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On Tangled Paths
Lene is a beautiful, orphaned young seamstress, and Botho is a handsome, aristocratic cavalry officer. They are in love, yet know they have only a short time together as society deems their relationship impossible and refuses to acknowledge the seriousness of their feelings. But while Botho appears to have a glittering life ahead of him, the love he feels may yet be his undoing. Published in 1887, On Tangled Paths caused a scandal on publication with its portrayal of a sexual affair across the classes, and is a taut, flawless masterpiece.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1887
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1728 people want to read
About the author
Theodor Fontane
1,041 books222 followersTheodor Fontane, novelist, critic, poet, and travel writer, was one of the most celebrated nineteenth-century German men of letters. He was born into a French Huguenot family in the Prussian town of Neuruppin, where his father owned a small pharmacy. His father’s gambling debts forced the family to move repeatedly, and eventually his temperamentally mismatched parents separated.
Though Fontane showed early interest in history and literature - jotting down stories in his school notebooks - he could not afford to attend university; instead he apprenticed as a pharmacist and eventually settled in Berlin. There he joined the influential literary society Tunnel über der Spree, which included among its members Theodor Storm and Gottfried Keller, and turned to writing. In 1850 Fontane’s first published books, two volumes of ballads, appeared; they would prove to be his most successful books during his lifetime. He spent the next four decades working as a critic, journalist, and war correspondent while producing some fifty works of history, travel narrative, and fiction. His early novels, the first of which was published in 1878, when Fontane was nearly sixty, concerned recent historical events.
It was not until the late 1880s that he turned to his great novels of modern society, remarkable for their psychological insight: Trials and Tribulations (1888), Irretrievable (1891), Frau Jenny Treibel (1892), and Effi Briest (1895). During his last years, Fontane returned to writing poetry, and, while recovering from a severe illness, wrote an autobiographical novel that would prove to be a late commercial success. He is buried in the French section of the Friedhof II cemetery in Berlin.
Though Fontane showed early interest in history and literature - jotting down stories in his school notebooks - he could not afford to attend university; instead he apprenticed as a pharmacist and eventually settled in Berlin. There he joined the influential literary society Tunnel über der Spree, which included among its members Theodor Storm and Gottfried Keller, and turned to writing. In 1850 Fontane’s first published books, two volumes of ballads, appeared; they would prove to be his most successful books during his lifetime. He spent the next four decades working as a critic, journalist, and war correspondent while producing some fifty works of history, travel narrative, and fiction. His early novels, the first of which was published in 1878, when Fontane was nearly sixty, concerned recent historical events.
It was not until the late 1880s that he turned to his great novels of modern society, remarkable for their psychological insight: Trials and Tribulations (1888), Irretrievable (1891), Frau Jenny Treibel (1892), and Effi Briest (1895). During his last years, Fontane returned to writing poetry, and, while recovering from a severe illness, wrote an autobiographical novel that would prove to be a late commercial success. He is buried in the French section of the Friedhof II cemetery in Berlin.
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January 29, 2023
Mitigated happiness
If you’ve had a beautiful dream you should thank God for it and not complain when the dream ends and reality returns.
On Tangled Paths is a beauteous, subtle story which thematises the challenge (or sheer impossibility) to rhyme the conventional order as prevalent in Prussian society in the late 19th century with the personal happiness of the actual members of that society.
As simple and little original the story might be, On Tangled Paths enchants by its poetic poignancy, its sense of place and nature and its tender, realistic, restrained and allusive portrayal of the variety of emotions of the main characters who neither can nor want to defy class conventions - their joys and sorrows endearingly recognisable and still resonating today, rendering the whole if not achingly sad in undertone anyway deeply moving. Fontane himself was well-aware of the magnificence of his intricately composed novel, wondering in a letter if the reader would perceive the ‘thousand finesses’ he had woven into the text.
As I loved the vivid painting of Louis Anquentin I discovered on the cover of an English edition of the novel, I was tempted to explore the various covers once chosen for this work. Some of them give the fallacious impression that a saccharine love story is lurking in between the covers, while one of the elements that make this novel so powerful is the absence of sentimentalism in Fontane’s way of drawing the tribulations of his characters living in Berlin around 1870.
Ah, what a beautiful day it was, and I’ve never been so cheerful and happy, not before or since. Even now my heart leaps at the thought of how we walked along singing Do you still remember? Yes, memories mean so much – everything.
Woman at the waterfront (Louis Anquetin)
Louis Anquetin’s painting of a woman sitting next to the river turning her smiling sunlight face towards the onlooker seems to capture a radiant, happy day in the relationship between Botho von Rienäcker, an impoverished aristocratic cavalry officer and Lene Nimptsch, a seamstress and adopted daughter of a washerwoman. It is a kind of happiness of which Lene is highly aware it is temporary, as the relationship isn’t meant to last, the happiness will fly away, like the man from the ‘wrong’ class she loves, eventually will leave her:
Don't shake your head; it's true, what I say. You love me and you're true to me - at least my love makes me childish and vain enough to imagine it. But fly away you will, I can see that very clearly. You'll have to. They always say love blinds, but it also opens our eyes and makes us far-sighted.
Her insightfulness implies she is able to relish the moment as well as to cherish precious memories of such rare moments. Lene is no languishing or whining heroine, quite the opposite: by evoking her dignified composure, wisdom and lucidity Fontane elevates Lene above the representatives of the higher class, among them her feckless lover and his rather silly, soulless and loquacious future wife, Botho’s wealthy cousin Käthe von Sellenthin. Lene is the one easily winning the reader’s sympathy and admiration, she is a memorable character of strength and intelligence and self-determination (within the limits society is granting her).
Pour vivre heureux vivons cachés ? According to Fontane’s tale, hypocrisy and double standards might be a temporary outlet for the stifling conventions of society, but essentially there is no such thing as a happy life that can be lived free from society. The wish for a happiness hidden from view will turn out an illusion, as is one’s hope for society’s tacit approval for not having outraged its conventions openly. The individual has to find a way to cope with that reality, for instance by resigning to a pragmatic take on happiness instead of hankering for bliss: And one also learns that there are many paths to grace and many paths to happiness.
Two women in a landscape (Louis Anquentin))
Reflecting on to what extent choices in our current days are truly free reminded me of a poster I once saw in a student room, picturing a couple walking hand and hand at sunset, containing a phrase which I assume was sprouting from Bond zonder naam: Bound and caged you are always but where you bind yourself it must be good to live. As the student later recurrently reminded me of that phrase in various moods of despair and irony, it saddens me now to realise that his choice, like Botho’s, made that wish for a good life merely a pious hope, even if both flew into the cage by their own will.
Closing this book while Botho’s unspoken, enduring sorrow continues to smoulder underneath, I imagine him sitting by the fireplace like the man in the last stanza’s of Willem Elsschot’s well-known bitter poem The marriage:
But he did not kill her, because in between dream and act
there are hindering laws and practical issues,
and even melancholy, that no one can explain
and that comes at night, when we all go to sleep.
The years went by. The children grew up
and saw how the man, they called their father,
seated motionlessly and silently at the fire place,
gave them a godforsaken and grizzly gaze.
If you’ve had a beautiful dream you should thank God for it and not complain when the dream ends and reality returns.
On Tangled Paths is a beauteous, subtle story which thematises the challenge (or sheer impossibility) to rhyme the conventional order as prevalent in Prussian society in the late 19th century with the personal happiness of the actual members of that society.
As simple and little original the story might be, On Tangled Paths enchants by its poetic poignancy, its sense of place and nature and its tender, realistic, restrained and allusive portrayal of the variety of emotions of the main characters who neither can nor want to defy class conventions - their joys and sorrows endearingly recognisable and still resonating today, rendering the whole if not achingly sad in undertone anyway deeply moving. Fontane himself was well-aware of the magnificence of his intricately composed novel, wondering in a letter if the reader would perceive the ‘thousand finesses’ he had woven into the text.
As I loved the vivid painting of Louis Anquentin I discovered on the cover of an English edition of the novel, I was tempted to explore the various covers once chosen for this work. Some of them give the fallacious impression that a saccharine love story is lurking in between the covers, while one of the elements that make this novel so powerful is the absence of sentimentalism in Fontane’s way of drawing the tribulations of his characters living in Berlin around 1870.
Ah, what a beautiful day it was, and I’ve never been so cheerful and happy, not before or since. Even now my heart leaps at the thought of how we walked along singing Do you still remember? Yes, memories mean so much – everything.
Woman at the waterfront (Louis Anquetin)
Louis Anquetin’s painting of a woman sitting next to the river turning her smiling sunlight face towards the onlooker seems to capture a radiant, happy day in the relationship between Botho von Rienäcker, an impoverished aristocratic cavalry officer and Lene Nimptsch, a seamstress and adopted daughter of a washerwoman. It is a kind of happiness of which Lene is highly aware it is temporary, as the relationship isn’t meant to last, the happiness will fly away, like the man from the ‘wrong’ class she loves, eventually will leave her:
Don't shake your head; it's true, what I say. You love me and you're true to me - at least my love makes me childish and vain enough to imagine it. But fly away you will, I can see that very clearly. You'll have to. They always say love blinds, but it also opens our eyes and makes us far-sighted.
