Effi Briest

Theodor Fontane

Description

Effi Briest, the classic German realist novel, follows a young woman through her life and marriage. She is an innocent when she is married to the social climbing Instetten, and longs for wordly things. When she is left alone by her husband, who is pursuing his political career, she succumbs to the flattery of another man. Her adultery has wide and tragic consequences on the rest of her life.

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781775418320
• Langue: English

Extrait

EFFI BRIEST
ABRIDGED, WITH BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
* * *
THEODOR FONTANE
Translated by
WILLIAM A. COOPER
 
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Effi Briest Abridged, with Biographical Notes From a 1914 edition ISBN 978-1-775418-32-0 © 2010 The Floating Press
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Contents
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The Life of Theodor Fontane Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Chapter XIII Chapter XIV Chapter XV Chapter XVI Chapter XVII Chapter XVIII Chapter XIX Chapter XX Chapter XXI Chapter XXII Chapter XXIII Chapter XXIV Chapter XXV Chapter XXVI Chapter XXVII Chapter XXVIII Chapter XXIX Chapter XXX Chapter XXXI Chapter XXXII Chapter XXXIII Chapter XXXIV Chapter XXXV Chapter XXXVI Extracts from "My Childhood Years" (1894)
The Life of Theodor Fontane
*
By WILLIAM A. COOPER, A.M.
Theodor Fontane was by both his parents a descendant of FrenchHuguenots. His grandfather Fontane, while teaching the princes ofPrussia the art of drawing, won the friendship of Queen Luise, wholater appointed him her private secretary. Our poet's father, LouisFontane, served his apprenticeship as an apothecary in Berlin. In 1818the stately Gascon married Emilie Labry, whose ancestors had come fromthe Cevennes, not far from the region whence the Fontanes hademigrated to Germany. The young couple moved to Neu-Ruppin, where theybought an apothecary's shop. Here Theodor was born on the thirtieth ofDecember, 1819.
Louis Fontane was irresponsible and fantastic, full of bonhomie , andan engaging story teller. He possessed a "stupendous" fund ofanecdotes of Napoleon and his marshals, and told them with such charmthat his son acquired an unusual fondness for anecdotes, which heindulges extensively in some of his writings, particularly theautobiographical works and books of travel. The problem of making bothends meet seems to have occupied the father less than thegratification of his "noble passions," chief among which was cardplaying. He gambled away so much money that in eight years he wasforced to sell his business and move to other parts. He purposelycontinued the search for a new business as long as possible, butfinally bought an apothecary's shop in Swinemünde.
His young wife was passionate and independent, energetic andpractical, but unselfish. To her husband's democratic tendency sheopposed a strong aristocratic leaning. Their ill fortune in Neu-Ruppinaffected her nerves so seriously that she went to Berlin for treatmentwhile the family was moving.
In Swinemünde the father put the children in the public school, butwhen the aristocratic mother arrived from Berlin she took them out,and for a time the little ones were taught at home. The unindustriousfather was prevailed upon to divide with the mother the burden ofteaching them and undertook the task with a mild protest, employingwhat he humorously designated the "Socratic method." He taughtgeography and history together, chiefly by means of anecdotes, withlittle regard for accuracy or thoroughness. Though his method was farfrom Socratic, it interested young Theodor and left an impression onhim for life. His mother confined her efforts mainly to thecultivation of a good appearance and gentle manners, for, as one mightperhaps expect of the daughter of a French silk merchant, she valuedoutward graces above inward culture, and she avowedly had littlerespect for the authority of scholars and books.
After a while an arrangement was made whereby Theodor shared for twoyears the private lessons given by a Dr. Lau to the children of aneighbor, and "whatever backbone his knowledge possessed" he owed tothis instruction. A similar arrangement was made with the privatetutor who succeeded Dr. Lau. He had the children learn the most ofSchiller's ballads by heart. Fontane always remained grateful forthis, probably because it was as a writer of ballads that he first wonrecognition. If we look upon the ballad as a poetically heightenedform of anecdote we discover an element of unity in his earlyeducation, and that will help us to understand why the technique ofhis novels shows such a marked influence of the ballad.
"How were we children trained?" asks Fontane in My Childhood Years ."Not at all, and excellently," is his answer, referring to the lack ofstrict parental discipline in the home and to the quiet influence ofhis mother's example.
