Theodor Fontane

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Theodor Fontane
Fontane (1883), painting by Carl Breitbach
Fontane (1883), painting by Carl Breitbach
Born(1819-12-30)30 December 1819
Neuruppin, Brandenburg, Prussia
Died20 September 1898(1898-09-20) (aged 78)
Berlin, German Empire
OccupationWriter
NationalityGerman
Period19th century
GenreNovel
Notable worksEffi Briest, On Tangled Paths, The Stechlin, Frau Jenny Treibel
SpouseEmilie Rouanet-Kummer (1824–1902; m. 1850, until his death)
Children7 (four of them lived into adulthood)

Theodor Fontane (German pronunciation:

German-language realist
author. Fontane is known as a writer of realism, not only because he was conscientious about the factual accuracy of details in fictional scenes, but also because he depicted his characters in terms of what they said or did and refrained from overtly imputing motives to them. He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known today, only at age 58 after a career as a journalist. His novels delve into topics that were more or less taboo for discussion in the polite society of Fontane's day, including marital infidelity, class differences, urban vs. rural differences, abandonment of children, and suicide. His novels sold well during his lifetime and several have been adapted for film or audio works. His characters range from lower-middle class to Prussian nobility.

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.[1] Other trademarks of Fontane's work are their strongly drawn female characters (such as Effi Briest and Frau Jenny Treibel),[2] tender irony[3] and vivid conversations between characters.[4]

Life

Youth

Fontane at age 23, drawing by Georg Friedrich Kersting

Fontane was born in

Huguenot family.[5] At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to an apothecary, his father's profession.[6] 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
.

Fontane's first published work, the novella Geschwisterliebe (Sibling Love), was published in the Berlin Figaro in December 1839. His biographer Gordon A. Craig claims that this gave few indications of being a gifted writer: "Although the theme of incest, which was to occupy Fontane on later occasions, is touched upon here, the mawkishness of the tale... is equalled by the lameness of its plot and the inertness of the style in which it is told, and [the characters] Clärchen and her brother are both so colourless that no one could have guessed that their creator had a future as a writer."[7]

Fontane's first job as apothecary was in

Joseph von Eichendorff and Gottfried Keller
.

Newspaper writer and critic

In 1844, Fontane enlisted in the

Old English ballads, which he – a lifelong anglophile – began to imitate.[9] In 1845 became engaged to his future wife, Emilie Rouanet-Kummer, whom he had met when still at school.[10]

Fontane played a brief part in the revolutionary events of

Neue Preussische Zeitung. As a man of liberal sympathies for free press and a united Germany Fontane ruefully wrote to a friend about his job with the Zeitung: "I sold myself to the reaction for thirty pieces of silver a month... These days one cannot survive as an honest man."[12]

London

Theodor Fontane (ca. 1860)

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.[13] The success of the historical novels of Walter Scott had helped to make British themes much in vogue on the Continent. Fontane's Gedichte (Poems, 1851) and ballads Männer und Helden (Men and Heroes, 1860) tell of Britain's former glories. Back in Germany Fontane became particularly interested in his home province, the March of Brandenburg. He enjoyed rambling through its rural landscapes and small towns and delighted in the growth of its capital city, Berlin. His fascination with the countryside surrounding Berlin may be seen in his picturesque Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg (Walks through the Province of Brandenburg, 1862–82, 5 vols), in which he extended his earlier fascination with British history to his native land.

Wars of German Unification

In 1870, Fontane quit his job at the Kreuzzeitung and became

Prussia's war against Denmark in Der schleswig-holsteinische Krieg im Jahre 1864 (1866) and the Austro-Prussian War in Der deutsche Krieg von 1866 (1869). He went to the front to observe the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and after being taken prisoner at Vaucouleurs remained in French captivity for three months.[14] He memorialized his experiences in Kriegsgefangen Erlebtes 1870 (Experiences as a Prisoner of War, 1871) and published his observations concerning the campaign in the book Der Krieg gegen Frankreich 1870–71 (The War against France, 1870–71, published 1874–76). In his observations he strongly criticized Prussian militarism: "A mere glorification of the military without moral content or elevated aim is nauseating."[15]

Later years

Theodor Fontane in 1894

At the age of 57, Fontane finally began work on his novels, for which he is remembered best today.

