Theodor Fontane - Effi Briest and other novels (14 books)

THEODOR FONTANE (1819-1898) was a German novelist, critic, poet, and travel writer who is considered the first master of modern realistic fiction in Germany. Fontane turned German fiction away from its folkloric, mythological elements and toward the novel of society, with its manners, traditions, hierarchies, and historic tensions.

He was nearly 60 when he began work on his great novels depicting modern Prussian, and specifically Berlin, society and which are celebrated for their poetic realism and psychological insight. These include ON TANGLED PATHS (1888), a vivid portrait of Berlin in the 1870s that caused a scandal on publication with its portrayal of a sexual affair across the classes; and NO WAY BACK (1891, also translated as Beyond Recall and Irretrievable), a tragicomic work of failing marriage and sexual politics that is full of the irony, elegance and masterful dialogue for which Fontane is noted.

Fontane's masterpiece, EFFI BRIEST (1895), is famous for its superb characterization and skillful portrayal of the milieu of his native Brandenburg, and was hailed by Thomas Mann as one of "the six most significant novels ever written." It is a humane, unsentimental portrait of a young woman torn between her duties as a wife and mother and the instincts of her heart. In taut, ironic prose Fontane depicts a world where sexuality and the will to enjoy life are stifled by vain pretences of civilization, and the obligations of circumstance. The book is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the 19th-century German novel.

All these works are characterized by a worldly, tolerant understanding of human frailty: the author's refusal to condemn, preach morality, or be shocked by his characters' errors, side by side with his rigorous honesty about their self-deceptions and his ability to see both sides of every question.


The following books are in PDF format unless otherwise noted:

* Beyond Recall (Oxford, 1964). Douglas Parmée, trans.
* Cécile (Angel Books, 1992). Stanley Radcliffe, trans.
* Effi Briest (Duke Classics, 2012). William Cooper, trans. -- ePUB
* Effi Briest (Oxford World's Classics, 2015). Mike Mitchell, trans.-- ePUB
* Effi Briest (Penguin Classics, 1967). Douglas Parmée, trans.
* Effi Briest (Penguin Classics, 2000). H. Rorrison & H. Chambers, trans.-- ePUB
* Eighteenth of March, The [incl. in Short Novels, below]. Krishna Winston, trans.
* Irretrievable (NYRB, 2011). Douglas Parmée, trans.-- ePUB
* Jenny Treibel [incl. in Short Novels, below]. Ulf Zimmerman, trans.
* Man of Honor, A (Ungar, 1975). E.M Valk, trans.
* No Way Back (Penguin Classics, 2010). H. Rorrison & H. Chambers, trans.-- ePUB
* On Tangled Paths (Penguin Classics, 2010). Peter James Bowman, trans.-- ePUB
* Short Novels and Other Writings (Continuum, 1982). Peter Demetz, trans.
* Woman Taken in Adultery / The Poggenpuhl Family (Chicago, 1979). G. Annan, trans.

All PDFs courtesy of @Mohamed5438

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