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The Nutcracker Treasury
Follow the tale of a beloved Christmas toy and his battles against the evil Mouse King from origin, to retelling, to adaptation and translation in The Nutcracker Treasury .
Containing four major versions of the work, The Nutcracker Treasury features the original tale by E.T.A. Hoffman, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816); the retelling, The History of a Nutcracker (1847) by Alexandre Dumas; the adaptation for stage, The Magic Nutcracker (1925); and a self-proclaimed, “translation, mutilation, and termination,” Princess Pirlipatine and the Nutcracker (1919) by O. Eliphaz Keat.
Professionally typeset with a beautifully designed cover, this exclusive edition of The Nutcracker Treasury is a classic Christmas tale, reimagined for modern readers.
Containing four major versions of the work, The Nutcracker Treasury features the original tale by E.T.A. Hoffman, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816); the retelling, The History of a Nutcracker (1847) by Alexandre Dumas; the adaptation for stage, The Magic Nutcracker (1925); and a self-proclaimed, “translation, mutilation, and termination,” Princess Pirlipatine and the Nutcracker (1919) by O. Eliphaz Keat.
Professionally typeset with a beautifully designed cover, this exclusive edition of The Nutcracker Treasury is a classic Christmas tale, reimagined for modern readers.
100 pages, Paperback
Published October 25, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 16, 2022
Mint Editions’ Nutcracker Treasury includes not only Hoffman’s famous tale but Dumas’ retelling, the play version of the famous ballet and the strange (but the one I liked the best) version by O. Eliphaz Keat The subtitle of Keat’s version is “translated, mutilated and terminated”. So there you go.
It wouldn’t surprise me if most people know or came to the Nutcracker via the music or the ballet. Or even the Fantasia dancing mushrooms. Hoffman’s magical tale is different in some ways, and every time I re-read it, I always get a faintly yucky feeling. It is a tale of young girl’s coming of age – it starts with her getting dolls for Christmas and then marrying at the end with no real sense of her having age much. In fact most people seem to remember the magical journey that stands in for her growing more than anything else. That end bit not so much.
And that’s why it was nice to see the operetta that was designed for the ballet. The text for the operetta was done by Jane Kerley and there is a difference in feeling from the stories told by the men (whether or not Keat was really a man, I’m not sure). Dumas’ version is close, though not exactly to Hoffman’s. Keat’s one is the biggest departure and, honestly, the one I liked best because it does seem to be written in response to some of the issues that the original Nutcracker raises in the mind of the reader.
It is a nice collection, if perhaps catered only to those who like the story or like to read variations. It should be noted that the operetta does include musical notation.
It wouldn’t surprise me if most people know or came to the Nutcracker via the music or the ballet. Or even the Fantasia dancing mushrooms. Hoffman’s magical tale is different in some ways, and every time I re-read it, I always get a faintly yucky feeling. It is a tale of young girl’s coming of age – it starts with her getting dolls for Christmas and then marrying at the end with no real sense of her having age much. In fact most people seem to remember the magical journey that stands in for her growing more than anything else. That end bit not so much.
And that’s why it was nice to see the operetta that was designed for the ballet. The text for the operetta was done by Jane Kerley and there is a difference in feeling from the stories told by the men (whether or not Keat was really a man, I’m not sure). Dumas’ version is close, though not exactly to Hoffman’s. Keat’s one is the biggest departure and, honestly, the one I liked best because it does seem to be written in response to some of the issues that the original Nutcracker raises in the mind of the reader.
It is a nice collection, if perhaps catered only to those who like the story or like to read variations. It should be noted that the operetta does include musical notation.
December 11, 2022
I think the original ETA Hoffmann was the best of all the versions. There were many typos in here, so it was not edited very well. Dumas’ version started off with more religious overtones and changes the names of the children. It doesn’t even say who did the play that was set to Tchaikovsky’s music, but it was very awkwardly written. The only cute thing was that the Waltz of the Flowers was turned into a love song between Marie and Prince Charming. The last story was only about Princess Pirlipatine and the nutcracker. The first ⅔ of it were exactly the same as the other versions but it ended completely differently.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews