"Effi Briest" is considered by many to be THE classic example of German realism, even though it comes late in the movement. Fontane's inspiration for the novel was equal parts "Madame Bovary" and the real-life Ardenne case, in which a respected military officer duelled against and defeated his unfaithful wife's lover. Well crafted and thorough in its sketch of characters and environs, "Effi Briest" articulates tensions rampant in the late nineteenth century but still pertinent today.

Effi is still dangerously young when the older and accomplished Baron von Innstetten swoops into her mother's garden and marries her. The couple settle in a distant port town, in a house that gives Effi the creeps to the point that she imagines she is being haunted by the ghost of a Chinese man who died in the town years before. Innstetten, often away on government business, dismisses her fears, but the Major Crampas listens to her, and a liaison develops between him and Effi. Years later, the affair ended, the Innstettens move to Berlin, and the Baron discovers the old letters of the Effi-Crampas correspondence by accident. Without giving away the ending, there's a duel and a divorce and a death.

At the mere level of plot, there's plenty here to entertain, but there's much more to the novel than the headline story itself. Fontane forces a look at the Prussian involvement in empire-building projects of the nineteenth century, as well as the debilitating effects of indiscriminate secularization; "Effi Briest" depicts a culture alternately hungry for and wary of romance and enchantment, caught between occasional fascination with the newer world and the comforts of burgeoning technology at home.

Douglas Parmée's translation is generally very good, capturing the somewhat informal but authoritative tone of the original. There is one important translation hitch that bugs me, though: he renders the repeated image of the "wide field," the "zu weites Feld," as "too big a subject," and, while this is certainly the connotation, its robs the reader of a little elasticity.

To a twenty-first century reader, "Effi Briest" will no doubt come across as a little schlocky and sentimental at times, but no more so than, say, Austen or Brontë. If you enjoy the classics, I think this one endures pretty well. It's a wonderful book, with characters you really get to know and love.

Theodor Fontane's 1895 novel, "Effi Briest," is the moving and melancholy story of Effi, a sprightly teenage girl whose limited interactions with society and the moral bearings of that society are brought into direct and terrible conflict. Fontane gives an all too realistic portrayal of late 19th century Victorian morality and the lives of minor German aristocrats. The novel relates Effi's struggle to negotiate the constraints of society as an extremely young woman who in many ways rejects them all.

"Effi Briest" begins as Effi, a fifteen year old girl, enjoys the privileges of wealth and beauty in the small town of Hohen-Cremmen. She plays with the other young girls of her neighbourhood, Herta, Berta, and Hulda. They play childish games and indulge each other in romantic stories and juvenile ambitions. One day, while telling the story of an unrealized love affair between her own mother and a military officer, Geert von Innstetten, Effi is informed that Innstetten, now upwards of forty years old, has come to visit, and has proposed marriage to Effi. Effi cannot but comply. Relocated to the port town of Kessin, Effi finds herself in a commercial center, without the kind of genteel society she is accustomed to, nor the variety or the spontaneity in her lifestyle that she had always enjoyed. Innstetten's workaholism and emotionally detached bearing make life nearly insufferable for her. She is relieved by two men, Gieshubler, a kindly old hunchbacked chemist; and Major Crampas, a 'reformed' libertine whose marriage is unsatisfying. Gieshubler offers Effi a haven of conversation and empathy; Crampas offers her a seductive, liberatory companion. As Innstetten's job absorbs most of his time, he permits and even encourages Effi to spend time with Crampas. A secret correspondence between Effi and Crampas sets the scene for the rest of the novel.

"Effi Briest" is really an extraordinary work. Fontane examines throughout the novel the effect of national and international politics, cultural mobility, and trade on the individual. Fontane's presentation of the port town of Kessin, in particular, is fascinating. Here, Effi is truly taken out of the sheltered life of Hohen-Cremmen and exposed to a mobile and commercial society, where people from different cultures and epistemologies flit in and out of her life, like the seemingly liberated woman, Maria Trippelli, in whom Effi takes an intense interest, and Roswitha, a lapsed Catholic nursemaid. In Kessin, she is also encounters a story that haunts the entire novel, the highly evocative and ambiguous story of the Chinaman.

Ambiguity is a hallmark of "Effi Briest" and is a major part of the appeal of Fontane's novel. Fontane refrains from making authorial pronouncements or assessments on his characters' actions and situations. To what extent, for example, does Innstetten's political ambition justify the lack of time he devotes to his young wife? Is Effi an agent in her own life, or is she a reactive victim to social morality and impossible standards, especially as a teenage wife? The relationship between Effi's parents highlights this ambiguity, bringing it even into ambivalence, as every difficult situation draws from Effi's father a dismissal of "that's too big a subject". Overall, a very complex and beautiful novel.

"Effi Briest" is not just a German version of Emma Bovary or Anna Karenina - it is quite unique in its depiction of a not untypical 19th century marriage. At the age of 17 the impetuous Effi Briest is married to a man 21 years her senior. He is decent enough in his treatment of her, but for Effi being married is a horrible experience, mostly because her husband's job forced her to move to the small town of Kessin where hardly anybody is fit to become her friend.

What always strikes me about Fontane is the fairness and the understandig he shows towards his characters. "Effi Briest" is Fontane's psychological insight at his best. None of characters is gloryfied, none vilified. You can identify with Effi and understand what drives her into the arms of another man; but you can also see that her husband simply doesn't understand what he is doing to Effi; actually he's doing his best to make her happy.

When the attractive, ageing womanizer Major Crampas moves into town, Effi pities him at first. Later, her attitude changes, but Fontane does not give any details of what's going on between the two. He shows what made it happen - and how Effi and her husband will deal with it. - It is a very entertaining read, not least because of Fontane's excellent low-key sense of humour.

A nineteenth century German poem about Sir Ribbeck, who likes to give his pears away. He outwits his miserly son by having a pear placed by his side after he died, which grows into into a tree, so when children come near the grave to play, "Among the leaves they'd hear a voice: 'Come have a pear! My pears are choice.'"

Caldecott Award winning Nonny Hogrogian's woodcuts add a nice old-fashioned atmosphere to this thought-provoking children's book.

"Irrungen, Wirrungen" is a mostly seen as a criticism of the structure of society in the 19th century. But when you read this book, you'll find out that this is rather a side aspect. The plot is apsolutely minimized and most of the book is completely unimportant for it. Sure, it contains good and detailed (but boring) descriptions of the settings; if that's what you want...(?) [We had to read it in school, otherwise I would never have finished it. I honestly fell asleep reading it.]

This is certainly not Fontane's best book.
The theme of a marriage of convenience and of social respectability is today a little bit out of date.
The writing is sometimes too sentimental and the end is without surprise.

Don't believe that guy - he obviously has no taste in literature. (As Fontane would say, he has no eye for it because he has no love for it.) This is one of my favorite books ever. Fontane's insights into people and society are accurate to this day, and his classic love story is unforgettable.