Inventing Portal Fantasies: E. T. A. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

E. T. A. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker and Mouse King is rarely brought into the orbit of children’s literature, in large part because it has become part of the world of ballet and Christmas confections. In many ways, however, it is a foundational work of children’s literature, for it establishes a secondary world that sets the stage for later works like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and The Chronicles of Narnia. I propose to look at how aesthetic enchantments are recruited to create other worlds that draw children in. The frenzied language of nonsense that marks the transition from ordinary reality to the surreal will come under investigation, as well as the ontological uncertainty that is the price for entering other worlds.