Her insightfulness implies she is able to relish the moment as well as to cherish precious memories of such rare moments. Lene is no languishing or whining heroine, quite the opposite: by evoking her dignified composure, wisdom and lucidity Fontane elevates Lene above the representatives of the higher class, among them her feckless lover and his rather silly, soulless and loquacious future wife, Botho’s wealthy cousin Käthe von Sellenthin. Lene is the one easily winning the reader’s sympathy and admiration, she is a memorable character of strength and intelligence and self-determination (within the limits society is granting her).
Pour vivre heureux vivons cachés ? According to Fontane’s tale, hypocrisy and double standards might be a temporary outlet for the stifling conventions of society, but essentially there is no such thing as a happy life that can be lived free from society. The wish for a happiness hidden from view will turn out an illusion, as is one’s hope for society’s tacit approval for not having outraged its conventions openly. The individual has to find a way to cope with that reality, for instance by resigning to a pragmatic take on happiness instead of hankering for bliss: And one also learns that there are many paths to grace and many paths to happiness.
Two women in a landscape (Louis Anquentin))
Reflecting on to what extent choices in our current days are truly free reminded me of a poster I once saw in a student room, picturing a couple walking hand and hand at sunset, containing a phrase which I assume was sprouting from Bond zonder naam: Bound and caged you are always but where you bind yourself it must be good to live. As the student later recurrently reminded me of that phrase in various moods of despair and irony, it saddens me now to realise that his choice, like Botho’s, made that wish for a good life merely a pious hope, even if both flew into the cage by their own will.
Closing this book while Botho’s unspoken, enduring sorrow continues to smoulder underneath, I imagine him sitting by the fireplace like the man in the last stanza’s of Willem Elsschot’s well-known bitter poem The marriage:
But he did not kill her, because in between dream and act
there are hindering laws and practical issues,
and even melancholy, that no one can explain
and that comes at night, when we all go to sleep.
The years went by. The children grew up
and saw how the man, they called their father,
seated motionlessly and silently at the fire place,
gave them a godforsaken and grizzly gaze.
July 22, 2019
Irrungen, Wirrungen klingt wie ein Lustspiel eines Boulevardtheaters und daher erwartete ich auch eher einen leichten Schwank oder eine Verwechselungskomödie. Fontanes kleiner Roman mag von der Handlung auch nicht weiter spektakulär sein, wenn man ihn aus heutiger Sicht betrachtet. Aber im Kontext seiner Zeit empfinde ich den Roman als sehr außergewöhnlich. Ich kann mich nicht erinnern, einen deutschen Roman des 19. Jahrhunderts je gelesen zu haben, der so realistisch die einfachen Menschen in einer Großstadt beschrieben hätte. Da ist keine verklärte Romantik über das einfache und rechtschaffene Leben der deutschen Landbevölkerung zu erkennen.
Fontane beschriebt auch mal gerne Begebenheit, wie z.B. die Lebens- und Wohnverhältnisse der armen Näherin Lene auf der einen Seite und ihres Geliebten, dem Offizier Baron Botho auf der anderen Seite. Sie wohnt mit ihrer alten Mutter in einer Art Hütte auf dem Anwesens eines Gärtners am Rande von Berlin, er bewohnt eine repräsentative und stark ausstaffierte Wohnung in der Innenstadt. Aber die Unterschiede ergeben sich in erster Linie durch das gesprochene Wort. Ehrlich, gerade heraus, auch mal frivol (Frau Dörr) und meist im Dialekt spricht das einfache Volk. Der höhere Stand mit Fremdworten durchsetzt, mit Anspielungen an die Kultur und auf Hochdeutsch. Dabei sind die Anspielungen auch sehr arrogant, vor allem wenn sich die Reichen nach Figuren aus Schillers Tragödien benennen.
Die Geschichte ist wie bei Effi Briest auch wieder geprägt von der Überwindung von Standesgrenzen. Und es ist halt auch kein Boulevardtheater und daher kann man kein Happyend erwarten. Liebe und Bindung ist zur damaligen Zeit keine Herzensangelegenheit, sondern traditionell geprägt durch die Kopf- und Vernunftentscheidungen. Die einfachen Leute wirken weise, gerade der Umgang Lenes mit ihrer Liebschaft zum Offizier. Die Reichen dagegen arrogant und weltentrückt, nur Botho weicht im Verlauf des Buchs ab und so wird man Zeuge, wie in ihm der Kampf zwischen Kopf und Herz abläuft. Auch wenn es aus heutiger Sicht teilweise kitschig wirken könnte, so ist der Roman für mich eine hervorragende Gesellschaftsstudie für das Stadtleben in den 1870er Jahren. Hat mir überraschend gut gefallen.
Fontane beschriebt auch mal gerne Begebenheit, wie z.B. die Lebens- und Wohnverhältnisse der armen Näherin Lene auf der einen Seite und ihres Geliebten, dem Offizier Baron Botho auf der anderen Seite. Sie wohnt mit ihrer alten Mutter in einer Art Hütte auf dem Anwesens eines Gärtners am Rande von Berlin, er bewohnt eine repräsentative und stark ausstaffierte Wohnung in der Innenstadt. Aber die Unterschiede ergeben sich in erster Linie durch das gesprochene Wort. Ehrlich, gerade heraus, auch mal frivol (Frau Dörr) und meist im Dialekt spricht das einfache Volk. Der höhere Stand mit Fremdworten durchsetzt, mit Anspielungen an die Kultur und auf Hochdeutsch. Dabei sind die Anspielungen auch sehr arrogant, vor allem wenn sich die Reichen nach Figuren aus Schillers Tragödien benennen.
Die Geschichte ist wie bei Effi Briest auch wieder geprägt von der Überwindung von Standesgrenzen. Und es ist halt auch kein Boulevardtheater und daher kann man kein Happyend erwarten. Liebe und Bindung ist zur damaligen Zeit keine Herzensangelegenheit, sondern traditionell geprägt durch die Kopf- und Vernunftentscheidungen. Die einfachen Leute wirken weise, gerade der Umgang Lenes mit ihrer Liebschaft zum Offizier. Die Reichen dagegen arrogant und weltentrückt, nur Botho weicht im Verlauf des Buchs ab und so wird man Zeuge, wie in ihm der Kampf zwischen Kopf und Herz abläuft. Auch wenn es aus heutiger Sicht teilweise kitschig wirken könnte, so ist der Roman für mich eine hervorragende Gesellschaftsstudie für das Stadtleben in den 1870er Jahren. Hat mir überraschend gut gefallen.
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February 19, 2021Du liebst mich und bist mir treu...Aber wegfliegen wirst du, das seh ich klar und gewiss. Du wirst es müssen. Es heißt immer, die Liebe mache blind, aber sie macht auch hell und fernsichtig" (p.34)
Fontane in his later novels reminds me of the story of the fish who was able to be silent in many languages he develops a mastery of saying almost nothing, his novels come close to having no plot, incident is scorned, a device fit only for childish taste. Instead the pages scream with the intensity of suggestion, implication, and the inevitable, that the reader knows for themselves. The downside of moments of oneness with Fontane is that all other art looks like the adventures of five year olds at a funfair in the midst of a sugar rush who've just caught sight of a candy floss stall, or if you prefer a band of blue behinded monkeys intent on aping about. Instead this is literature as insight, as sympathy, as being beside a character, the effect is curiously intense considering the author generally succeeds in avoiding his characters doing anything much beyond eating and walking in a garden.
At first I wondered where in particular we were not going in his book, it took a few chapters to see, a young Baron, a serving lieutenant income annually 9,000, outgoings 12,000 , has liaison with sensible young woman of low social class, while he corrects her spelling mistakes, she has a better understanding of mathematics and admits to the inevitably temporary nature of their otherwise happy relationship. At this then I wonder, ok, its plain what will happen, but how will they react?
. In that process, which I've hidden in spoilers even though it was mathematically inevitable, there is a great meta textual moment as a new potential spouse finds out about their future partner's Romantic past and one gets to see the difference between Berlin and Wessex. Theodore Fontane is not Thomas Hardy. No one gets to die, but everyone can get to be unhappy, but at least socially correct, which is the main thing, lead us not into temptation, let us not violate social norms.
Fontane spent some fours years, presumably not continuously , writing this novel which shows in how, after a moment's thought, even the smallest details reflect the central theme. Literature with a capital 'L' and no missing letters. One could cry over the artisan's skill shown here in the crafting of the novel, the fine sanding down of the details, and the choice of the original timber.
