Texte remanié de : Thèse Doctorat : Philosophie : Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München : 1984. / Version commerciale de. Bibliogr. p. 152-158. Index.

In this thesis an attempt is made to show the peculiar features of Fontane's narrative style as well as his art of characterization. I have tried to interpret his concept of humaneness in the two novels, Unwiederbringlich and Effi Briest, and to show how the composition of these novels is directed to the portrait of the individual. Theodor Fontane's unusual distinction lies in his keen observation of the Prussian scene and his craftsmanship as a cosmopolitan storyteller. The principal elements of his works are a sense of historical continuity and an uncommon perception of the speech and gestures by which his characters reveal their particular virtues. In his early writings about his travels abroad and his excursions through the province of Brandenburg, he developed powers of observation and a narrative style which served him well in his major novels. His composition is picturesque. The plots are enlivened with anecdotes and surprising detail; the portraiture is subtle and precise. Fontane's portrayal of human relationships takes into account the impact of coincidences of life. His symbolism, apparent not only to his readers, but also to his characters, is simple but effective. Fontane seems to favor particularly the individual who is restricted by conventions and whose conflicts derive from these restrictions. His characters, like himself, are caught between the meaningless traditions of former times and the dawn of a new awareness. Fontane seems to favor particularly the individual who is restricted by conventions and whose conflicts derive from these restrictions. His characters, like himself, are caught between the meaningless traditions of former times and the dawn of a new awareness.

This thesis examines Theodor Fontane's novels Effi Briest and Irrungen Wirrungen and shows how he used them to express his dissatisfaction with the Berlin society of his time.

Zugl.: Kiel, Univ., Diss., 2006 / Hergestellt on demand

Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät--Kiel--Christian-Albrechts-Universität, 1993. / Bibliogr. p. 219-230.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird die Funktion verschiedener Bibelbezüge im Romanwerk Theodor Fontanes untersucht. Dabei wird die These vertreten, dass Fontanes Verweise auf biblische Texte nicht etwa bloß als theologische Positionierungen zu lesen seien, sondern dass er die Bibel als Speicher an kulturellem Wissen in Form von Narrativen, Personen, Geflügelten Worten etc. begreift, den er in seiner Leserschaft voraussetzen kann und durch den er Themen wie Normativität und Diskursivität mit einer besonderen Tiefe in der Spannung von Text und Prätext verhandeln kann. Im Zentrum der Untersuchung stehen dabei Verwendungen von Bibelbezügen als hochkommunikative Diskursschablonen für poetologische Selbstreflexionen sowie für politische oder frömmigkeits-praktische Kontroversen. / The aim of this treatise is to discuss various functions of references to biblical writings which can be observed in Theodor Fontane’s novels. Analyzing various references and allusions (especially in “Grete Minde”, “Quitt” and “Der Stechlin”), it is maintained that Fontane does not use bible-references as theological statements, but with a wide range of scopes and functions: Providing sujés, situations and constellations which are well known by the typical 19th century audience, references to biblical texts can be used to discuss topics like normativity and discursivity as well as to offer a pattern for political and religious discurses or poetological reflections.

Cette thèse porte sur la poétique du roman de Victor Hugo, Theodor Fontane et Thomas Hardy en s'appuyant plus spécifiquement sur l'étude de L'Homme qui rit (1869), Errements et Tourments (1888) et Tess d'Urberville (1891). En rapprochant ces trois romanciers majeurs mais tenus à l'écart des théories générales du roman, il s'agit de montrer le maintien d'une conception du roman moderne comme forme poétique du monde, s'inscrivant dans un horizon de pensée idéaliste, progressiste et critique. Hugo, Fontane et Hardy, romanciers qui se disent avant tout poètes, font le choix de faire du roman une tragédie, forme poétique du monde qui va à l'encontre du prosaïsme moderne et romanesque théorisé par Lukacs, à la suite de Hegel. Face au nihilisme et aux théories du roman réaliste qui voient le jour dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle et tentent de définir – au sens restrictif du terme – le genre romanesque, ils retrouvent le modèle du roman romantique et le redéfinissent face au roman réaliste. Leur poétique est alors fondée sur la « poiétisation » de la prose, autrement dit, sur l'imagination, le symbolique et le métaphorique. Ils affirment ainsi la spécificité et la possibilité d'une expérience poétique, c'est-à-dire subjective, héroïque et morale du monde, ainsi que la capacité du roman à produire un savoir poétique sur le monde et l'histoire. / This thesis deals with the poetics of the novel in Victor Hugo, Theodor Fontane and Thomas Hardy, with a specific focus on The Man who Laughs (1869), Trials and Tribulations (1888) and Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891). By bringing together these three novelists who are widely acknowledged as major writers yet ignored by general theories of the novel, this study will show how a vision of the modern novel as a poetic rendition of reality, with an idealist, progressive and critical background, has maintained itself. Hugo, Fontane and Hardy, three novelists who considered themselves to be poets first and foremost, opted to turn the novel into a tragedy, a poetic rendition of reality which stands in contrast with Lukacs’ post-Hegelian theories of the modern novel as a prosaic literary genre. In the face of nihilism and the theories of the realist novel which surfaced in the second half of the XIXth century and attempted to define – in the restrictive sense of the word – the genre of the novel, they turned back to the model of the Romantic novel and reinvented it at a time when the realist novel was preeminent. Their poetics was therefore based on the “poietisation” of prose, in other words, based on the imaginary, the symbolic and the metaphoric. This enabled them to assert the specificity and possibility of a poetic, that is to say subjective, heroic and moral experience of the world, as well as the ability of the novel to generate poetical knowledge about the world and history.

