Publisher's Synopsis
On 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. 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. Fontane emerges as receptive to other voices, as a precursor of developments in modern narrative, and confirmed as the modern novelist who brings the 19th-century German novel closest to the broad traditions of European realism.