Fontane in his later novels reminds me of the story of the fish who was able to be silent in many languages he develops a mastery of saying almost nothing, his novels come close to having no plot, incident is scorned, a device fit only for childish taste. Instead the pages scream with the intensity of suggestion, implication, and the inevitable, that the reader knows for themselves. The downside of moments of oneness with Fontane is that all other art looks like the adventures of five year olds at a funfair in the midst of a sugar rush who've just caught sight of a candy floss stall, or if you prefer a band of blue behinded monkeys intent on aping about. Instead this is literature as insight, as sympathy, as being beside a character, the effect is curiously intense considering the author generally succeeds in avoiding his characters doing anything much beyond eating and walking in a garden.
At first I wondered where in particular we were not going in his book, it took a few chapters to see, a young Baron, a serving lieutenant income annually 9,000, outgoings 12,000 , has liaison with sensible young woman of low social class, while he corrects her spelling mistakes, she has a better understanding of mathematics and admits to the inevitably temporary nature of their otherwise happy relationship. At this then I wonder, ok, its plain what will happen, but how will they react?
. In that process, which I've hidden in spoilers even though it was mathematically inevitable, there is a great meta textual moment as a new potential spouse finds out about their future partner's Romantic past and one gets to see the difference between Berlin and Wessex. Theodore Fontane is not Thomas Hardy. No one gets to die, but everyone can get to be unhappy, but at least socially correct, which is the main thing, lead us not into temptation, let us not violate social norms.
Fontane spent some fours years, presumably not continuously , writing this novel which shows in how, after a moment's thought, even the smallest details reflect the central theme. Literature with a capital 'L' and no missing letters. One could cry over the artisan's skill shown here in the crafting of the novel, the fine sanding down of the details, and the choice of the original timber.
August 11, 2019
Ich bin verliebt in Lene und dieses Buch. Auch wenn sein Ende melancholisch ist - beide Lene und Botho fügen sich in eine Vernunftheirat – hinterlässt das Buch bei mir ein wohlig zufriedenes Gefühl. So etwa wie eine Jugendliebe, die nicht lange währte, an die man aber auch nach Jahren immer wieder gerne zurückdenkt. Ich frage mich, warum das so ist. Das Nachwort meiner Ausgabe gibt dazu eine Antwort: Fontane ist ein Meister der Kunst das Schwere leicht erscheinen zu lassen, ohne ihm die Realität zu nehmen. Und diese Realität erreicht er durch Liebe zum Detail und zur Authentizität. Gerade die Genauigkeit der Schilderung – einige der Handlungsorte existieren noch heute – und Fontanes Fähigkeit sich sogar bis in die Sprache in die sogenannten Kleinen Leute hineinfühlen zu können machen diesen Roman zu einem bleibenden Leseerlebnis.
Der Titel taucht erst relativ spät auf, als Botho die Briefe seiner Geliebten mit den Worten Viel Freud, viel Leid, Irrungen, Wirrungen. Das alte Lied verbrennt und damit einen Schlussstrich unter ihre Liebe zieht. Interessanterweise steht dies im Gegensatz zu Effi Briest, der gerade solche Briefe einer vergangenen Liebschaft zum Verhängnis wurden, nur war es bei ihr nicht mehr als ein erotisches Abenteuer, bei Botho und Lene aber ein tiefes und ehrliches Gefühl.
(Konstantin Somov - Lovers, 1920)
Obwohl eine Altersgenossin ist Lene bodenständiger als Effi. Sie ist sich von Anfang an der Kurzlebigkeit ihrer Liebesbeziehung bewusst und kann daher Botho zum Abschlied ehrlich sagen:
Das sind die Worte einer selbstbewussten und starken Frau. Und genau das ist es, was diesen Roman für mich so modern und für die damalige Zeit geradezu revolutionär macht.
Das eigentlich Tragische an der Geschichte ist nicht die Trennung der Liebenden, sondern dass Botho sein Ziel ein Leben in Ehrlichkeit, Liebe und Freiheit zu führen um des familiären und gesellschaftlichen Friedens willen aufgibt. Statt dessen übt auch er sich in der Kunst des gefälligen Nichtsagens und gibt sich mit Anhänglichkeit und oberflächliche Zuneigung zu seiner Käthe zufrieden. Sein Tun wird letztendlich nicht von ihm, sondern von seinem Herkommen bestimmt. Wer ihm gehorcht, kann zugrunde gehen, aber er geht besser zugrunde als der, der ihm widerspricht. Lene aber bleibt ihrer Einfachheit, Wahrheit und Unredensartigkeit treu, was Bothos Fazit bestätigt: Gideon (Lenes späterer Ehemann) ist besser als Botho.
Der Titel taucht erst relativ spät auf, als Botho die Briefe seiner Geliebten mit den Worten Viel Freud, viel Leid, Irrungen, Wirrungen. Das alte Lied verbrennt und damit einen Schlussstrich unter ihre Liebe zieht. Interessanterweise steht dies im Gegensatz zu Effi Briest, der gerade solche Briefe einer vergangenen Liebschaft zum Verhängnis wurden, nur war es bei ihr nicht mehr als ein erotisches Abenteuer, bei Botho und Lene aber ein tiefes und ehrliches Gefühl.
(Konstantin Somov - Lovers, 1920)
Obwohl eine Altersgenossin ist Lene bodenständiger als Effi. Sie ist sich von Anfang an der Kurzlebigkeit ihrer Liebesbeziehung bewusst und kann daher Botho zum Abschlied ehrlich sagen:
Du hast mir kein Unrecht getan, hast mich nicht auf Irrwege geführt und hast mir nichts versprochen. Alles war mein freier Entschluß. Ich habe dich von Herzen liebgehabt, das war mein Schicksal, und wenn es eine Schuld war, so war es meine Schuld. Und noch dazu eine Schuld, deren ich mich, ich muß es dir immer wieder sagen, von ganzer Seele Freue, denn sie war mein Glück.
Das sind die Worte einer selbstbewussten und starken Frau. Und genau das ist es, was diesen Roman für mich so modern und für die damalige Zeit geradezu revolutionär macht.
Das eigentlich Tragische an der Geschichte ist nicht die Trennung der Liebenden, sondern dass Botho sein Ziel ein Leben in Ehrlichkeit, Liebe und Freiheit zu führen um des familiären und gesellschaftlichen Friedens willen aufgibt. Statt dessen übt auch er sich in der Kunst des gefälligen Nichtsagens und gibt sich mit Anhänglichkeit und oberflächliche Zuneigung zu seiner Käthe zufrieden. Sein Tun wird letztendlich nicht von ihm, sondern von seinem Herkommen bestimmt. Wer ihm gehorcht, kann zugrunde gehen, aber er geht besser zugrunde als der, der ihm widerspricht. Lene aber bleibt ihrer Einfachheit, Wahrheit und Unredensartigkeit treu, was Bothos Fazit bestätigt: Gideon (Lenes späterer Ehemann) ist besser als Botho.
August 12, 2024
Inflation der 5 Sterne Bücher, aber ich kann nicht anders, es ist zu gut für läppische 4!
Nachträglich eingestellt. Vor ca. 18 Jahren mit Vergnügen gelesen.
Nachträglich eingestellt. Vor ca. 18 Jahren mit Vergnügen gelesen.
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December 3, 2019I'm not sure if something so poignant can be delightful, isn't that terribly hard-hearted of me to take delight in the vagaries of love, the tangled paths of the title that end in the thicket of sensible-but-unsatisfactory marriages? For as Jan-Maat acutely points out in his review Fontane is not Hardy, Berlin is not Wessex, no-one will die but they will get to be unhappy. (Except for Käthe, Botho's socially acceptable (rich) wife, who's too silly to ever be unhappy.)
But it's Fontane's spellbinding artistry that delights. There is a charming intimacy to this novel: we sit next to Lene and Botho, eavesdropping on their conversations with close friends, family, companions in the military. We read their letters, their postcards. Listen to Botho chat to the driver of his carriage. The narrator is almost absent, and we do not miss or need him, because we are right there when Lene, sensible, discreet and decent Lene, whose only failing is that she has to earn her living by the skill of her needlework, goes for a walk with Botho Baron von Reinäcker, whose only failing is that he was brought up as a gentleman, and therefore has no way of earning a living at all, no skills whatsoever. Well, as he muses, he knows his horses, he can carve a capon and play cards, so he would have the choice of working as a circus rider, waiter or croupier. And Botho Baron von Reinäcker is the last in a long line of profligate landowners, thus he has no alternative but to marry money.
Fontane needs to show us that Lene is a modest, decent sort of lass. She and Herr Baron cannot go gallivanting over the fields without a chaperone, so along comes Frau Dörr, whose greatest failing is the tendency to blether on without thinking much. So we see Lene squirm and turn crimson as Frau Dörr first discovers some rejected sculptures on a midden heap and appeals to the Baron to decide whether they are angels or Amor? Dropping that subject (phew!) she turns to the fluffy seed heads of the poplar trees, did you know Lene that they're using that nowadays to stuff mattresses? Yes, I know. Well, I wouldn't fancy that, give me springs and horsehair any day, that's what I like, nice and bouncy... Lene tries desperately to change the subject: the weather, surely that is as innocuous as you can get, but no, it's wet. The damp attracts frogs, and frogs attract the stork.....
Nothing if not delightful.
