The Sandman

Hoffmann, E[rnst] T. A. "The Sandman" (also, "The Sand-Man"). 1816. Tales of E.T.A. Hoffman. Leonard J. Kent and Elizabeth C. Knight, trans. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1969. Rpt. Fantastic Worlds . . . . Eric S. Rabdin, ed., commentaries. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1979. Science Fiction: A Historical Anthology (q.v. under anthologies) 75-112.

Gothic novella featuring Dr. Coppelius and his beautiful automaton, providing a precedent two years before Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) for robots and androids (see "Hoffmann" in S. F. Ency.). The clockwork automaton, Olimpia (or Olympia), went on to a long career in opera, ballet, and films; see under drama, COPPÉLIA and the works cross-referenced there. Note also ETAH's "Automata" (1814).