The multifarious universe of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s works continues to this day to fascinate new generations of readers and artists around the world. Hoffmann achieved international fame as an author of the uncanny and the fantastic, and his work is distinguished by a creativity that breaks the mould of all art forms and genres: the catalogue for the travelling exhibition Incredibly Fantastic – E.T.A. Hoffmann 2022 presents him not only in terms of his literary output but also as a composer, merciless cartoonist, and draughtsman, as well as a non-conformist jurist and judge. Hoffmann’s manifold references to contemporary worlds of knowledge provide a contextual prism through which to view the urgent questions of today that his work can provide answers to. The exhibition and catalogue are a means to present Hoffmann’s lifelong achievements in all their diversity and their undiminished relevance for a broad audience.
Benjamin Schlodder is a research associate at the E.T.A. Hoffmann Portal of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and curator of the exhibition Incredibly Fantastic – E.T.A. Hoffmann 2022. Christina Schmitz is acting director of academic services at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and project manager for the exhibition Incredibly Fantastic – E.T.A. Hoffmann 2022. Wolfgang Bunzel is head of the Romanticism Research Department at the Freies Deutsches Hochstift in Frankfurt am Main. Bettina Wagner is director of the Bamberg State Library and president of the E.T.A. Hoffmann Society.
