There is absolutely no reason for people to avoid reading this story. First of all, it’s short – about 30 pages (and the ones I read were TINY pages). Secondly, it’s so. freaking. amazing. Seriously! Read it! Now I’ll tell you why.

For my Seminar in European Literature this semester we are studying the “uncanny” – what the word means, how to define it ourselves, how it’s defined in stories, and we’re reading all sorts of fantastic things like Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Freud’s essays, and other various fantastic, “uncanny” stories. Our class this semester started out with a bang – namely The Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffman. You are familiar with Hoffman, although you might not realize it. That famous Nutcracker story that graces the ballet stage every Christmas? Yup. He wrote that story.

So now that you’ve sat back and said “Oh! That guy!”, let me introduce you to the wonders of The Sandman. When you read this story (and you will, won’t you?) I want you to think about the following things:

What is the reality in the book?

Just how creepy are dolls??

What about the story really made your hair stand on end?

Written in epistolary style, The Sandman grows in intensity, the story taking strange twists and turns until coming to an amazing, horrifying climax. I seriously shivered typing that while I recalled it. I wish there was a way to make my words literally compel you to shift away from this review and go find a copy, but there isn’t… or is there? Go read it! ( )