A Century's Chronicler - Theodor Fontane, a German novelist

Our fellow Doris Brehmeier-Metz gave a nice presentation on the life and work of Theodor Fontane, who was born in Prussia in 1819 from a French Ugonotte family which had fled France to avoid religious persecution. During his youth he followed his family and moved from city to city. He had a fragmented education and ended up being a pharmacist like his father.

Nevertheless his desire to write was strong and his first novel was published in 1848. Two years later he definitely quit his job as pharmacist and was hired by the ministry of propaganda of Prussia. In 1953 he wrote on a regular basis for a Berlin newspaper and he specialized in English life and culture which allowed him to write two books: "summer in England" and "summer in Scotland". This passion for England paid off and he moved to London to work as a press attaché for the Prussian embassy.

Few years later he came back to Prussia and started working for the Prussische Zeitung as a chronicler and theatre critic.

Doris then made a list of the different writings of Fontane among which we can cite poems and ballads: (e.g. Herr von Ribeck), travel books (Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandeburg), reports of war and novels like Stechlin, the "Berliner Frauer Romane", "Irrungen Wirrungen" and, probably, his masterpiece "Effi Briest".

Doris ended his talk by stating that Fontane is probably the most important realist German speaking writer of the 19th century and that his works are an excellent way to better understand the life and culture of that period.

The presentation was followed by a lively Q&A session and Ehsan thanked Doris for her presentation.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

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