A short fantastic novella by E.T.A. Hoffmann published in 1817. A deservedly well-known work of early science fiction and fantastic literature, it features alchemy, automatons, love and insanity. Freud famously discusses it in his essay "The Uncanny," using the story (among other things) to demonstrate the long-term effects of childhood traumas as well as a metaphorical connection between the phallus and the eyes. Many others reject significant portions of this reading, and instead seeing the piece as a response to the industrial revolution or resulting from a collision between the ideals of the enlightenment and the darker side of human nature, or even an attempt to combine old fairy tales with a more modern world. In other words, it's a classic, very well written tale, full of imagery and metaphor, all of which makes it a literary theorist's wet dream.