«The Sandman and Other Tales» by E.T.A. Hoffmann

Nathanael is a young student, moved from his provincial town to a city where he attends university. It is there where he meets Coppola, a hawker of oculars and eye-glasses and a man whose looks and name have an uncanny similarity to the tormentor of Nathanael's childhood, the advocate Coppelius, the man Nathanael holds responsible for his father's death.