Automata, doubles and atmospheric deliria of modern subjectivity: Hoffmann’s The Sandman

Abstract

In order to discuss the profound crisis of the self in modernity, this essay focuses on a seminal German novel: Hoffmann’s The Sandman. Surrounded by a dark atmosphere, this fictional work marks a historical moment in which writers, artists and philosophers highlight a certain eclipse of the Western rationality. The novel explores an alchemy that proliferates automata and Doubles, fragmenting the harmonious contours of the human figure and the cohesion of the self. Following the protagonist’s delusions, we seek to shed light on the most enigmatic passages of a novel that, about a century after its publication, inspired Sigmund Freud's work on the cloudiest aspects of subjectivity.