. Like the self-educated tomcat, its author was clearly a genius. An unusual book by an unusual author.