E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) was a composer, caricaturist, critic and author. His work, often bizarre and grotesque, was hugely influential on writers such as Dostoevsky, Kafka and Poe.

The young student Nathanael remains haunted by his childhood fears: he is convinced that Coppelius, a strange night-time visitor who used to come to his house to conduct alchemical experiments with his father - the latter dying as a consequence of one of those sessions - was none other than the Sandman, a mythical figure who was said to steal the eyes of children who refused to go to sleep. When a mysterious Italian salesman with a beautiful daughter moves into town, Nathanael's suspicions are reawakened, pushing him to the brink of madness as extraordinary events unfold.

E.T.A Hoffman belongs to that eternal guild of poets and visionaries who take revenge on the life that is tormenting them by showing it examples of forms more colourful and diverse than reality can manage to convey.