Editing E. T. A. Hoffmann (section)

===Science fiction===
While disagreeing with [[E. F. Bleiler]]'s claim that Hoffmann was "one of the two or three greatest writers of fantasy", [[Algis Budrys]] of ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]'' said that he "did lay down the groundwork for some of our most enduring themes".<ref name="budrys196807">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Budrys
 |first=Algis
 |date=July 1968
 |title=Galaxy Bookshelf
 |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v26n06_1968-07#page/n161/mode/2up
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=161–167
}}</ref>

Historian Martin Willis argues that Hoffmann's impact on science fiction has been overlooked, saying "his work reveals a writer dynamically involved in the important scientific debates of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries." Willis points out that Hoffmann's work is contemporary with ''[[Frankenstein]]'' (1818) and with "the heated debates and the relationship between the new empirical science and the older forms of natural philosophy that held sway throughout the eighteenth century." His "interest in the machine culture of his time is well represented in his short stories, of which the critically renowned [[The Sandman (short story)|''The Sandman'']] (1816) and [[The Automata|''Automata'']] (1814) are the best examples. ...Hoffmann's work makes a considerable contribution to our understanding of the emergence of scientific knowledge in the early years of the nineteenth century and to the conflict between science and magic, centred mainly on the 'truths' available to the advocates of either practice. ...Hoffmann's balancing of [[mesmerism]], mechanics, and magic reflects the difficulty in categorizing scientific knowledge in the early nineteenth century."<ref name=Willis>{{cite book|title=Mesmerists, Monsters, and Machines: Science Fiction and the Cultures of Science in the Nineteenth Century|author=Martin Willis|pages=29–30|publisher=Kent State University Press|location=Kent, Ohio|year=2006}}</ref>