THEODOR

FONTANE (1819-1898)  , German poet and novelist, was born at Neu-Ruppin on the 3oth of December 1819 . At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to a chemist, and after qualifying as an apothecary, he found employment in Leipzig and Dresden . In 1844 he travelled in England, and settling in Berlin devoted himself from 1849 to literature . He made repeated journeys to England, interesting himself in old English ballads, and as the firstfruits of his tours published Ein Sommer in London (1854); Aus England, Studien and Briefe (1860) and Jenseit des Tweed, Bilder and Briefe aus Schotiland (1860) . Fontane was particularly attached to the Mark of Brandenburg, in which his home lay; he was proud of its past achievements, and delighted in the growth of the capital city, Berlin . The fascination which the country of his birth had for him may be seen in his delightfully picturesque Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg (1862-1882, 4 vols.) . He also described the wars of Prussia in Der schleswig-holsteinische Krieg im Jahre 1864 (1866) and Der deutsche Krieg von 1866 (1869) . He proceeded to the theatre of war in 1870, and, being taken prisoner at Vaucouleurs, remained three months in captivity . His experiences he narrates in Kriegsgefangen . Erlebtes 1870 (1871), and he published the result of his observations of the campaign in Der Krieg gegen Frankreich 1870-71 (1874-1876) . Like most of his contemporaries, he at first sought inspiration for his poetry in the heroes of other countries . His Gedichte (1851) and ballads Manner and Helden (r 86o) tell of England's glories in bygone days .

Then the achievements of his own countrymen entered into rivalry, and these, as an ardent patriot, he immortalized in poem and narrative . It is, however, as a novelist that Fontane is best known . His

fine historical romance Vor dem Sturm (1878) was followed by a series of novels of modern life: L'Adultera (1882); Schack von Wuthenow (1883); Irrungen, Wirrungen (1888) ; Stine (1890); Unwiederbringlich (1891); E5 Briest (1895); Der Stechlin (1899), in which with fine literary tact Fontane adapted the realistic methods and social criticism of contemporary French fiction to the conditions of Prussian life . He died on the loth of September 1898 at Berlin . Fontane's Gesammelte Romane and Erzahlungen were published in 12 vols . (1890-1891; 2nd ed., 1905) . For his life see the auto-biographical works Meine Kinderjahre (1894) and Von zwanzig bis dreissig (1898), also Briefe an seine Familie (1905); also F . Servaes, Theodor Fontane (1900) .