The Atlantis In E.T.A.Hoffmann's Works

E.T.A.Hoffmann was a famous German writer,musician,conductor and stage designer in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.He enjoyed the fame as the most influential German writer after Goethe and before Heine.There is a kind of mysterious power that exerts control to human beings.The power makes human beings become split and alienated.Thus,he is called as "ghost Hoffmann".However,there are also elements embodying harmony and unity.These elements are synthesized in the concept of "atlantis" in his most famous fairy tale The Golden Pot.The idea conveyed by "atlantis" appears in all of his works.The research of "atlantis"is significant in the research of Hoffmann."Atlantis" in the works of Plato,Bacon,Novalis and Hoffman embody people's imagination towards ideal soceity and life in ancient Greek,Renaissance and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution respectively.Plato's "atlantis" reflects the pursuit of agriculture civilization at that time with the emphasis on geographical significance.Bacon's "atlantis" fortells the changes would be brought about by science and technology in Renaissance.Novalis and Hoffman construct the ideal society from the illusory way in the beginning of the European Industrial Revolution.The connotation of "atlantis" covers the three aspects of the nation,the society and individuals in Hoffman's works.From the aspect of the whole nation,"atlantis" is the literary expression and political expectation of Hoffman's poetic imaginary kingdom.In many works,there appear the free kingdom or imaginary land that artists dream for.They could bring their imagination into full play and make creation at will.Political expectation is narrated through the unveiling of the social darkness and the criticizing of the ugly reality."Atlantis" in the social aspect is embodied in the description of the relationship between man and man and that between man and newly-emerging things(e.g.robots).On the one hand,Hoffman lays emphasis on the sincere and kind treatment towards others.On the other hand,he expresses his reasonable attitude towards newly-emerging things with the role who is addicted in the research of the working principles of robots.Only keeping the sincere and kind quality with critical thinking based on emotion,can the relationship between man and man and that between man and things could develop in a harmonious and healthy way.In the aspect of individuals,Hoffman believes that "atlantis" could be realized by artists or poets.Their "childlike poet temperament" helps the overcoming of the splitting of human beings in the industrial society.However,in Hoffman's works,the artists with childlike innocence and insistence on imagination could step into the beautiful and free "atlantis" through magic and mysterious power.In Germany at that time,harmony and unity may be achieved only through the imagination and practice of imagination of art to dispel the difficulties and mediocrities of the ordinary life."Atlantis" in Hoffmann's works could be attributed to the three aspects of national,social and individual causes.The conserved,laggard,unsteady,corrupted Prussia at that time desired for becoming strong and powerful.Bourgeois reforms were taken place in politics,economy,military affairs,education,culture and other aspects.Under such circumstances,"Atlantis" was contrived by Hoffmann from the angle of a bourgeois writer to represent his response in literature for the unity of the country.With the emergence of the bourgeois class,the social thoughts in literature,philosophy and other fields began to concern human nature,psychology,mental sicknesses and other issues for the citizen class.Hoffman showed great interest in these thoughts and built private relationships with representatives of some thoughts.Thus,his "atlantis" bore strong concern for the splitting and unity of human nature.As the rise of the Industrial Revolution,the ever-developing science and technology together with the related items began to appear in people's daily lives.Hoffman's attention was darwn by the theory of animal magnetism which dealt with the relationship between consciousness and environment,Schubert's assumption towards acoustics and other theories and assumptions in science.Thus,the influences of music and sound on people's emotion and psychology appear in "atlantis" frequently.Hoffmann had little family warmth from childhood and was immersed in the imaginary world of music,literature and painting to get rid of the boring life.Adult Hoffmann made a living as a citizen leaving home in the early morning and coming home late at day time.At night,he lost himself in his artistic world.The splitting of life gets its way as artist and Doppelganger in his works."The childlike poetic temperament" and his artistic imagination made him achieve inner peace and realize the unity of self."Atlantis" was expressed through realistic criticism,artistic fairy-tale mode and narrative skills as polyphony,irony and others by Hoffmann.Characters of urban petty bourgeois were criticized in his works.The stiff,conserved features of the urban petty bourgeois constitute strong contrast with the free and untrammeled traits of the poet himself.The contempt towards urban petty bourgeois is the criticism towards the laggard,reserved society.Artistic fairy tale is the best genre to embody the theme of romanticism.With this genre,the reality and the imaginary world were combined perfectly,and the imagination was played fully.Thus,Hoffmann's status in this genre was established."Atlantis" was shown to the readers in different ways through the narrative skills as polyphony,irony and others.The readability of his works is enhanced.The concern of "atlantis" on poets and artists,especially their decsription of the issue of the splitting and unity of human nature together with the artistic writing techniques of "atlantis" exert great influence on later writers.Baudelaire in France and Dostoyevsky in Russia would be taken as examples because Hoffmann was attached great importance to in those two countries.Baudelaire was influenced by Hoffmann in the content of poems(poets and devils,i.e.the two sides of human nature)and wrting technique(synesthesia).Dostoyevsky's The Double and other works were motivated by Hoffman's concern on the splitting and unity of human nature.In the history of literature,"Atlantis" contrived by Hoffmann embodies the core features of Utopian literature,i.e.,the criticism of society and the construction of the ideal society,though it cannot be considered as real Utopian literature.Thus,Hoffmann's "atlantis" is the inheritance of the Utopian literature tradition to some extent.Previously,the Utopian literature laid great emphasis on the wholeness aspects of superstructure and economic basis with little reference to the individuals that constitute the society.The concern of the relationship between man and others,the unity of self and still other aspects in Hoffmann's "atlantis" could be considered as a kind of supplement and elevation for the Utopian literature tradition.The childlike innocence,imagination and art advocated through his "atlantis" bear social significances.Only keeping the childlike innocence and remaining true to our original aspiration,can we accomplish our growth and realize the harmony and unity of each individual and the self.Imagination could be maintained through the keeping of the childlike innocence.Artistic aesthetics and its practice are effective ways of expressing childlike innocence and exerting imagination,and they are one aim of them reversely at the same time.These shed realistic instruction meaning to the growth and education of children.The artistic aesthetics and its practice could help modern people resist the alination and assimilation from the world of science and technology.Thus,human beings would not lapse into the slaves of technology and the substitutes of machines.