Description
Book SynopsisOn the centenary of Fontane’s death and at the turn of the century these essays take a new look at this supreme chronicler of Prussia and of the Germany that emerges after 1871. Written by scholars from different countries and disciplines, they focus on novels and theatre reviews from the perspectives of philosophy, sociology, comparative literature and translation theory, and in the contexts of topography and painting. Connections and crosscurrents emerge to reveal new aspects of Fontane’s poetics and to produce contrasting but complementary readings of his novels. He appears in the company of predecessors and contemporaries, such as Scott, Thackeray, Saar, Ibsen, Turgenev, but also in that of writers he has rarely, if ever, been seen beside, such as E.T.A. Hoffmann, Stendhal, Trollope, Henry James and Edith Wharton, Beckett and Faulkner. The historical novel and the social position of women are each a recurring focus of interest. Fontane emerges as receptive to other voices, as a precursor of developments in modern narrative, and confirmed as the novelist who brings the nineteenth-century German novel closest to the broad traditions of European realism.
Trade Review”…interesting, stimulating, and useful.” in: The Modern Language Review 98.4, 2003, pp. 1053-4
Table of ContentsPreface Rüdiger GÖRNER: Fontane and the European Context: Introduction Renate BÖSCHENSTEIN: Fontane’s Writing and the Problem of “Reality” in Philosophy and Literature Norbert BACHLEITNER: Of Grieving Girls and Suicidal Soldiers: Theodor Fontane and Ferdinand von Saar Peter James BOWMAN: Schach von Wuthenow : Interpreters and Interpretants Yves CHEVREL: Theodor Fontane and France: A Problematic Encounter Hans ESTER: Problems of Translation, Arising from the Context of Fontane’s Works Barbara EVERETT: Night Air: Effi Briest and other Novels by Fontane Inga-Stina EWBANK: Hedda Gabler, Effi Briest and “The Ibsen Effect” Hans VILMAR GEPPERT: Prussian Decadence: Schach von Wuthenow in an International Context Barbara HARDY: Tellers and Listeners in Effi Briest Patricia HOWE: “A visibly-appointed stopping-place”: Narrative Endings at the End of the Century Helmut KUZMICS: Aristocracy and Bourgeoisie in Late Nineteenth-century Prussia and England: Comparing Processes of Individualisation in Fontane and Trollope Jacques LEGRAND: Fontane and Stendhal: Mediators of a European Idea of Intellectual Nobility W.J. Mc CORMACK: Haunted Realism: Beckett through Fontane Domenico MUGNOLO: Theodor Fontane and the Nineteenth-century Italian Novel: A Contrastive Comparison Teresa MARTINS DE OLIVEIRA: Fontane’s Effi Briest and Eça de Queirós’s O Primo Bazilio: Two Novels of Adultery in the Context of European Realism Alexander STILLMARK: Fontane and Turgenev: Two Kinds of Realism Godela WEISS-SUSSEX: Fontane’s and Georg Hermann’s Berlin: Relationships with Contemporary Berlin Painting Maite ZUBIAURRE: Panoramic Views in Fontane, Galdós and Clarín: An Essay on Female Blindness List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors
