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likecymbeline's review
3.0
I've been caught up in a Hoffmann spiral, which is one of the weirder spirals to be caught up in. What is it about him that I can't seem to train my mind away from? There's this sense that he's Important to me, even though I can't say why. I can't mention Hoffmann without going deep into the realm of the intertextual. I say Hoffmann, and in the same breath I say Tchaikovsky, Delibes, Offenbach, and Schumann, and that's just the composers. I say Robertson Davies and Angela Carter. And I talk Orpheus myths and alter-egos and dark Protestant magic.
I bought this book back when I was eighteen or nineteen, but had to set it aside after finishing Part I because fall came and university courses began, and I never felt the freedom to return to it because I had the idea of it being a bit of hard reading. After all, it's the biography of a cat (pretty much plotless by default) interspersed with an anachronistic and fragmentary biography of the moody composer Johannes Kriesler. Hoffmann's indebtedness to Sterne is very apparent in the set-up, playing with the structure of what a book is, but it doesn't go nearly so far as [b:The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman|76527|The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman|Laurence Sterne|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403402384s/76527.jpg|2280279]. I'd have enjoyed seeing him push more against formal boundaries.
The cat writing his own autobiography is a bit gimmicky. There weren't a lot of anthropomorphic narrators in early novels, but the "novel" aspect of it wears off. Murr is convincing and consistent (that is to say, he's self-important, self-contradicting, and most certainly a cat written by a man who understands cats on a metaphysical level), and gives such gravity to events of his life that you are simultaneously aware of their insignificance and the probable relative insignificance of your own life. Or maybe I'm the one bringing that existential crisis to the table.
At any rate, the highlight of this book for me was Kriesler, a fanfuckingtastic alter-ego who, to my mind, cuts through some of the bullshit eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century tropes of Virtuous Protagonists vs Shameless Rakes. Kriesler is a little unstable, thanks to being a highly-sensitive musician and artist-type, but he seems rather real, despite all the fantasy elements of princes and castles and court magicians that surround him. It's his sarcasm, the fact that nobody can tell when he's joking, the way he pokes fun at social expectations, the fact that he peaces out of a good job he doesn't like on foot because it gave him bad vibes, like. He's fucking weird. You can see why he would make people uncomfortable because he's unpredictable, but he's shamelessly himself, shamelessly an artist, but taken over by moods of extreme rationality, and I think that's what endures about Hoffmann. He's such a polymath, so multifarious, the jurist and the artist, raised under the strictest order and regiment, which only increased his canniness and sarcasm. Is it this plurality that draws me in? Or is it just that Hoffmann is so damn weird?
I bought this book back when I was eighteen or nineteen, but had to set it aside after finishing Part I because fall came and university courses began, and I never felt the freedom to return to it because I had the idea of it being a bit of hard reading. After all, it's the biography of a cat (pretty much plotless by default) interspersed with an anachronistic and fragmentary biography of the moody composer Johannes Kriesler. Hoffmann's indebtedness to Sterne is very apparent in the set-up, playing with the structure of what a book is, but it doesn't go nearly so far as [b:The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman|76527|The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman|Laurence Sterne|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403402384s/76527.jpg|2280279]. I'd have enjoyed seeing him push more against formal boundaries.
The cat writing his own autobiography is a bit gimmicky. There weren't a lot of anthropomorphic narrators in early novels, but the "novel" aspect of it wears off. Murr is convincing and consistent (that is to say, he's self-important, self-contradicting, and most certainly a cat written by a man who understands cats on a metaphysical level), and gives such gravity to events of his life that you are simultaneously aware of their insignificance and the probable relative insignificance of your own life. Or maybe I'm the one bringing that existential crisis to the table.
At any rate, the highlight of this book for me was Kriesler, a fanfuckingtastic alter-ego who, to my mind, cuts through some of the bullshit eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century tropes of Virtuous Protagonists vs Shameless Rakes. Kriesler is a little unstable, thanks to being a highly-sensitive musician and artist-type, but he seems rather real, despite all the fantasy elements of princes and castles and court magicians that surround him. It's his sarcasm, the fact that nobody can tell when he's joking, the way he pokes fun at social expectations, the fact that he peaces out of a good job he doesn't like on foot because it gave him bad vibes, like. He's fucking weird. You can see why he would make people uncomfortable because he's unpredictable, but he's shamelessly himself, shamelessly an artist, but taken over by moods of extreme rationality, and I think that's what endures about Hoffmann. He's such a polymath, so multifarious, the jurist and the artist, raised under the strictest order and regiment, which only increased his canniness and sarcasm. Is it this plurality that draws me in? Or is it just that Hoffmann is so damn weird?
daniy's review
5.0
Almost a year reading this book and I'm gonna miss it so much.
At first I was liking Murr story more than Kreisler, but then both started to pick up in such a nice way.
Ofc its an unfinished story so the ending is quite a "let down" if you don't know it beforehand.
At first I was liking Murr story more than Kreisler, but then both started to pick up in such a nice way.
Ofc its an unfinished story so the ending is quite a "let down" if you don't know it beforehand.
gavinsteyn's review against another edition
2.0
Didn't finish. In the end, the story of Kreisler was too dull to keep me going through the good parts of the Tomcat Murr story.
impla77's review against another edition
challenging
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is actually a lot more enjoyable than I expected, seeing as I couldn’t stand Tristram Shandy. Two pretty much separate plots, with an enjoyable framing device and a nice breakup of the story. It definitely feels ahead of its time with the techniques that are used in it.
bookhouseboi's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Pendelt konstant zwischen hoch unterhaltsamem und todlangweiligem romantischen Plauderton. Und natürlich ist am Ende alles nur Fragment, passend für einen Text, der sich zumindest in den Kreisler-Abschnitten immer wieder auf dem literarischen Holzweg befindet. Generell hätte weniger Kreisler, Hofmanns natürlich angeberisch perfekt inszeniertes Alter Ego und mehr Senior Puff dem Text gut getan. Oh und die Stelle als Kater Murr nen Kater von zu viel Katzpunsch aus der Katzburschengesellschaft hat, klasse.
dumplingcat's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
jenniferfrye's review
4.0
Should anyone be audacious enough to think of casting doubt on the sterling worth of this remarkable book, let him reflect that he is dealing with a tomcat possessed of intellect, understanding, and sharp claws.How delightfully whimsical!
I think it's fair to say that The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr is unlike anything I've read. The premise is wacky, and Hoffmann commits.
And he was (mostly) successful. The Tomcat Murr sections of the story are one of my favorite things I've read all year. Hoffman, clearly a fellow cat person, perfectly captures the attitude an educated cat would have: Murr is arrogant and vain and impossible not to love. While his adventures aren't particularly fantastic, his voice is filled with personality and wonderfully captivating.
I was less enamored by the "waste paper" sections centered around Kreisler. Initially I was incredibly confused by what was happening—I'm still not sure if these sections were in chronological order?—and never particularly found myself attached to any of these characters, eccentric though they may be and as fairy-tale-esque as their story was. As it progressed, though, it certainly grew on me, and by the end I was fairly well caught up in the various intrigue and romance plots. (Also, Prince Ignatious was a surprising character to come across. He seems to have some type of intellectual disability, which isn't something I've seen represented in literature from this time period.) And then it just kind of…ends? After doing some googling it seems like Hoffman left this unfinished as he'd planned to write a third book. Presumably, then, he intended to wrap up most of these plot threads, but it's still somewhat unsatisfying that none of the waste paper characters find closure.
I'm sure there's much more depth to this novel in terms of satire, social commentary, philosophy, etc. that went entirely over my head. I, as a casual reader, can only say that I found it a lighthearted, enjoyable little novel that I wish had been completed.
Some favorite passages:
First I purred, then I discovered that inimitable talent of waving my tail in the most graceful of coils, and then the wonderful gift of expressing joy, pain, delight and rapture, terror and despair, in short, all feelings and passions in their every nuance with the single little word, ‘Miaow’. What is human speech compared to this simplest of all simple means of making oneself understood?
At last, one day when the Master was out, I overcame my fear and jumped up on the desk. With what voluptuous pleasure did I sit among the books and papers, burrowing about in them! It was not mischief, no, it was pure desire, it was scholarly voracity that led me to catch up a manuscript in my paws and buffet it this way and that until it lay before me torn to bits.
…even as I write this there blazes above my head that wondrous constellation which shines into my soul and out of my soul again in true affinity – yes, I feel the glowing, burning ray of the long-tailed comet on my brow – yes, I myself am the glowing comet, the celestial meteor passing prophetically in great glory through the world.
So saying, the Master went running about the room with the speed and liveliness of a young man, wound up the machinery and arranged the magic mirrors. In every corner, devices came to life: automatons strutted about, turning their heads, and an artificial cockerel beat his wings and crowed, while screeching parrots flew circling around them,…
Can there be any more comfortable condition than to be wholly satisfied with oneself? I purred!
donzhivago's review
2.0
Eh. It's an interesting enough curio as a bit of protomodernism, but I found the book itself rather dull.
bmip666's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
cecilie_who_reads's review against another edition
5.0
It was one of my favourite books at the time (1990) and made me read a lot of Hoffmann.
But this one is by far the best and funniest.
But this one is by far the best and funniest.