Fontane, Theodor (tā`ōdôr fôntä`nə), 1819–98, German writer. Although he is primarily important as a novelist, he did not begin to write fiction until he was almost 60 years old. Thereafter, during his last two decades, he produced almost a novel a year. Earlier he had written two volumes of poetry, Gedichte (1851) and Balladen (1861), as well as accounts of his travels and his experiences as a war correspondent and prisoner during the Franco-Prussian War. He was also a drama critic for many years. The first master of the realistic novel in Germany, he wrote perceptive novels revealing the state of contemporary Berlin society and delineating the characters of its inhabitants. They include L'Adultera (1882, tr. The Woman Taken in Adultery, 1979), Irrungen, Wirrungen (1888, tr. Trials and Tribulations, 1917), Frau Jenny Treibel (1893, tr. 1968, 1976), and his masterpiece, Effi Briest (1895, tr. 1976). He also wrote short novels and the autobiographical Meine Kinderjahre (1894, tr. of extracts, My Childhood Days, 1913–15).

Bibliography

See studies by H. Garland (1980); A. Bance (1982); and G. A. Craig (2000).

Fontane, Theodor

(born Dec. 30, 1819, Neuruppin, Brandenburg—died Sept. 20, 1898, Berlin) German writer. He began his career as a journalist and wrote books based on his travels before turning to the novel late in life. Before the Storm (1878) is considered a masterpiece of historical fiction. Effi Briest (1895), known for its superb characterizations and skillful portrayal of his native Brandenburg, is one of his several sympathetic treatments of women in circumscribed domestic lives. He is considered the first master of modern German realism.