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FONTANE, THEODOR (1819-1898)

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 608 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FONTANE, THEODOR (1819-1898) , See also:German poet and novelist, was See also:born at Neu-See also:Ruppin on the 3oth of See also:December 1819. At the See also:age of sixteen he was apprenticed to a chemist, and after qualifying as an See also:apothecary, he found employment in See also:Leipzig and See also:Dresden. In 1844 he travelled in See also:England, and settling in See also:Berlin devoted himself from 1849 to literature. He made repeated journeys to England, interesting himself in old See also:English See also:ballads, and as the firstfruits of his See also:tours published Ein See also:Sommer in See also:London (1854); Aus England, Studien and Briefe (1860) and Jenseit See also:des See also:Tweed, Bilder and Briefe aus Schotiland (1860). Fontane was particularly attached to the See also:Mark of See also:Brandenburg, in which his See also:home See also:lay; he was proud of its past achievements, and delighted in the growth of the See also:capital See also:city, Berlin. The See also:fascination which the See also:country of his See also:birth had for him may be seen in his delightfully picturesque Wanderungen durch See also:die Mark Brandenburg (1862-1882, 4 vols.). He also described the See also:wars of See also:Prussia in Der See also:schleswig-holsteinische Krieg See also:im Jahre 1864 (1866) and Der deutsche Krieg von 1866 (1869). He proceeded to the See also:theatre of See also: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 See also:campaign in Der Krieg gegen Frankreich 1870-71 (1874-1876). Like most of his contemporaries, he at first sought See also:inspiration for his See also: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 See also:

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

End of Article: FONTANE, THEODOR (1819-1898)

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