Effi Briest

I remember passionately identifying with Effi Briest when I was a young girl. To me, it was so obvious that you have to do what makes you FEEL right, not what others THINK is right. Telling establishment to go to hell - secretly or not - was a sign of inner independence. Yes! Conventional marriage - Leggi tutto

With "Effi Briest" Fontane delivered a wonderful social study about forced feelings, social conventions and the consequences of an outbreak of all constraints. Briest is undeniably a classic of German literature and especially of civil realism / social novels in the 19th century.

Effi Briest (1895) is an impressive work of Prussian realism and it's definitely classed as a 'tragic novel', one may argue one of the best to come out of the 19th century. The story is simple enough, hardly unique, and been done with similarities many times over since. Geert von Innstetten, an ambi Leggi tutto

Dies war mein erstes Buch von Fontane. Tatsächlich ging diese klassische Schullektüre völlig an mir vorbei, weil ich das Buch auch in eine falsche Schublade gesteckt hatte. Ich dachte, dass ich eine stark schwarz-weiß beschriebene Dreiecksbeziehung geboten bekomme, in dem der gehörnte Ehemann als ni Leggi tutto

Subtlety is an art form rarely seen in our era. We live in a time where bombastic, loud, and graphic compete for our senses. But does one really need that much noise and glamor in order to captivate? Are we really that inattentive? Theodore Fontane’s Effi Briest is the rare novel that exercises grac Leggi tutto

My take on Effi: I don't think I like it very much - I kind of hate it- but I found it continually interesting due to what I consider its rule breaking, which is mostly in questions of pacing. The big scenes are off screen, the small moments of movement are expanded out, and then the rush begins. Fo Leggi tutto

4.5 stars Effi Briest is considered Fontane’s best work. It is a striking indictment of 19th-century Prussian society. It is a tale in the tradition of 19th century adulteresses – a German Madame Bovary or Anna Karenina,  though Effi’s adultery is far more subtle than that of her French and Russian c Leggi tutto

German novelist, Thomas Mann, said that if he could only have six novels on his bookshelf, Effi Briest would be one of them. Effi Briest (1896), Theodore Fontane's Realist novel, tells the story of seventeen year old Effi, her arranged marriage to a much older man, her youthful, almost innocent, mis Leggi tutto

Durante la lettura di Effie Briest il mio pensiero correva spesso a “Madame Bovary”. Sì, perché ho letto alcuni commenti che descrivevano questo personaggio come una “Madame Bovary germanica”. In realtà Emma ed Effie sono completamente diverse. Leggere la storia di Emma Bovary è come sorseggiare una c Leggi tutto

This is one of those classics of German literature that I enjoyed reading much more after graduating from university, where reading such great literature was required, forced, rushed and dissected until its beauty was no longer visible. It's a book I might soon enjoy reading a third time (and maybe