Tales of Hoffman

[Ghetta Life]

I've just recently been made aware of the Offenbach opera "The Tales of 
Hoffman."  I haven't seen it yet (I hear the 1951 film version directed by 
Michael Powell is very good), but the synopsis makes me think Pynchon must 
have found it a partial inspiration for his novel "V."  The story centers on 
Hoffman's encounters with a series of enticing females:

In the first act Hoffman falls in love with a life-sized Parisian mechanical 
doll named Olympia.  At the end of this act Olypia is dismantled before 
Hoffman's eyes by the mad scientist Coppélius, one of the doll's creators.

In the second act Hoffman professes his love for Antonia, a woman with a 
weak heart, forbidden to sing by her father lest her heart fail.  This time 
the same scientist now in the guise of Dr. Miracle entices the girl to sing 
and thus she dies.

In the third act Hoffman is seduced by the decadent Venetian courtesan 
Giulietta (bribed to do so by the same evil one of the two preceding acts).  
She steals his reflection (his soul) and departs in the arms of a grotesque 
dwarf.

In the final act it ir revealed to the despairing hoffman that all three 
women are different aspects of one woman, the opera singer Stella.  Stella 
arrives at the pub where Hoffman is drowning his sorrows, only to depart 
with his evil rival.

Ghetta

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