The Automaton
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A fairground Turk that answers unaskable questions, a hidden mind behind the machine, and a secret that unnerves all who hear it drive this ingenious tale of the marvellous.
First published in 1814 and later gathered into The Serapion Brethren, The Automaton (Die Automate) sets two friends on the trail of a prophetic mechanical oracle, in a story often hailed as an ancestor of science fiction. Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776 – 1822), the German Romantic jurist, composer, and critic, was fascinated by the uncanny frontier where music, machinery, and the soul meet.
E.T.A. Hoffmann
Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776–1822) was a German author, artist, and composer who is best remembered for his story “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice.”
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