The Changing Image of Theodor Fontane

Book excerpt: Wide-ranging survey of the criticism devoted to Theodor Fontane, with particular emphasis on more recent theoretical trends. This study of the literary scholarship on Fontane's narrative works is the first to present a systematic review of the ever-growing body of criticism on Germany's major realist novelist. Significant developments in Fontane criticism are traced in historical context, from their beginnings in contemporary commentary to the present day. The author places special emphasis on scholarship since 1980, analysing the influence of new literary critical trends in this period; she also considers the effect upon traditional literary criticism of feminism, psychoanalysis, and comparatist approaches, and the fresh developments in reception history, translation, and media studies.