The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tomcat Murr's death, 1864 etching by Ferdinand II of Portugal
Tomcat Murr

The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr together with a fragmentary Biography of Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler on Random Sheets of Waste Paper is a complex satirical novel by Prussian Romantic-era author E. T. A. Hoffmann. It was first published in 1819–1821 as Lebens-Ansichten des Katers Murr nebst fragmentarischer Biographie des Kapellmeisters Johannes Kreisler in zufälligen Makulaturblättern, in two volumes. A planned third volume was never completed.[1] It was Hoffmann's final novel and is considered his masterpiece. It reflected his concepts of aesthetics, and predated post-modern literary techniques in its unusual structure. Critic Alex Ross writes of the novel, "If the phantasmagoric 'Kater Murr' were published tomorrow as the work of a young Brooklyn hipster, it might be hailed as a tour de force of postmodern fiction."[2]

An English translation by Anthea Bell was published in 1999 by Penguin Classics.[a]

Jeffrey Ford described the novel as a "complex, truly wild fiction" where Hoffmann "pieced together the fragments of his own shattered psyche and commented on the relationship of art and artists to society."[3]

Footnotes[]

  1. ^ The title of the translation is reminiscent of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759–1767), the experimental novel by British writer Laurence Sterne.

References[]

  1. ^ Hoffmeister, Gerhart (2006-10-15). "Kater Murr". The Literary Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
  2. ^ Ross, Alex (2009-08-24). "Imaginary Concerts: The Music of Fictional Composers". The New Yorker: 72.
  3. ^ "Curiosities, F&SF, April 1999

External links[]


Stub icon

This article about a fantasy novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page.

  • v
  • t
Stub icon

This article about an 1810s novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page.

  • v
  • t
Retrieved from ""