E.T.A. Hoffmann was born in Konisberg in 1776. Phantasiestucke, his earliest collection of tales, appeared in 1814. This was followed by Nachtstucke and then by Die Serapions bruder. Among his longer works is his second and final novel, The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr. Hoffmann died in berlin in 1822. After moving to Paris, Alexandre Dumas (1802 - 1870) began writing and by twenty-five, he had his first success as a playwright. His writing was prolific, resulting numerous plays, novels, travel diaries as well as several children's stories. Joachim Neugroschel has translated numerous books from French, German, Italian, Russian and Yiddish. Jack Zipes is a professor of German at the University of Minnesota. A specialist in folklore, fairy tales, and children's literature, he has written several books of criticism and edited numerous anthologies.