1819–1898 · Neuruppin, Prussia · also known as Fontane
Theodor Fontane was a pharmacist, journalist and war correspondent who only turned to the novel in his late fifties — and became the master of German realism. Effi Briest (1895), the story of a young wife married to an older official in Prussian society, is often compared to Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina.
Begin with Effi Briest.
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · Friedrich Schiller · Brothers Grimm · E. T. A. Hoffmann · Thomas Mann · Franz Kafka · Hermann Hesse · Erich Maria Remarque
Theodor Fontane was a pharmacist, journalist and war correspondent who only turned to the novel in his late fifties — and became the master of German realism. Effi Briest (1895), the story of a young wife married to an older official in Prussian society, is often compared to Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina.
Effi Briest is usually considered Theodor Fontane’s best-known work.
Most readers start with Effi Briest.
Both refer to the same writer.
Many of Theodor Fontane’s works are in the public domain; we link to free editions below.