Theodor Fontane

Born Dec. 30, 1819, in Neuruppin; died Sept. 20, 1898, in Berlin. German writer.

Fontane began writing poetry in the late 1830’s. His ballads, written in the spirit of Scottish folk poetry, have had a considerable influence on German literature. Fontane gained experience writing realistic prose between the 1850’s and 1870’s, when he wrote essay collections and books about England, Scotland, and France and the four-volume collection of historical and ethnographical sketches Wanderings Through the Mark of Brandenburg (1862–82).

Despite a sympathetic attitude toward certain members of the Prussian nobility and its culture, the novellas Schach von Wuthenow (1883) and The Poggenpuhls (1896) and the novel The Little Thorn (Der Stechlin, 1899) portray the gradual, hopeless decay of the Junker class. Fontane criticized the bourgeoisie even more sharply in the novella L’Adultera (1882) and the novel Frau Jenny Treibel (1892). The novel Trials and Tribulations (1888) and especially the novella Stine (1888) reveal the essentially despotic character of the class prejudices dominating German society. Fontane’s novel Effi Briest (1895; Russian translation, 1960) is outstanding for its psychological depth. Fontane’s novels and novellas are the highest achievements of 19th-century German critical realism.