The central theme of the stories collected under the title "Nachtstücke" is the unfreedom of man and his threat from the incomprehensible and the uncanny. Numerous dramatizations and television adaptations of the tale "Der Sandmann" demonstrate the fascination that Hoffmann's stories still hold today. This volume from the highly acclaimed Hoffmann edition of the German Classics Publishing House offers verified texts and new commentaries on Hoffmann's poetic, musical, and visual artistic work in the context of the "Nachtstücke.".