Among the notable events of the five years Theodor spent inSwinemünde, were the liberation of Greece, the war between Russia andTurkey, the conquest of Algiers, the revolution in France, theseparation of Belgium from Holland, and the Polish insurrection.Little wonder that the lad watched eagerly for the arrival of thenewspapers and quickly devoured their contents.
In Swinemünde the family again lived beyond their means. The father'sextravagance and his passion for gambling showed no signs ofabatement. The mother was very generous in the giving of presents, forshe said that what money they had would be spent anyhow and it mightas well go for some useful purpose. The city being a popular summerresort, they had a great many guests from Berlin during the season,and in the winter they frequently entertained Swinemünde friends.
Theodor left home at the age of twelve to begin his preparation forlife. The first year he spent at the gymnasium in Neu-Ruppin. Thefollowing year (1833) he was sent to an industrial school in Berlin.There he lived with his uncle August, whose character and financialmanagement remind one of our poet's father. Theodor was irregular inhis attendance at school and showed more interest in the newspapersand magazines than in his studies. At the age of sixteen he became theapprentice of a Berlin apothecary with the expectation of eventuallysucceeding his father in business. After serving his apprenticeship hewas employed as assistant dispenser by apothecaries in Berlin, Burg,Leipzig, and Dresden. When he reached the age of thirty he became afull-fledged dispenser and was in a position to manage the business ofhis father, but the latter had long ago retired and moved to thevillage of Letschin. The Fontane home was later broken up by themutual agreement of the parents to dissolve their unhappy union. Thefather went first to Eberswalde and then to Schiffmühle, where he diedin 1867; the mother returned to Neu-Ruppin and died there in 1869.
The beginning of Theodor's first published story appeared in the Berliner Figaro a few days before he was twenty years of age. Thesame organ had previously contained some of his lyrics and ballads.The budding poet had belonged to a Lenau Club and the fondness he hadthere acquired for Lenau's poetry remained unchanged throughout hislong life, which is more than can be said of many literary productsthat won his admiration in youth. He also joined a Platen Club, whichafforded him less literary stimulus, but far more social pleasure.During his year in Leipzig he brought himself to the notice ofliterary circles by the publication, in the Tageblatt , of asatirical poem entitled Shakespeare's Stocking . As a result he wasmade a member of the Herwegh Club, where he met, among others, thecelebrated Max Müller, who remained his life-long friend. After a yearin Dresden Fontane returned to Leipzig, hoping to be able to supporthimself there by his writings. He made the venture too soon. When heran short of funds he visited his parents for a while and then went toBerlin to serve his year in the army (1844). He was granted a furloughof two weeks for a trip to London at the expense of a friend. InBerlin he joined a Sunday Club, humorously called the "Tunnel over theSpree," at the meetings of which original literary productions wereread and frankly criticised. During the middle of the nineteenthcentury almost all the poetic lights of Berlin were members of the"Tunnel." Heyse, Storm, and Dahn were on the roll, and Fontane cameinto touch with them; he and Storm remained friends in spite of thefact that Storm once called him "frivolous." Fontane later evened thescore by classing Storm among the "sacred kiss monopolists." The mostproductive members of the Club during this period (1844-54) wereFontane, Scherenberg, Hesekiel, and Heinrich Smidt. Smidt, sometimescalled the Marryat of Germany, was a prolific spinner of yarns, whichwere interesting, though of a low quality. He employed, however, manyof the same motives that Fontane later put to better use. Hesekiel wasa voluminous writer of light fiction. From him Fontane learned todiscard high-sounding phrases and to cultivate the true-to-life toneof spoken speech. Scherenberg, enthusiastically heralded as thefounder of a new epic style, confined himself largely to poeticdescriptions of battles.
When Fontane joined the "Tunnel" the particular genre of poetry invogue at the meetings was the ballad, due to Strachwitz's cleverimitations of Scottish models. Fontane's lyrics were too much likeHerwegh's to win applause, but his ballads were enthusiasticallyreceived. One, in celebration of Derfflinger, established his standingin the Club, and one in honor of Zieten brought him permanently intofavor with a wider public; these poems were composed in 1846. Twoyears later he read two books that for a long time determined hisliterary trend—Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry andScott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border . He began to write balladson English subjects and one of them, Archibald Douglas , created agreat sensation at t