Another way to show us Lene's fine nature is in contrast with the coarseness of the demi mondaines brought along by Botho's soldier friends, turning up unexpectedly (surprise!), ruining the lovers' idyll with these brassy women, one or two of whom might almost pass muster as ladies. Look at those beautiful gloves, so well-fitting. Fine until their young bearer notes that one of their buttons has come undone.
She does it up with her teeth.
Nothing if not delightful.
Which is why, I suppose it IS so poignant: delight as a foil to the bleakness beyond.
Das Herkommen bestimmt unser Tun.
Social background decides our fate.
Hasn't changed much then.
But it's Fontane's spellbinding artistry that delights. There is a charming intimacy to this novel: we sit next to Lene and Botho, eavesdropping on their conversations with close friends, family, companions in the military. We read their letters, their postcards. Listen to Botho chat to the driver of his carriage. The narrator is almost absent, and we do not miss or need him, because we are right there when Lene, sensible, discreet and decent Lene, whose only failing is that she has to earn her living by the skill of her needlework, goes for a walk with Botho Baron von Reinäcker, whose only failing is that he was brought up as a gentleman, and therefore has no way of earning a living at all, no skills whatsoever. Well, as he muses, he knows his horses, he can carve a capon and play cards, so he would have the choice of working as a circus rider, waiter or croupier. And Botho Baron von Reinäcker is the last in a long line of profligate landowners, thus he has no alternative but to marry money.
Fontane needs to show us that Lene is a modest, decent sort of lass. She and Herr Baron cannot go gallivanting over the fields without a chaperone, so along comes Frau Dörr, whose greatest failing is the tendency to blether on without thinking much. So we see Lene squirm and turn crimson as Frau Dörr first discovers some rejected sculptures on a midden heap and appeals to the Baron to decide whether they are angels or Amor? Dropping that subject (phew!) she turns to the fluffy seed heads of the poplar trees, did you know Lene that they're using that nowadays to stuff mattresses? Yes, I know. Well, I wouldn't fancy that, give me springs and horsehair any day, that's what I like, nice and bouncy... Lene tries desperately to change the subject: the weather, surely that is as innocuous as you can get, but no, it's wet. The damp attracts frogs, and frogs attract the stork.....
Nothing if not delightful.
Another way to show us Lene's fine nature is in contrast with the coarseness of the demi mondaines brought along by Botho's soldier friends, turning up unexpectedly (surprise!), ruining the lovers' idyll with these brassy women, one or two of whom might almost pass muster as ladies. Look at those beautiful gloves, so well-fitting. Fine until their young bearer notes that one of their buttons has come undone.
She does it up with her teeth.
Nothing if not delightful.
Which is why, I suppose it IS so poignant: delight as a foil to the bleakness beyond.
Das Herkommen bestimmt unser Tun.
Social background decides our fate.
Hasn't changed much then.
September 18, 2014
I can’t believe quite how dismissive, or damning-with-faint-praise, the English-language reviews of this novel on Goodreads are. It’s a relatively early novel of Fontane’s, considering his late start as a novelist (it was published in 1888, when he was almost 70), but I think it’s a minor melancholy masterpiece, almost up there with his great Effi Briest.
The German title of this novel is Irrungen, Wirrungen—Confusions, Delusions, as a previous English translation renders it. I like that far more than the more portentous On Tangled Paths, which is the title of the Penguin Classics edition in which I read it. Irony seems to me key to Fontane’s art, and the sense that human experience can be simultaneously tragic and banal.
Fontane is at his most minimalist here (if I can generalize on the strength of having read only three of his novels so far). There are no dramatic events of the type we find in Effi Briest or Irretrievable, and Fontane deliberately underplays what little action there is. The arc of the narrative is familiar and predictable to the point of cliché: a love affair between a lower-class girl and an impecunious young aristocrat, preordained to end in tears. Everything falls out pretty much as almost every character in the novel has been predicting from the first pages, but that doesn’t weaken the novel in the least. The feelings of both protagonists are explored in a characteristically sensitive, mobile, oblique, slightly understated manner. It’s there that the interest of the novel resides.
The sense of place is very strong in this novel, as in the other two novels of Fontane I have read. Lene’s childhood home on the outskirts of Berlin, where many of the early scenes take place, is an evocatively rendered location, as is the local holiday resort Hankel’s Stowage (Hankels Ablage), where she and her lover Botho slope off for a poignant failed tryst. I also liked Botho’s meandering cab ride to the cemetery at Rixdorf to lay a wreath on Lene’s mother’s grave: the kind of completely inconsequential and yet strangely emotionally charged episode at which Fontane excels. There’s an elegiac feel to the topography of the novel, as well as to its sentimental texture. The first sentence, describes the market garden near Lene’s house, as having “still” been there in the mid-1870s, when the fictional narrative begins, as if it seems extraordinary, only a decade later, that such a thing could ever have existed so near to the center of Berlin.
The German title of this novel is Irrungen, Wirrungen—Confusions, Delusions, as a previous English translation renders it. I like that far more than the more portentous On Tangled Paths, which is the title of the Penguin Classics edition in which I read it. Irony seems to me key to Fontane’s art, and the sense that human experience can be simultaneously tragic and banal.
Fontane is at his most minimalist here (if I can generalize on the strength of having read only three of his novels so far). There are no dramatic events of the type we find in Effi Briest or Irretrievable, and Fontane deliberately underplays what little action there is. The arc of the narrative is familiar and predictable to the point of cliché: a love affair between a lower-class girl and an impecunious young aristocrat, preordained to end in tears. Everything falls out pretty much as almost every character in the novel has been predicting from the first pages, but that doesn’t weaken the novel in the least. The feelings of both protagonists are explored in a characteristically sensitive, mobile, oblique, slightly understated manner. It’s there that the interest of the novel resides.
The sense of place is very strong in this novel, as in the other two novels of Fontane I have read. Lene’s childhood home on the outskirts of Berlin, where many of the early scenes take place, is an evocatively rendered location, as is the local holiday resort Hankel’s Stowage (Hankels Ablage), where she and her lover Botho slope off for a poignant failed tryst. I also liked Botho’s meandering cab ride to the cemetery at Rixdorf to lay a wreath on Lene’s mother’s grave: the kind of completely inconsequential and yet strangely emotionally charged episode at which Fontane excels. There’s an elegiac feel to the topography of the novel, as well as to its sentimental texture. The first sentence, describes the market garden near Lene’s house, as having “still” been there in the mid-1870s, when the fictional narrative begins, as if it seems extraordinary, only a decade later, that such a thing could ever have existed so near to the center of Berlin.
June 7, 2025
Each book I read offers a new perspective. In this post, I share my thoughts on this book in Persian and English. I hope this will be enjoyable for you :)
هر کتابی که می خوانم دریچه ای به دنیایی جدید است . تو این نوشته دیدگاه و تجربه ام از مطالعه ی این کتاب رو به دو زبان فارسی و انگلیسی با شما به اشتراک می ذارم امیدوارم خوندنش براتون لذتبخش باشه :)
Persian (فارسی)
"رنج دلدادگی" نخستین دریچه ای بود که به ادبیات کلاسیک آلمان برایم گشوده شد؛ قصهای که در امتداد واژهها جاری میشود، نه تنها سرنوشت شخصیت هایش را رقم میزند، بلکه آینهای در برابر جامعهای میگذارد که در گذار از سنت به مدرنیته، بر سر دو راهی ایستاده است. فونتانه، با ظرافتی بیپیرایه و نگاهی موشکافانه، نه صرفاً روایت یک عشق، که تصویری از جدالی خاموش را به قلم میکشد—نبردی میان تمنای دل و دیوارهای بلند عرف، میان شور لحظه و چارچوبهایی که از پس تاریخ بر جای ماندهاند. قصهای که در پشت سادگی ظاهریاش، حقیقتی ناگزیر نهفته دارد؛ حقیقتی که نه فریاد میزند، نه هشدار میدهد، اما در سکوتش، سهمگینتر از هر هیاهو باقی میماند.
در میانهی قرن نوزدهم، در روزگاری که اروپا در تبوتاب تغییرات اجتماعی و فکری بود، ادبیات نیز به جریانی تازه راه میگشود. رئالیسم، بهعنوان واکنشی به افسون و خیالپردازیهای رمانتیسم، از دل همین تحولات سربرآورد؛ جنبشی که نمیخواست از واقعیت بگریزد، بلکه آن را عریان و بیپرده در برابر خواننده قرار دهد. با این حال، ردپای رمانتیسم هنوز در تار و پود داستانهای آن روزگار محسوس بود؛ در لطافتی که گهگاه به زبان متن راه مییافت، در حسرتهایی که شخصیتها را در میان تقدیر و اشتیاق رها میکرد. فونتانه، در نقطهای ایستاده است که این دو جریان در هم تنیده میشوند—در کلماتی که از دقت رئالیستی برخوردارند، اما در زیر سطحشان، شور محصور شدهی رمانتیسم همچنان تپنده است. آنچه در داستان او رخ می دهد بیش از آن که کنشی ناگهانی باشد، انعکاسی است از نظمی که قرنها شکل گرفته و حال، در تلاطم مدرنیته، بهآرامی ترک برمیدارد. در بطن رئالیسم فونتانه، نه انقلاب وجود دارد، نه گسستی بزرگ؛ بلکه تغییری خزنده، یک گذار بیهیاهو که در میان سکوتها، نگاهها و گفتگوهای محتاطانه، خود را آشکار میکند. شخصیتهای او رؤیابینان سرکش رمانتیسم( مشابه آنچه در ادبیات فرانسه و انگلیس قبل از این دوره می بینیم) نیستند، اما همچون آنان، تمنای چیزی فراتر از آنچه برایشان مقدر شده را در خود حمل میکنند. در این تلاقی میان کهنه و نو، داستان نه به خیال پناه میبرد و نه به حقیقت صرف بسنده میکند؛ بلکه در مرز میان این دو، جهانی میآفریند که هم ملموس است و هم نادیدنی.
