Theodor Fontane

**Theodor Fontane** (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many to be the most important 19th-century German-language realist writer.

## Youth

Fontane was born in Neuruppin into a Huguenot family. At the age of sixteen he became apprentice in a pharmacy and then a pharmacist himself (like his father). In 1839, at the age of 20, wrote his first work (_Heinrichs IV. erste Liebe_, now lost). His first published work, the novella _Geschwisterliebe_ (or "Sibling Love"), appeared in the _Berlin Figaro_ in December 1839.

His first job as apothecary was in Dresden after which he returned to his father's shop, now in the provincial town of Letschin in the Oderbruch region. In this time Fontane published articles in the Leipzig newspaper _Die Eisenbahn_ (railway) and translated Shakespeare. In 1843, he joined a literary club called Tunnel über der Spree (i.e. Tunnel over the river Spree) in Berlin where he came into contact with many of the most important German writers such as Theodor Storm, Joseph von Eichendorff and Gottfried Keller.

## Newspaper writer and critic

In 1844 Fontane enrolled in the Prussian army and set out on the first of many journeys to England. There he learned about old English ballads. Soon afterwards he wrote ballads himself. At that time he became engaged to his future wife, Emilie Rouanet-Kummer, whom he had first met when still at school.

He was - very short - enganged in the revolutionary events of the revolution of 1848. In 1849 he quit his job as an apothecary and became a full-time journalist and writer. In order to support his family he took a job as a writer for the Prussian intelligence agency _Centralstelle für Preßangelegenheiten_ which was meant to influence the press towards a  German national cause. Again he specialised in British affairs, and the agency sent him as correspondent to London for a couple of years. His wife and two sons followed him there. While still in London he quit his government job and, on his return to Berlin, became editor of the conservative _Kreuzzeitung_ (newspaper).

## London

His books about Britain include _Ein Sommer in London_ (1854); _Aus England, Studien und Briefe_ (1860) and _Jenseits des Tweed, Bilder und Briefe aus Schottland_ (1860). At the period, and following the fashion of Walter Scott, traditional British stories were still _en vogue_ on the continent. His _Gedichte_ (1851) and ballads _Männer und Helden_ (1860) tell of Britain's glories in days gone by.

Back in Germany, Fontane became particularly interested in the Mark Brandenburg region. He was especially proud of its past achievements and delighted in the growth of its capital city, Berlin. His fascination with the countryside surrounding Berlin may be seen in his delightfully picturesque _Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg_ (1862-1882, 5 vols.).

## Prussian War

In 1870, he quit his job at the _Kreuzzeitung_ and became theater critic for the liberal _Vossische Zeitung_ (newspaper). This job he kept until retirement. He had already written about  Prussia's war against Denmark and the Austro-Prussian War. Then he went to write about the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and was taken prisoner. He remained in French captivity for three months. His experiences there are set down in _Kriegsgefangen Erlebtes 1870 (1871)_; subsequently he published his observations on the campaign in _Der Krieg gegen Frankreich 1870-71_ (1874-1876).

## Later years

At the ripe age of 57 Fontane finally took to what he would be remembered for, the novel. His fine historical novel _Vor dem Sturm_ (1878) was followed by a series of novels of modern life, notably _L'Adultera_ (1882), a book about adultery which was considered so risqué that it took Fontane two years to find a publisher. In his novels _Frau Jenny Treibel_, _Irrungen, Wirrungen_, and _Effi Briest_ (1894), he found his very own tone, he wrote about insights into the lives of the nobility as well as the "common man"; his achievement there was later described as poetic realism. In  _Der Stechlin_ (1899), his last finished novel, Fontane adapted the realistic methods and social criticism of contemporary French fiction to the conditions of Prussian life.

## Works

- _Geschwisterliebe_, 1839
- _Zwei Post-Stationen_, 1845
- _James Monmouth_, 1854
- _Tuch und Locke_, 1854
- _Goldene Hochzeit_, 1854
- _Vor dem Sturm_, 1878
- _Grete Minde_, 1880
- _Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg_, 1880
- _Elternklipp_, 1881
- _L'Adultera_, 1882
- _Schach von Wuthenow_, 1882
- _Graf Petöfy_, 1884
- _Unterm Birnbaum_, 1885
- _Cécile_, 1887
- _Irrungen, Wirrungen_, 1888
- _Stine_, 1890
- _Quitt_, 1891
- _Unwiederbringlich_, 1891
- _Frau Jenny Treibel_, 1892
- _Meine Kinderjahre_, 1894
- _Effi Briest_, 1896
- _Die Poggenpuhls_, 1896
- _Der Stechlin_, 1899
- _Mathilde Möhring_, 1906

## Poems

- _Archibald Douglas_
- _Die Brück' am Tay_
- _John Maynard_
- _Herr von Ribbeck auf Ribbeck im Havelland_
- _Aber es bleibt auf dem alten Fleck_
- _Ausgang_
- _Gorm Grymme

## References

- Craig, Gordon _Theodor Fontane : Literature and History in the Bismarck Reich_, New York : Oxford University Press, 1999 .
See Thomas Mann's 1910 essay, "The Old Fontane," in _Essays of Three Decades_ (Knopf, 1947). Very fine.

## Other websites

- _Trials and Tribulations_, one of Fontane's works
- Works by Theodor Fontane at Zeno.org
- Collection of links
- _This article includes material adapted from  Fontane's biography ''

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Theodor Fontane
- **image**: Kurzbio fontane05.jpg
- **birth place**: Neuruppin
- **death place**: Berlin