Year:
208 years ago
Der Sandmann (1816) is a short story by E. T. A. Hoffmann, first published in an 1817 book of stories titled Die Nachtstücke.
In Der Sandmann, a narrator quotes a letter by Nathanael, mentioning a young woman called Olimpia; Nathanael falls in love and proposes to Olimpia. Later it is revealed that Olimpia is an automaton. Among other incidents, this incites Nathanael's madness.