این نوع از واقعگرایی، نه با هیاهوی درونی شخصیتها، که با ظرافت لحظهها ساخته میشود. در ادبیات روسیه، رئالیسم در بطن کشمکشهای روانشناختی و فلسفی شکل میگیرد؛ داستایفسکی، ذهن انسان را در تاریکیهای وجدان و انتخابهای سرنوشتساز فرو میبرد، تولستوی، تاریخ را همچون نیرویی اجتنابناپذیر بر زندگی شخصیتهایش حاکم میکند، و تورگنیف، عشق و رؤیا را در مقابل جبرِ جامعه قرار میدهد. فونتانه اما، به جای این هیاهوهای درونی، با سکوتهای معنادار کار میکند—با لحظههایی که نه دچار طغیاناند و نه گرفتار دروننگریهای فلسفی، بلکه در تکرارِ عادی روز��رگی معنا مییابند.
در مقابل، رئالیسم آمریکای لاتین مرز میان واقعیت و تخیل را محو میکند؛ مارکز، هستی را از جادوی لحظهها سرشار میسازد، آستوریاس، جهان را به افسانهای ملموس بدل میکند، و در این میان، فونتانه، به زمینی که بر آن ایستاده است وفادار میماند. هیچ عنصری در داستان او از واقعیت فراتر نمیرود، هیچ رخدادی به جادوی غیرمنتظره آغشته نیست. اگر در رئالیسم آمریکای لاتین، تخیل، راهِ فرار از محدودیتهای تاریخی و اجتماعی است، فونتانه در بطن همان محدودیتها باقی میماند؛ حقیقت، تنها همان چیزی است که از ابتدا در لایههای جامعه جریان داشته، بی آنکه نیازی به تأکید یا اغراق داشته باشد.
و در نهایت، آنچه باقی میماند، نه روایت یک عشق، بلکه بازتابی از انسانی است که در برابر نظمی ایستاده که هزاران تار از تاریخ، عرف و مصلحتهای اجتماعی در هم تنیدهاند. پایان کتاب، نه ناگهانی است، نه غافلگیرکننده؛ بلکه همان حقیقتی است که از آغاز در سایههای متن جریان داشت—حقیقتی که نه نیازی به تأکید دارد، نه نیازمند فریاد، بلکه تنها در نگاه آخر، در جملهای کوتاه، در سکوتی طولانی، آشکار میشود. آنچه فونتانه پیش چشم خواننده قرار میدهد، نه طغیانی است که بنیادها را دگرگون کند، نه روایتی که در بُهت و هیجان به پایان برسد. او بهجای اینها، حقیقتی را مینویسد که آرام اما ناگزیر است، درست مانند خود زندگی. در لحظهی پایانی، پرسشی باقی نمیماند؛ پاسخ، پیش از آنکه گفته شود، در زیر لایههای داستان زمزمه شده بود. و در این سکوت، در این تأمل، اشتیاقی در من برای ادامهی مسیر زاده میشود—مسیر ورود به جهان ادبیات آلمان، جهان نویسندگانی که همچون فونتانه، میان حقیقت و خیال، میان تاریخ و تغییر، روایتهایشان را آفریدهاند.
English (انگلیسی)
"On Tagled Paths" or "Trials and Tribulationsthe" was first gateway that opened for me into the realm of German classical literature— a story that unfolds within words, shaping not only the fate of its characters but also reflecting a society caught at the crossroads between tradition and modernity. Fontane, with unembellished elegance and meticulous precision, does not merely narrate a love story but sketches a silent struggle—a conflict between the heart’s yearning and the towering walls of convention, between the fleeting intensity of a moment and the rigid structures left behind by history. A tale whose apparent simplicity harbors an undeniable truth—one that does not cry out nor warn, yet in its silence, weighs heavier than any outcry.
In the midst of the nineteenth century, as Europe trembled under the weight of social and intellectual transformations, literature carved a new path. Realism, emerging as a reaction to the enchantment and illusions of Romanticism, did not seek an escape from reality but presented it stripped of embellishment, laid bare before the reader. And yet, Romanticism’s lingering presence remained woven into the fabric of that era’s storytelling—a subtle softness in language, a yearning within characters caught between fate and desire. Fontane stands at the intersection of these two currents—his words carry the precision of Realism, yet beneath them, the restrained pulse of Romanticism continues to beat.
What unfolds in his novel is not a sudden upheaval but a reflection of an order long forged, now quietly fissuring amid the turbulence of modernity. Fontane’s Realism neither incites revolution nor heralds great rupture; instead, it moves like an imperceptible tide—a transformation without grand gestures, revealing itself in silences, glances, and measured conversations. His characters are not the restless dreamers of Romanticism, as seen in earlier French and English literature, yet like them, they carry within themselves a longing for something beyond what has been ordained. In this meeting of old and new, the novel neither seeks refuge in fantasy nor confines itself to stark reality; rather, it lingers at the threshold between the two, creating a world both tangible and elusive.
This kind of Realism is not forged through internal turmoil but through the subtlety of moments. In Russian literature, Realism takes shape within psychological and philosophical struggles—characters grapple with moral dilemmas, history looms as an inescapable force, and love is not an idyllic escape but a confrontation with an immutable social order. But Fontane departs from such internal discord, working instead with meaningful silences—with moments that neither erupt nor surrender to introspective anguish, but find significance in the quiet repetition of daily existence.
Conversely, Latin American Realism dissolves the boundary between reality and illusion; life is suffused with the magic of moments, the world is rendered into a palpable myth, and imagination becomes an escape from historical and societal constraints. Yet Fontane remains steadfast in tangible reality—his narrative never breaches it, no event is infused with unexpected mysticism. If Latin American Realism finds liberation through the fantastical, Fontane’s truth remains bound within societal frameworks, woven into its fabric without the need for emphasis or exaggeration.
And in the end, what remains is not merely the tale of a love but the reflection of an individual caught in the web of history, convention, and quiet resignation. The novel’s conclusion is neither abrupt nor shocking—it simply reveals the truth that has lingered in the shadows from the very beginning. A truth that requires no proclamation, no emphasis—just a final glance, a brief sentence, an enduring silence.
Fontane presents no upheaval to shatter foundations, no narrative designed to astonish in fervor or revelation. Instead, he writes a reality that is quiet yet inevitable—mirroring life itself, where decisive moments do not arrive in thunderous spectacle but take shape within the quiet repetition of passing days. And in this final silence, in this contemplation, an eagerness awakens in me—an urge to continue, to delve deeper into German literature, to explore the works of those who, like Fontane, weave their stories between truth and illusion, between history and transformation.
هر کتابی که می خوانم دریچه ای به دنیایی جدید است . تو این نوشته دیدگاه و تجربه ام از مطالعه ی این کتاب رو به دو زبان فارسی و انگلیسی با شما به اشتراک می ذارم امیدوارم خوندنش براتون لذتبخش باشه :)
Persian (فارسی)
"رنج دلدادگی" نخستین دریچه ای بود که به ادبیات کلاسیک آلمان برایم گشوده شد؛ قصهای که در امتداد واژهها جاری میشود، نه تنها سرنوشت شخصیت هایش را رقم میزند، بلکه آینهای در برابر جامعهای میگذارد که در گذار از سنت به مدرنیته، بر سر دو راهی ایستاده است. فونتانه، با ظرافتی بیپیرایه و نگاهی موشکافانه، نه صرفاً روایت یک عشق، که تصویری از جدالی خاموش را به قلم میکشد—نبردی میان تمنای دل و دیوارهای بلند عرف، میان شور لحظه و چارچوبهایی که از پس تاریخ بر جای ماندهاند. قصهای که در پشت سادگی ظاهریاش، حقیقتی ناگزیر نهفته دارد؛ حقیقتی که نه فریاد میزند، نه هشدار میدهد، اما در سکوتش، سهمگینتر از هر هیاهو باقی میماند.
