Mad Loves

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Exploring Jacques Offenbach's final opera, the book delves into the fusion of irony and profundity within "Les Contes d'Hoffmann," highlighting its reflection of Romantic culture. The narrative unfolds through dreamlike episodes featuring archetypal characters such as the Poet and the Automaton, representing a collective unconscious. Hadlock's analysis encompasses the protagonist's self-reflexive style, the opera's music, and connections between nineteenth-century theater and medical discourses, alongside a fascination with the hysterical female subject.