Nutcracker

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.