IN PURSUIT OF THE HOFFMANNESQUE

Abstract

This article seeks to elucidate the term ‘Hoffmannesque’ — the eponymous adjective that refers to E. T. A. Hoffmann — through recourse to Hoffmann's own use of ‘esque’ words: arabesque, grotesque, burlesque, picturesque. By investigating the characteristics of ‘esque’ formulations and tracing their recurrence through Hoffmann's texts, I argue that Hoffmann proleptically anticipates the later codification of his style as the ‘Hoffmannesque’ through sustained practices of self-stylisation and repetition. Hoffmann's use of ‘esque’ words and their equivalents is programmatic in a minor key: they are deployed above all to characterise the minor forms of the mannerist. Hoffmann is presented as an author deeply invested in questions of authorship and style: one who formulates a popularly pleasing and commercially viable style at the dawn of mass culture, and for whom that style (or manner) is above all a site of encounter and relation.