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Theodor Fontane as a Critic of the Novel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Lambert A. Shears
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Extract

Fontane confessed on several occasions to a feeling of uneasiness in the presence of scholars, for he was always aware of the irregularity and meagerness of his education and of the consequent gaps in his knowledge. Nor did he believe that he deserved an eminent position as a critic. On the other hand, his long experience as journalist and as successful novelist, together with his wide acquaintance with European literature, make the critical utterances of the mature author particularly significant. But few of the scattered critiques which appeared in various journals, especially the Vossische Zeitung, during the author's lifetime, have been brought together in the posthumous volume of the collected works, under the title Literarische Studien and Eindrücke. However, these essays, with the valuable material found in the poet's correspondence, enable one to form a very fair opinion of Fontane's conception of the novel.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , June 1923 , pp. 389 - 400
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1923

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References

1 In Vol. EX of the second series of Fontane's collected works in 21 volumes, Berlin, no date. (Copyright dates vary from 1905 to 1912.) Unless otherwise specified, page numbers in the notes refer to this volume.

2 A valuable investigation of Fontane's study of the drama is entitled Theodor Fontane as a Critic of the Drama, by B. E. Trebein, New York, 1916.

3 Letter, May 2, 1873, Vol. X. (All the letters are in the second series of the collected works.)

4 Letter, Feb. 10, 1886, Vol. XI.

5 Harry Maync, Theodor Fontane 1819-1919, p. 35, Leipzig and Berlin, 1920.

6 P. 226.

7 Letter, March 16, 1895, Vol. XI.

8 Vol. X, Heft 10-12.

9 P. 212.

10 P. 215.

11 P. 242.

12 P. 189.

13 P. 236.

14 P. 242.

15 Letter, Feb. 4, 1879, Vol. X.

16 Letter, June 16, 1855, Vol. X.

17 Letter, Oct. 29, 1882, Vol. XI.

18 Letter, Aug. 17, 1898, Vol. XI.

19 Letter, Dec. 10, 1886, Vol. XI.

20 Letter, Feb. 27, 1891, Vol. XI.

21 Letter, June 14, 1883, Vol. VII.

22 Letter, June 15, 1883, Vol. VII.

23 Letter, June 25, 1883, Vol. VII.

24 P. 275.

25 Letter, Oct. 10, 1889, Vol. XI.

26 P. 217.

27 P. 216.

28 Letter, June 20, 1879, Vol. VI.

29 Letter, Sept. 2, 1868, Vol. VI.

30 P. 219.

31 Letter, May 24, 1890, Vol. X.