This thesis traces and explicates the changes in Theodor Fontane's landscape depiction in the years 1887- 1892. I examine his novels Cecile (1887), Irrungen, Wirrungen (1888), and unwiederbringlich (1892). I show that Fontane, as though discarding a relic of the Romantic past, used increasingly less landscape in his narratives. He focused on the actions and conversation of his characters, and on their immediate surroundings. When these surroundings were urban, they tended to disappear. The progressive minimalization of landscape, and of cityscape in particular, foreshadowed the appearance in German literature of twentieth-century man: man alienated from nature in cities, and less aware of empirically observable surroundings than of internal forces and realities.

Zugl.: Jena, Univ., Magisterarbeit, 2004 / Hergestellt on demand

<p>In this master’s thesis, I write about different representations of crime and criminal literature in the German-speaking world of the 19th century, a genre that was mainly attributed to an entertainment function at the time, but which nevertheless, as I shall show, allows insights into social ills and problematic characters in context. Here, there are interesting developments from late Romanticism or Biedermeier to Realism or even to the roots of Expressionism. Guilt and punishment are regarded as primary moments for this genre. In my master’s thesis, I would like to try to show that not enough attention has been paid to this genre by literary studies, but also by law. I will look into the question of where the tension of this genre lies in the aforementioned environment, and I will point out why this was the case and what this literature has lacked in detail.</p> <p>In the first chapter, I start with the beginnings and their historical development, covering a period from the beginning to almost the end of the 19th century and divide its differentiations into phases. My observations are based on Jorg Schönert’s “historical sketch” (ca. 1770 – 1920) (Schönert, “Zur Ausdifferzierung des Genres Kriminalgeschichten“, 97). In addition, I mention various important crime stories that preceded my selection. The selected works are arranged in each of the relevant literary epochs (Romanticism/Biedermeier and Poetic Realism), with which I attempt to highlight their specific characteristics and their detective elements. Due to the moral and psychological embodiment, as well as the social circumstances, the crimes are in some phases of the history of the genres more and in others less emphasized, and I attempt to analyze in each exemplary work by comparing these texts and according to certain criteria.</p> <p>The second chapter deals with theoretical approaches, in particular with hermeneutics or how to “read” facts. I also investigate the literary sociological question of which prototype of perpetrators the authors create in their works and examine them for their psychological features. My text, which is classified in the context of the genre, examines the developments of the crime novel and clarifies the changing criminological aspects, as well as analyzes the positions of different research approaches to the criminal justice system, which can be identified or explored from different angles of these literary examples.</p> <p>The third chapter begins with a brief overview of the six books in question. The main characters are then discussed further, which I have divided into criminals, victims, and accomplices. Because of this centrality in the books, most emphasis is placed on the criminals, with a close look at their motives, the way they plan and carry out the crime, how they endure the investigation, and finally, whether and to what extent they feel remorse for their actions. “<i>Die Judenbuche</i>” is treated separately here because of the much stronger social component and the environment, as well as the open-ended description of the crimes and the perpetrators. Victims and accomplices tend to be marginalized in the books studied here, with women being the only accomplices whose consciences suffer because of their role. Finally, the moral compass and guilt of the perpetrators are examined in relation to their social and material situation, their family, and their religion.</p> The final chapter focuses on the differences between the modern crime stories and their precursors, which have been studied here. I try to define and carefully delineate the main components of a successful and appealing crime story through the lens of several internationally known examples of world literature. There are parallels to the older German authors treated in this thesis, who also have implications for the artistic elements of the books in comparison to simple entertainment. My main focus is on the plot, the length of the books, the investigations and the detectives, and their methods of solving the crime. These German authors tended to write short works, short stories or novellas that allowed little space for complex stories or lengthy novels. They must be unraveled even more powerfully or efficiently by brilliant detectives and very attentive readers due to the brevity of the works. As the texts are structured stringently, the actions are simple and rather uncomplicated. The detectives practically do not exist as a kind of institution, but rather on the periphery. Crimes that are always solved seem to serve both legal and moral justice and ultimately satisfy the expectations of readers. Finally, I discuss the stylistic characteristics of those early crime novels compared to what readers are used to seeing or expecting today.