“I sold myself to the reaction for thirty pieces of silver a month... These days one cannot survive as an honest man.”
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Theodor Fontane
Theodor Fontane was a German novelist and poet. He has been called “the greatest German realist novelist” and “clearly the greatest German novelist before Thomas Mann.” He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known today, only at age 58 after a career as a journalist. Many of his novels delve into topics that were more or less taboo for discussion in the polite society of Fontan…
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culture · German journalist, novelist and poet · pharmacist · writer · poet · historian · translator · novelist · journalist · critic · theatre critic · war correspondent · also Theodor Fontane, Théodore Fontane, Henri Théodore Fontane, Henri Theodor Fontane, Theodore Fontane, Henri Theodore Fontane
Born 30 December 1819 · Died 20 September 1898 · Q76632
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2026· 1 entry
2018· 1 entry
dw: Theodor Fontane manuscripts restored
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1898· 1 entry
Died 1898-09-20.
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1894· 1 entry
Awarded Honorary doctor of the Humboldt University of Berlin presented by philosophy faculty (1894).
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1890· 1 entry
Awarded Schiller prize (1890).
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1870· 2 entries
Fontane quit his job at the Kreuzzeitung and became drama critic for the liberal Vossische Zeitung, a job he held until his retirement
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And after being taken prisoner at Vaucouleurs remained in French captivity for three months
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1849· 1 entry
Left his job as an apothecary and became a full-time journalist and writer
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1845· 1 entry
Became engaged to his future wife, Emilie Rouanet-Kummer, whom he had met when still at school
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1844· 2 entries
Fontane enlisted in the Prussian army and began the first of numerous journeys to Britain, which fostered his interest in Old English ballads, which he – a lifelong anglophile – began to imitate
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Career landmark: volunteer serving one year (1844–1845).
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1843· 1 entry
Joined a literary club in Berlin named Tunnel über der Spree (Tunnel over the River Spree) where he became acquainted with many of the most renowned German writers, including Theodor Storm, Joseph von Eichendorff and
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1839· 1 entry
At the age of 20, wrote his first work (Heinrichs IV
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1834· 1 entry
Studied at Gewerbeschule (1833–1834).
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1833· 1 entry
Studied at Altes Gymnasium Neuruppin (1832–1833).
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1819· 1 entry
Born 1819-12-30.
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