In Pursuit of the Hoffmannesque

ABSTRACT This article seeks to elucidate the term ‘Hoffmannesque’ — the eponymous adjective that refers to E. T. A. Hoffmann — through recourse to Hoffmann's own use of ‘esque’ words: arabesque, grotesque, burlesque, picturesque. By investigating the characteristics of ‘esque’ formulations and tracing their recurrence through Hoffmann's texts, I argue that Hoffmann proleptically anticipates the later codification of his style as the ‘Hoffmannesque’ through sustained practices of self‐stylisation and repetition. Hoffmann's use of ‘esque’ words and their equivalents is programmatic in a minor key: they are deployed above all to characterise the minor forms of the mannerist. Hoffmann is presented as an author deeply invested in questions of authorship and style: one who formulates a popularly pleasing and commercially viable style at the dawn of mass culture, and for whom that style (or manner) is above all a site of encounter and relation.