در میانهی قرن نوزدهم، در روزگاری که اروپا در تبوتاب تغییرات اجتماعی و فکری بود، ادبیات نیز به جریانی تازه راه میگشود. رئالیسم، بهعنوان واکنشی به افسون و خیالپردازیهای رمانتیسم، از دل همین تحولات سربرآورد؛ جنبشی که نمیخواست از واقعیت بگریزد، بلکه آن را عریان و بیپرده در برابر خواننده قرار دهد. با این حال، ردپای رمانتیسم هنوز در تار و پود داستانهای آن روزگار محسوس بود؛ در لطافتی که گهگاه به زبان متن راه مییافت، در حسرتهایی که شخصیتها را در میان تقدیر و اشتیاق رها میکرد. فونتانه، در نقطهای ایستاده است که این دو جریان در هم تنیده میشوند—در کلماتی که از دقت رئالیستی برخوردارند، اما در زیر سطحشان، شور محصور شدهی رمانتیسم همچنان تپنده است. آنچه در داستان او رخ می دهد بیش از آن که کنشی ناگهانی باشد، انعکاسی است از نظمی که قرنها شکل گرفته و حال، در تلاطم مدرنیته، بهآرامی ترک برمیدارد. در بطن رئالیسم فونتانه، نه انقلاب وجود دارد، نه گسستی بزرگ؛ بلکه تغییری خزنده، یک گذار بیهیاهو که در میان سکوتها، نگاهها و گفتگوهای محتاطانه، خود را آشکار میکند. شخصیتهای او رؤیابینان سرکش رمانتیسم( مشابه آنچه در ادبیات فرانسه و انگلیس قبل از این دوره می بینیم) نیستند، اما همچون آنان، تمنای چیزی فراتر از آنچه برایشان مقدر شده را در خود حمل میکنند. در این تلاقی میان کهنه و نو، داستان نه به خیال پناه میبرد و نه به حقیقت صرف بسنده میکند؛ بلکه در مرز میان این دو، جهانی میآفریند که هم ملموس است و هم نادیدنی.
این نوع از واقعگرایی، نه با هیاهوی درونی شخصیتها، که با ظرافت لحظهها ساخته میشود. در ادبیات روسیه، رئالیسم در بطن کشمکشهای روانشناختی و فلسفی شکل میگیرد؛ داستایفسکی، ذهن انسان را در تاریکیهای وجدان و انتخابهای سرنوشتساز فرو میبرد، تولستوی، تاریخ را همچون نیرویی اجتنابناپذیر بر زندگی شخصیتهایش حاکم میکند، و تورگنیف، عشق و رؤیا را در مقابل جبرِ جامعه قرار میدهد. فونتانه اما، به جای این هیاهوهای درونی، با سکوتهای معنادار کار میکند—با لحظههایی که نه دچار طغیاناند و نه گرفتار دروننگریهای فلسفی، بلکه در تکرارِ عادی روز��رگی معنا مییابند.
در مقابل، رئالیسم آمریکای لاتین مرز میان واقعیت و تخیل را محو میکند؛ مارکز، هستی را از جادوی لحظهها سرشار میسازد، آستوریاس، جهان را به افسانهای ملموس بدل میکند، و در این میان، فونتانه، به زمینی که بر آن ایستاده است وفادار میماند. هیچ عنصری در داستان او از واقعیت فراتر نمیرود، هیچ رخدادی به جادوی غیرمنتظره آغشته نیست. اگر در رئالیسم آمریکای لاتین، تخیل، راهِ فرار از محدودیتهای تاریخی و اجتماعی است، فونتانه در بطن همان محدودیتها باقی میماند؛ حقیقت، تنها همان چیزی است که از ابتدا در لایههای جامعه جریان داشته، بی آنکه نیازی به تأکید یا اغراق داشته باشد.
و در نهایت، آنچه باقی میماند، نه روایت یک عشق، بلکه بازتابی از انسانی است که در برابر نظمی ایستاده که هزاران تار از تاریخ، عرف و مصلحتهای اجتماعی در هم تنیدهاند. پایان کتاب، نه ناگهانی است، نه غافلگیرکننده؛ بلکه همان حقیقتی است که از آغاز در سایههای متن جریان داشت—حقیقتی که نه نیازی به تأکید دارد، نه نیازمند فریاد، بلکه تنها در نگاه آخر، در جملهای کوتاه، در سکوتی طولانی، آشکار میشود. آنچه فونتانه پیش چشم خواننده قرار میدهد، نه طغیانی است که بنیادها را دگرگون کند، نه روایتی که در بُهت و هیجان به پایان برسد. او بهجای اینها، حقیقتی را مینویسد که آرام اما ناگزیر است، درست مانند خود زندگی. در لحظهی پایانی، پرسشی باقی نمیماند؛ پاسخ، پیش از آنکه گفته شود، در زیر لایههای داستان زمزمه شده بود. و در این سکوت، در این تأمل، اشتیاقی در من برای ادامهی مسیر زاده میشود—مسیر ورود به جهان ادبیات آلمان، جهان نویسندگانی که همچون فونتانه، میان حقیقت و خیال، میان تاریخ و تغییر، روایتهایشان را آفریدهاند.
English (انگلیسی)
"On Tagled Paths" or "Trials and Tribulationsthe" was first gateway that opened for me into the realm of German classical literature— a story that unfolds within words, shaping not only the fate of its characters but also reflecting a society caught at the crossroads between tradition and modernity. Fontane, with unembellished elegance and meticulous precision, does not merely narrate a love story but sketches a silent struggle—a conflict between the heart’s yearning and the towering walls of convention, between the fleeting intensity of a moment and the rigid structures left behind by history. A tale whose apparent simplicity harbors an undeniable truth—one that does not cry out nor warn, yet in its silence, weighs heavier than any outcry.
In the midst of the nineteenth century, as Europe trembled under the weight of social and intellectual transformations, literature carved a new path. Realism, emerging as a reaction to the enchantment and illusions of Romanticism, did not seek an escape from reality but presented it stripped of embellishment, laid bare before the reader. And yet, Romanticism’s lingering presence remained woven into the fabric of that era’s storytelling—a subtle softness in language, a yearning within characters caught between fate and desire. Fontane stands at the intersection of these two currents—his words carry the precision of Realism, yet beneath them, the restrained pulse of Romanticism continues to beat.
What unfolds in his novel is not a sudden upheaval but a reflection of an order long forged, now quietly fissuring amid the turbulence of modernity. Fontane’s Realism neither incites revolution nor heralds great rupture; instead, it moves like an imperceptible tide—a transformation without grand gestures, revealing itself in silences, glances, and measured conversations. His characters are not the restless dreamers of Romanticism, as seen in earlier French and English literature, yet like them, they carry within themselves a longing for something beyond what has been ordained. In this meeting of old and new, the novel neither seeks refuge in fantasy nor confines itself to stark reality; rather, it lingers at the threshold between the two, creating a world both tangible and elusive.
This kind of Realism is not forged through internal turmoil but through the subtlety of moments. In Russian literature, Realism takes shape within psychological and philosophical struggles—characters grapple with moral dilemmas, history looms as an inescapable force, and love is not an idyllic escape but a confrontation with an immutable social order. But Fontane departs from such internal discord, working instead with meaningful silences—with moments that neither erupt nor surrender to introspective anguish, but find significance in the quiet repetition of daily existence.
Conversely, Latin American Realism dissolves the boundary between reality and illusion; life is suffused with the magic of moments, the world is rendered into a palpable myth, and imagination becomes an escape from historical and societal constraints. Yet Fontane remains steadfast in tangible reality—his narrative never breaches it, no event is infused with unexpected mysticism. If Latin American Realism finds liberation through the fantastical, Fontane’s truth remains bound within societal frameworks, woven into its fabric without the need for emphasis or exaggeration.
And in the end, what remains is not merely the tale of a love but the reflection of an individual caught in the web of history, convention, and quiet resignation. The novel’s conclusion is neither abrupt nor shocking—it simply reveals the truth that has lingered in the shadows from the very beginning. A truth that requires no proclamation, no emphasis—just a final glance, a brief sentence, an enduring silence.
Fontane presents no upheaval to shatter foundations, no narrative designed to astonish in fervor or revelation. Instead, he writes a reality that is quiet yet inevitable—mirroring life itself, where decisive moments do not arrive in thunderous spectacle but take shape within the quiet repetition of passing days. And in this final silence, in this contemplation, an eagerness awakens in me—an urge to continue, to delve deeper into German literature, to explore the works of those who, like Fontane, weave their stories between truth and illusion, between history and transformation.
