Product Description
This file includes: FREYTAG -- The Life of Gustav Freytag. By Ernest F. Henderson; The Journalists. Translated by Ernest F. Henderson; Doctor Luther. Translated by E.H. Babbitt; Frederick the Great. Translated by E.H. Babbitt; FONTANE -- The Life of Theodor Fontane. By William A. Cooper; Effi Briest. Translated by William A. Cooper; Extracts from "My Childhood Years." Translated by William A. Cooper; Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck. Translated by Margarete Muensterberg; The Bridge by the Tay. Translated by Margarete Muensterberg
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Customer Reviews (1)

Just a small part of German Literature
This book is just about Schiller and the ebook version of this book is rather disorganized. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1919 Thomas Mann hailed Effi Briest (1895) as one of "the six most significant novels ever written." Set in Bismarck's Germany, Fontane's luminous tale of a socially suitable but emotionally disastrous match between the enchanting seventeen-year-old Effi and an austere, workaholic civil servant twice her age, is at once touching and unsettling. Fontane's taut, ironic narrative depicts a world where sexuality and the enjoyment of life are stifled by narrow-mindedness and circumstance. Considered by many to be the pinnacle of the nineteenth-century German novel, Effi Briest is a tale of adultery that ranks with Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina and brilliantly demonstrates the truth of the author's comment and "women's stories are generally far more interesting." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Wonderful piece of German literature
Being German I read this novel for the first time at high school when I was 16. Many of my classmates hated it because allegedly nothing happens in it. I immediately fell in love with it because of Fontane s wonderful language. No doubt this is a masterpiece of German language and everybody who speaks German should read the original rather the translation.

I Wanted to Like This Book
Thomas Mann thought Theodor Fontane a great novelist. Effi Briest is considered essential reading for those who want to learn about German culture, especially Prussian culture.

I found this book very disappointing. The Chinaman's ghost is perhaps the highlight for me, a brief thrill in an otherwise slow-moving novel. There is little else here unless you are university student asked to dissect the various symbols or discuss the role of gender in Berlin in the time of Bismark. Other novels progress, move forward while this one seems to go around in the same "social ills" circle - Fontane continually showing his readers Effi's loneliness, isolation, immaturity and how she is a product of her time, upbrining, etc...etc.. (He does a great job of beating a dead horse instead of actually telling a story...maybe that's where his genius lies in this novel.)

This novel is intelligent, it just happens to be dull. The symbols are there, the allusions provides some clues but it's not enough as far as I'm concerned. When the actual adultery happens, how it happens... there's nothing here that prepares the reader nor something reliable to give you more insight into Effi's longings. Despite all the showing, the reasons for the adultery, I couldn't feel anything for her beyond a minor note of pity. Subtlety is one thing but this is an "uber-subtlety" to the point of "why bother". I gave my copy away to the library.

Masterpiece
A masterpiece for the mature reader.It's strange that Fontane is not better-known in the English-speaking world, but this seems to be the case with German language literature in general.Ask the typical student of European literature for names, and they'll soon peter out after Goethe & Schiller.In fact there are many wonderful German writers (Spanish ones too) but usually we hear only of the English, French and Russian writers.Lessing (G E von, not Doris!) is another wonderful German writer.

This book (which I read in the Parmee translation, not the one referenced here) is not for youngsters looking for graphic sex, violence or suchlike "thrills."In particular, I would recommend against its being assigned in college classes.That audience is not ready for Effi Briest.It's an ADULT BOOK :).

For those who liked Effi Briest, several other Fontane novels have been translated and were issued by Ungar some years ago.Effi is the best I've read, but others of interest are A Man of Honor (Schach von Wuthenow) and Jenny Treibel.Both show the same interest in and sympathy for women characters.

Painfully dull
I recently had to read this book for one of my classes and the only thing that grew out of me reading this book was a very deep hate for it.The story itself is very dull, there is very little exitement, some one who might like authors in the like of the Brontes or Austin might enjoy this book, but other than that, it is very hard to get into the story

Effi Briest, a more realist book than Madame Bovary
A very good book which confronts many issues about gender roles and the roles that youth plays in relationships. The characters are more realistic than many of those in such novels as Madame Bovary, which has been declared the prime example of European Realism. Overall a great read. ... Read more

Product Description
This was the first of Fontane's sixteen novels, most of which became classics of the realist genre.Set in Berlin, shortly before the Prussians rebelled against Napolean, the novel resembles War and Peace.This World's Classics edition is the first and only available in English translation. ... Read more

Product Description
This 1982 book examines the novels of Theodor Fontane, one of the most important German novelists of the nineteenth century. He has been well served by English translations and is now regarded as a writer of international standing. Professor Bance begins by setting Fontane's work in the context of nineteenth-century Europe in general, and Germany in particular, which was struggling with its late modernization. The increasing materialism of modern industrial society found its literary correlative in the rise of prose fiction to supplant poetry as the predominant literary mode. Fontane's career reflects this development: beginning as a writer of ballads and balladesque novels, he gradually developed into a realistic novelist capable of treating the most complex social relations. Professor Bance argues that Fontane's œuvre can be seen in terms of a tension between a desire to present the facts and a desire to assert some transcendent poetic truth. ... Read more

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First published in Germany to popular and critical acclaim, this is a unique portrait of the life and work of Theodor Fontane, the great historical novelist, critic, poet, and travel writer of nineteenth-century Germany. Gordon A. Craig, one of our foremost scholars of German history, interpolates a cohesive historical biography of Fontane with his own reflections on the art, culture, and politics of Fontane's world.

The ideas and impressions of Fontane and Craig echo one another throughout the book in compelling and fascinating ways. Fontane's travel accounts of England and Scotland are enriched by Craig's discussion of Germany's increasingly national vision of itself and the world at the time of unification. Similarly, Craig's mastery of German military history dovetails remarkably well with Fontane's reportage on Germany's wars with Denmark, Austria, and France. Craig's expert commentary on German foreign policy and European politics likewise informs Fontane's personal correspondence with Otto von Bismarck. Readers are not likely to find a more intelligent summation of German--and especially Prussian--society at the twilight of the nineteenth century. ... Read more

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Die Klassiker der deutschen und weltweiten Literatur in einer einzigartigen Reihe. Lesen Sie die besten Werke großer Schriftsteller und Autoren auf Ihrem Kindle Reader. Digital überarbeitet und in allerbester Qualität.

Die Handlung rankt sich um das uralte märkische Adelsgeschlecht derer von Stechlin, die am gleichnamigen Stechlinsee im Ruppiner Land ihren Sitz haben. Der Autor selbst sagte ironisch, in dem Roman geschehe nicht viel: „Zum Schluss stirbt ein Alter und zwei Junge heiraten sich.“ Tatsächlich liegt das Gewicht des Romans nicht auf der Handlung, sondern auf den vielfältigen Dialogen, welche die gesellschaftliche Wirklichkeit zur Wende vom 19. auf das 20. Jahrhundert offenbaren. Charakteristisch ist hierbei, wie bei allen Werken Fontanes, dass er die Schwächen seiner Zeit erkennt und in seiner literarischen Darstellung auch nicht verleugnet, dabei aber dennoch zu einer tiefen Sympathie für das, was den Märkischen Adel ausmachen sollte, geprägt ist. Dies wird beispielhaft deutlich an der Charakterzeichnung des alten Dubslav von Stechlin, dessen Sterben zugleich den Abschied von einer alten Welt symbolisiert. (aus wikipedia.de) ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more