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.[18]

His novels Irrungen, Wirrungen (Trials and Tribulations, 1888), Frau Jenny Treibel (1892) and Effi Briest (1894–95) yielded insights into the lives of the nobility and middle-class citizens. His achievement in this regard was later described as poetic realism. In Der Stechlin (written 1895–97), his last completed novel, Fontane adapted the realistic methods and social criticism of contemporary French fiction to the conditions of Prussian life.

Death

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.[19] 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.

Prose works

Graves of Theodor and Emilie Fontane in the Französische Friedhof, Liesenstraße, Berlin.
"Modern Book Printing" from the Walk of Ideas in Berlin, Germany – built during 2006 to commemorate Johannes Gutenberg's invention, c. 1445, of movable printing type. With Fontane's name among other famous German writers.

Poems

  • Balladen, 1861
  • Archibald Douglas
  • Die Brück' am Tay (English translation, Wikisource (German))
  • John Maynard
  • Herr von Ribbeck auf Ribbeck im Havelland
     (translated as Nick Ribbeck at Ribbeck in Havelland)
  • Aber es bleibt auf dem alten Fleck
  • Ausgang
  • Gorm Grymme
  • Das Trauerspiel von Afghanistan (English translation)
  • Wo Bismarck Liegen Soll
  • Kaiser Friedrich III.
  • Jung-Bismarck
  • Jakobitenlieder
  • Märkische Reime

Concerns about possible anti-semitism

In the 21st century, some scholars have singled out Fontane's works as containing anti-semitic passages, and have gone so far as to withdraw from studying his work in solidarity with what they consider enlightened sensibility. Not all scholars agree about this. If anti-semitism can be discerned in Fontane's fictional works, it could be seen as a reflection of the mainstream views of the society in which he lived. For example, in some novels including "Under the Pear Tree" and "Unwiederbringlich", there is mention of the Jewish heritage of a few key characters, as though this conveyed useful information to listeners (or perhaps readers). But the works themselves do not present any interpretation about the importance of that information, only noting that the characters were aware of it.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Interview with Gordon Craig at Der Spiegel, 1997
  2. ^ Modern, nicht märkisch; Tobias Schwartz, Tagesspiegel (2019)
  3. ^ Theodor Fontane
  4. ^ https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/opus4-wuerzburg/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/4753/file/Sarah_Knippel_Der_Stechlin.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  5. ^ Otto Drude: Theodor Fontane. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt, 1994. p. 11
  6. ^ Otto Drude: pp. 17–18
  7. ^ Theodor Fontane: Literature and History in the Bismarck Reich (Oxford University Press, 1999), Theodor Fontane
  8. ^ Wolfgang Hädecke: Theodor Fontane - Biographie. Hanser Verlag, Munich, 1998. pp. 67–68
  9. ^ Wolfgang Hädecke: pp. 68–70.
  10. ^ Wolfgang Hädecke: p. 107.
  11. ^ Adelheid Steinfeldt. "Emilie Fontane (geb. Rouanet-Kummer) .... Ehefrau von Theodor Fontane; Briefschreiberin". Biografie. Luise F. Pusch i.A. Institut für Frauen-Biographieforschung (fembio e.V.), Hannover. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  12. ^ Craig, Gordon Alexander (1999). Theodor Fontane: Literature and History in the Bismarck Reich. Oxford University Press. pp. 15–16.
  13. ^ Wolfgang Hädecke: pp. 160–161.
  14. ^ Interview with Gordon Craig at Der Spiegel, 1997
  15. ^ Craig, Gordon A. (1999). Theodor Fontane: Literature and History in the Bismarck Reich. Oxford University Press. p. 92.
  16. ^ Wolfgang Hädecke: page 275.
  17. ^ Interview with Gordon Craig at Der Spiegel, 1997
  18. ^ Otto Drude: p. 176
  19. ^ Otto Drude: p. 176

Sources

External links

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