August 5, 2023
Vier Sterne für Lene Nimptsch :
Botho: »Ach, Lene, du weißt gar nicht, wie lieb ich dich habe.«
Lene: »Doch, ich weiß es. Und weiß auch, daß du deine Lene für was Besondres hältst und jeden Tag denkst: ›Wenn sie doch eine Gräfin wäre.‹ Damit ist es nun aber zu spät, das bring' ich nicht mehr zuwege. Du liebst mich und bist schwach. Daran ist nichts zu ändern. Alle schönen Männer sind schwach, und der Stärkre beherrscht sie... Und der Stärkre... Ja, wer ist dieser Stärkre? Nun, entweder ist's deine Mutter oder das Gerede der Menschen oder die Verhältnisse. Oder vielleicht alles drei...«
Botho: »Ach, Lene, du weißt gar nicht, wie lieb ich dich habe.«
Lene: »Doch, ich weiß es. Und weiß auch, daß du deine Lene für was Besondres hältst und jeden Tag denkst: ›Wenn sie doch eine Gräfin wäre.‹ Damit ist es nun aber zu spät, das bring' ich nicht mehr zuwege. Du liebst mich und bist schwach. Daran ist nichts zu ändern. Alle schönen Männer sind schwach, und der Stärkre beherrscht sie... Und der Stärkre... Ja, wer ist dieser Stärkre? Nun, entweder ist's deine Mutter oder das Gerede der Menschen oder die Verhältnisse. Oder vielleicht alles drei...«
October 17, 2016
First published in 1887, Irrungen, Wirrungen tells the story of two lovers who are doomed to never spend their lives together despite wanting to.
Although the theme was hardly a new one, even to contemporary readers, the way the story unfolds is beautiful- Fontane has a knack of leading the reader by the hand, showing and not telling the depths of the main characters’ feelings for one another.
Lene, the main female character says from the start that her relationship with Baron Botho cannot last. Instead of the couple fighting against tradition and society’s expectations, the pair of them whole-heartedly embrace said expectations. Later in the novel, a friend of Botho says that he is going to defy convention and marry the penniless love of his life. Botho replies that if he goes ahead with a marriage, it will bring misery to both of them in the long run as it goes against the status quo.
Although the theme was hardly a new one, even to contemporary readers, the way the story unfolds is beautiful- Fontane has a knack of leading the reader by the hand, showing and not telling the depths of the main characters’ feelings for one another.
Lene, the main female character says from the start that her relationship with Baron Botho cannot last. Instead of the couple fighting against tradition and society’s expectations, the pair of them whole-heartedly embrace said expectations. Later in the novel, a friend of Botho says that he is going to defy convention and marry the penniless love of his life. Botho replies that if he goes ahead with a marriage, it will bring misery to both of them in the long run as it goes against the status quo.
January 27, 2025
Irrungen, Wirrungen ließ mich im ersten Drittel teilweise irr und wirr zurück.
Zu Beginn habe ich mir mit der sprachlichen Ausdrucksweise unheimlich schwergetan, was sich aber nach ein paar Kapiteln schnell gegeben hat.
Ebenfalls verwirrt war ich durch die Liebesgeschichte zwischen Lene und Botho. Ich hatte immer das Gefühl, dass Lene so viel mehr hineingegeben hatte als Botho.
Aber auch hier musste ich mich eines Besseren belehren lassen, denn im Verlauf zeigte sich, wie sehr beide nach der Trennung litten.
Hier wurde von Fontane sehr schön dargestellt, dass Liebe aus dem Herzen kommt und nicht an geburtsrechtliche Standesdünkel gekoppelt ist. Einzig was daraus gemacht wird, wird im Grunde von der Gesellschaft diktiert. Das war vor zweihundert Jahren so und ist auch heute nicht anders, vielleicht mal mehr mal weniger abgemildert aber dennoch präsent.
Das Buch hat mich zum Teil traurig gestimmt aber mit dem Ende war ich versöhnt, obwohl ich über lange Strecken gehofft hatte, dass es doch noch ein Happy End geben könnte.
Zu Beginn habe ich mir mit der sprachlichen Ausdrucksweise unheimlich schwergetan, was sich aber nach ein paar Kapiteln schnell gegeben hat.
Ebenfalls verwirrt war ich durch die Liebesgeschichte zwischen Lene und Botho. Ich hatte immer das Gefühl, dass Lene so viel mehr hineingegeben hatte als Botho.
Aber auch hier musste ich mich eines Besseren belehren lassen, denn im Verlauf zeigte sich, wie sehr beide nach der Trennung litten.
Hier wurde von Fontane sehr schön dargestellt, dass Liebe aus dem Herzen kommt und nicht an geburtsrechtliche Standesdünkel gekoppelt ist. Einzig was daraus gemacht wird, wird im Grunde von der Gesellschaft diktiert. Das war vor zweihundert Jahren so und ist auch heute nicht anders, vielleicht mal mehr mal weniger abgemildert aber dennoch präsent.
Das Buch hat mich zum Teil traurig gestimmt aber mit dem Ende war ich versöhnt, obwohl ich über lange Strecken gehofft hatte, dass es doch noch ein Happy End geben könnte.
March 10, 2023
This a short novel that centers on a love affair of a young orphan seamstress Lene and the young aristocrat Baron Botho. I thought it was well-written, well-plotted and a very realistic and satisfying rendition of a love story between an upper-class gentleman and lower-class woman.
Fontane's descriptions of his characters and the settings they frequent are vivid and enticing. The story is told from the third person point of view of both Lene and Botho, who are alluring and sympathetic protagonists. Lene is an especially positive and sympathetic creation. Fontane also creates entertaining side characters such as Lene's neighbor Frau Dorr and Botho's uncle Baron Osten.
The first part of the novel takes place mainly within two dwellings where Frau Dorr lives with her husband and Lene lives with her foster mother Frau Nimptsich. One dwelling is a cottage-like structure and the other a barn-like box converted into a residence. Located amidst a market garden outside the Berlin Zoological Garden, it all comes off as an intimate, almost rural setting within the urban setting of Berlin. The story does progress to various Berlin area locales, all so well-described that I could easily visualize the book’s scenes.
Fontane does not over-glamorize the romantic tale at the heart of this story, even though he has such positive and sympathetic protagonists. Instead, the progression of the romance is quite realistic in its depiction and outcome. While the ending portion of the novel seemed a bit anti-climactic, that actually became a positive to me as the ending left me with a pleasant, wistful melancholy feeling. A very good novel and a 4+ star read for me.
Fontane's descriptions of his characters and the settings they frequent are vivid and enticing. The story is told from the third person point of view of both Lene and Botho, who are alluring and sympathetic protagonists. Lene is an especially positive and sympathetic creation. Fontane also creates entertaining side characters such as Lene's neighbor Frau Dorr and Botho's uncle Baron Osten.
The first part of the novel takes place mainly within two dwellings where Frau Dorr lives with her husband and Lene lives with her foster mother Frau Nimptsich. One dwelling is a cottage-like structure and the other a barn-like box converted into a residence. Located amidst a market garden outside the Berlin Zoological Garden, it all comes off as an intimate, almost rural setting within the urban setting of Berlin. The story does progress to various Berlin area locales, all so well-described that I could easily visualize the book’s scenes.
Fontane does not over-glamorize the romantic tale at the heart of this story, even though he has such positive and sympathetic protagonists. Instead, the progression of the romance is quite realistic in its depiction and outcome. While the ending portion of the novel seemed a bit anti-climactic, that actually became a positive to me as the ending left me with a pleasant, wistful melancholy feeling. A very good novel and a 4+ star read for me.
April 12, 2023
This is a fairly familiar tale of love across the class divides but unlike most of these romantic fictions, love does not conquer all. This is a novella and perhaps the subject matter is slight enough to warrant such a short book but I felt it never really got going. Everything is too compressed. Our lovers meet, part and marry others within 5 or 6 months and so it is hard to feel that this was some great love affair or that the separation was too great a wrench.
We meet Lene and Botho a couple of months into their relationship, them having met when Botho rescues her from drowning on a boating trip. She is a lowly seamstress living in little more than a cellar with her adoptive mother, he is a wealthy, noble military officer. I found it hard to warm to Botho as I never had the feeling that he was genuine in his feelings for Lene. At some points it seemed like he was using her – there is an awkward conversation between the two where he explains the nicknames he and his friends use among themselves and have given their current girlfriends (yes, all Botho’s friends have lower class girlfriends to have fun with until they marry a woman equal to their standing). For all his protestations, class and appearance is important to him. While he professes to love Frau Dorr (Lene’s neighbour) and is happy to spend time with her at Lene’s home he admits that he wouldn’t take her elsewhere because she’d be an embarrassment.
Botho comes off as nothing less than a class tourist.
Lene for her part spends the period of their relationship fatalistically reminding Botho that it will all end soon and cannot lead anywhere because of the unbridgeable class chasm, which must have been irritating for him. However, she is not wrong and he does forsake her and marry the wealthy Kathe, who he finds vacuous, preoccupied with fripperies and somewhat annoying, yet she is extremely pretty so its worth the annoyance.
Lene who is mostly absent from the last third of the book, marries an earnest, respectable 50 year old man and the narrative ends with Kathe reading the wedding announcement in the newspaper and laughing at the names.
And so the world turns.
