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Theodor Fontane
Theodor Fontane was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known today, only at age 58 after a career as a journalist.
Fontane's novels are known for their complex, often sceptical view of society in the German empire; he shows different social and political parts of society meeting and sometimes clashing. Other trademarks of Fontane's work are their strongly drawn female characters (such as Effi Briest and Frau Jenny Treibel), tender irony and vivid conversations between characters.
Fontane was born in Neuruppin, a town 30 miles northwest of Berlin, into a Huguenot family. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to an apothecary, his father's profession. He became an apothecary himself and in 1839, at the age of 20, wrote his first work (Heinrichs IV. erste Liebe, now lost). His further education was in Leipzig, where he became acquainted with the progressives of the Vormärz.
In 1844 Fontane enlisted in the Prussian army and began the first of numerous journeys to England, which fostered his interest in Old English ballads, which he – a lifelong anglophile – began to imitate. In 1845 became engaged to his future wife, Emilie Rouanet-Kummer, whom he had met when still at school.
Fontane's travel books about Britain include Ein Sommer in London (A Summer in London, 1854), Aus England, Studien und Briefe (From England: Studies and Letters, 1860) and Jenseit des Tweed, Bilder und Briefe aus Schottland (Beyond the Tweed, Pictures and Letters from Scotland, 1860). In the books Fontane reflects both nature and the mood in Britain at that time. The success of the historical novels of Walter Scott had helped to make British themes much in vogue on the Continent.
At the age of 57, Fontane finally began work on his novels, for which he is remembered best today. Fontane's lifelong wish to be able to live from his literary works was finally fulfilled. A fine historical romance, Vor dem Sturm (Before the Storm, 1878), was followed by a series exploring modern life, notably L'Adultera (Woman Taken in Adultery, 1882), which was the first of his society novels and deemed risky for its theme of adultery.
Fontane was plagued by health problems during his last years but continued to work until a few hours before his death. He died in the evening of 20 September 1898 in Berlin. As a member of the French Protestant Church of Berlin he was buried in the congregation's cemetery on the Liesenstraße. His wife, Emilie, was buried beside him four years later. Their graves were damaged during World War II but later restored.
Books by Theodor Fontane
Effi Briest
Effi Briest is a realist novel by Theodor Fontane. Published in book form in 1895, Effi Briest marks both a watershed and a climax in the poetic realism of literature. It can be thematically compared to other novels on 19th century marriage from a fe...
Sommer in London
Diese 35 kurzen Reiseberichte entstanden, als Theodor Fontane 1852 zum zweiten Mal nach London reiste. Die Stadt faszinierte ihn, und sowohl die guten als auch die abstoßenden Seiten des Großstadtlebens hielt er mit spitzer Feder fest. (Zusammenfassu...
Stechlin
"Der Stechlin" ist Fontanes letzter großer Roman. Die Handlung rankt sich um das uralte märkische Adelsgeschlecht derer von Stechlin, die am gleichnamigen Stechlinsee im Ruppiner Land ihren Sitz haben. Der Autor selbst sagte ironisch, in dem Roman g...
Frau Jenny Treibel
Frau Jenny Treibel oder „Wo sich Herz zum Herzen find’t“ ist ein Roman Theodor Fontanes. Ende 1892 ausgeliefert, gewann der Roman sehr schnell die Gunst von Publikum und Kritik. Er hat sie bis heute ohne erkennbare Einschränkung bewahrt. Mit scheinba...
Unterm Birnbaum
"Unterm Birnbaum" von Theodor Fontane ist eine in Novellenform verfasste Kriminalgeschichte. Abel Hradscheck, Dorfkrämer und Wirt, der gerne seinen eigenen Wein trinkt, um Geld spielt und eine anspruchsvolle Frau hat, ist hoch verschuldet. Das meist...
L'Adultera
Die Novelle L'Adultera (d.h. die Ehebrecherin; erschienen 1880) ist ein frühes Werk von Theodor Fontane. Es behandelt das gleiche Thema wie der spätere Roman Effi Briest (1894): Eine junge Frau mit einem viel älteren Mann, den sie nicht eigentlich li...
Irrungen, Wirrungen
Die Geschichte spielt im Berlin der 1870er Jahre. Die hübsche und pflichtbewusste Lene wohnt mit ihrer alten Pflegemutter Nimptsch in einem kleinen Häuschen. Bei einer Bootspartie lernt sie den gesellschaftlich gewandten und unterhaltsamen Baron Both...
Stine
Die junge Ernestine Rehbein, genannt Stine, lebt in einfachen kleinbürgerlichen Verhältnissen bei ihrer verwitweten Schwester Pauline, die zwei Kinder von zwei verschiedenen Männern hat. Bei einer kleinen Abendgesellschaft lernt Stine den kränklichen...
Effi Briest (abridged)
Effi Briest is a classic of Prussian Realism, relatively unknown in the English speaking world, but widely taught in German schools. This tragic tale tells the story of Effi, a young woman from an old and respectable family who, due to a sense of dut...
Jenseit des Tweed
Fontanes Bericht über seine Reise nach Schottland mit seinem Freund Bernhard von Lepel. In dem für Fontane charakteristischen Stil umfasst die Erzählung eine Mischung aus Beschreibungen von Land und Leuten, Volksgeschichten und geschichtlichen Ereign...