We meet Lene and Botho a couple of months into their relationship, them having met when Botho rescues her from drowning on a boating trip. She is a lowly seamstress living in little more than a cellar with her adoptive mother, he is a wealthy, noble military officer. I found it hard to warm to Botho as I never had the feeling that he was genuine in his feelings for Lene. At some points it seemed like he was using her – there is an awkward conversation between the two where he explains the nicknames he and his friends use among themselves and have given their current girlfriends (yes, all Botho’s friends have lower class girlfriends to have fun with until they marry a woman equal to their standing). For all his protestations, class and appearance is important to him. While he professes to love Frau Dorr (Lene’s neighbour) and is happy to spend time with her at Lene’s home he admits that he wouldn’t take her elsewhere because she’d be an embarrassment.
Botho comes off as nothing less than a class tourist.
Lene for her part spends the period of their relationship fatalistically reminding Botho that it will all end soon and cannot lead anywhere because of the unbridgeable class chasm, which must have been irritating for him. However, she is not wrong and he does forsake her and marry the wealthy Kathe, who he finds vacuous, preoccupied with fripperies and somewhat annoying, yet she is extremely pretty so its worth the annoyance.
Lene who is mostly absent from the last third of the book, marries an earnest, respectable 50 year old man and the narrative ends with Kathe reading the wedding announcement in the newspaper and laughing at the names.
And so the world turns.
July 23, 2019
Eine Liebesgeschichte ganz im Stile des Realismus, in dem Liebe keine Standesunterschiede überwindet und es kein Happy End gibt. Kaum jemand beschreibt das Leben der kleinen Leute so treffend und liebevoll wie Fontane.
Ich mag Fontanes Schreibstil einfach sehr gerne, "Vor dem Sturm" hat mir allerdings besser gefallen.
Ich mag Fontanes Schreibstil einfach sehr gerne, "Vor dem Sturm" hat mir allerdings besser gefallen.
May 6, 2021
My version of the German classic novel by Theodor Fontane, Irrungen, Wirrungen was the Penguin edition translated by Peter James Bowman & titled, On Tangled Paths, though other versions of the novel have it listed as Trials & Tribulations. I enjoyed reading this prime example of German Realism but confess that I probably enjoyed reading about the author's life far more than dealing with his 1888 novel.
The book deals with the doomed love affair between a titled but less than affluent cavalry officer and a young & beautiful seamstress, a bond that transgressed class lines & was considered immoral as well, though such relationships were not uncommon at the time. The story occurs at a time of change when the middle class in Berlin & its environs was becoming much more potent, while the aristocracy was on the defensive. Working class people are also represented in Fontane's tale and the component of social diversity seemed most welcome.
One did get a sense of societal transition as Botho, the cavalry officer in a prestigious regiment & Lene (a seamstress) seem nicely matched emotionally & very much in love, initially without much outsider interference but we quickly learn that while Lene is completely realistic in her appraisal of their relationship, Botho is rather weak-willed and the reality of his situation has to be pointed out to him by his mother.
For, if he continues in the relationship with the lovely Lene, Botho will most certainly lose his family connections, his standing within his aristocratic circle, his future opportunities and even his position with the regiment.
Quite without much action or attention on Botho's part, he becomes engaged to an upper class woman named Kathe, someone with a pleasant demeanor and from a family with considerable means but phrasing in the vernacular of today, a bit of an "airhead". Alas, for those pining for a continued loving bond between Botho & Lene but without the Elvira Madigan ending, Fontane refused to play along with his readers.
In comparing the Fontane novel to Balzac for example, I confess to being drawn in by Balzac's characters but kept at a distance by those in this well-regarded period novel by Fontane. The folks who inhabit Balzac's tales in mid-19th century Paris seem palpable & even familiar, while those within On Tangled Paths struck me as remaining at a distance.
This would seem to be the case, at least in part because Fontane loads the passages with references to specific restaurants, types of food, the names of inns, spas & the effluvia of Fontane's Berlin at a particular point in time, keeping the reader at something of a remove from the story. Yes, there are footnotes aplenty for each of the explicit references, all of which would have been clear to a reader at the time the book appeared but which interrupt the flow of the tale.
However, I very much enjoyed the interplay among those of different classes, the sense of social stratification but within a seemingly informal setting. Most of the cavalry representing various regiments, each with their own colors & levels of prestige seem to sit around the cafes, playing cards & drinking, for it is apparently a time between the intermittent the wars with Austria, France & Britain. Lene was for me the most captivating character in the Fontane novel, someone who just seems to remain above the fray:
On Tangled Paths by Theodor Fontane is a rather charming, somewhat diverting little book I read as a part of an Alumni/Continuing Ed. course at Northwestern University entitled "Love In & Out of Marriage" & is my first exposure to the author.
*A quite interesting essay about Fontane by Daniel Mendelson, "Heroine Addict: What Theodore Fontane's Women Want" appeared in the March 7th, 2011 issue of The New Yorker, available via the Internet, at least for subscribers to the magazine. **Within my review, the 1st image is of the author at work; the 2nd is a commemorative German postage stamp of Theodor Fontane.
The book deals with the doomed love affair between a titled but less than affluent cavalry officer and a young & beautiful seamstress, a bond that transgressed class lines & was considered immoral as well, though such relationships were not uncommon at the time. The story occurs at a time of change when the middle class in Berlin & its environs was becoming much more potent, while the aristocracy was on the defensive. Working class people are also represented in Fontane's tale and the component of social diversity seemed most welcome.
One did get a sense of societal transition as Botho, the cavalry officer in a prestigious regiment & Lene (a seamstress) seem nicely matched emotionally & very much in love, initially without much outsider interference but we quickly learn that while Lene is completely realistic in her appraisal of their relationship, Botho is rather weak-willed and the reality of his situation has to be pointed out to him by his mother.
For, if he continues in the relationship with the lovely Lene, Botho will most certainly lose his family connections, his standing within his aristocratic circle, his future opportunities and even his position with the regiment.
Quite without much action or attention on Botho's part, he becomes engaged to an upper class woman named Kathe, someone with a pleasant demeanor and from a family with considerable means but phrasing in the vernacular of today, a bit of an "airhead". Alas, for those pining for a continued loving bond between Botho & Lene but without the Elvira Madigan ending, Fontane refused to play along with his readers.
In comparing the Fontane novel to Balzac for example, I confess to being drawn in by Balzac's characters but kept at a distance by those in this well-regarded period novel by Fontane. The folks who inhabit Balzac's tales in mid-19th century Paris seem palpable & even familiar, while those within On Tangled Paths struck me as remaining at a distance.
This would seem to be the case, at least in part because Fontane loads the passages with references to specific restaurants, types of food, the names of inns, spas & the effluvia of Fontane's Berlin at a particular point in time, keeping the reader at something of a remove from the story. Yes, there are footnotes aplenty for each of the explicit references, all of which would have been clear to a reader at the time the book appeared but which interrupt the flow of the tale.
However, I very much enjoyed the interplay among those of different classes, the sense of social stratification but within a seemingly informal setting. Most of the cavalry representing various regiments, each with their own colors & levels of prestige seem to sit around the cafes, playing cards & drinking, for it is apparently a time between the intermittent the wars with Austria, France & Britain. Lene was for me the most captivating character in the Fontane novel, someone who just seems to remain above the fray:
She was happy, utterly happy & saw the whole world in a rosy light. She had the best, the dearest of men on her arm & was enjoying a precious moment with him. Was that not enough? And if this moment should be their last, well, so be it. Was she not favoured just to live through such a day? Even if it was only once, this one single time? And so, all the intimations of hurt & anxiety that despite her best efforts had occasionally oppressed her spirits, melted away & all she felt was pride, joy & thankfulness.The eventual rift that befalls Lene & Botho does come at a price, more so for Botho than for Lene, with the former declaring: "What can I personally learn from this? A man who goes with the grain may fall but he falls in a better way than a man who goes against it." However, a bit later Botho intones to a fellow officer facing a similar situation: "Many things are permissible but not what does violence to the soul or entangles the heart, even if it's your only way."
On Tangled Paths by Theodor Fontane is a rather charming, somewhat diverting little book I read as a part of an Alumni/Continuing Ed. course at Northwestern University entitled "Love In & Out of Marriage" & is my first exposure to the author.
*A quite interesting essay about Fontane by Daniel Mendelson, "Heroine Addict: What Theodore Fontane's Women Want" appeared in the March 7th, 2011 issue of The New Yorker, available via the Internet, at least for subscribers to the magazine. **Within my review, the 1st image is of the author at work; the 2nd is a commemorative German postage stamp of Theodor Fontane.
October 27, 2021
Beautifully told classic.
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/on-t...
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/on-t...
July 26, 2019
Was für eine tragische Geschichte, die Fontane hier erzählt. Tragisch, weil sie so nachvollziehbar ist und genauso auch in unserer heutigen Zeit, wenn auch nicht aus Standesdenken, noch geschehen kann und auch geschieht. Immer dann, wenn Menschen es nicht schaffen, über ihren Schatten zu springen, ihr "Ego" auszuschalten und stattdessen nur ihrem Herzen zu folgen; wenn Menschen lieber eine Lebenslüge leben, als das Herz sprechen und leben zu lassen.
Fontane erzählt seine Geschichte vor dem Hintergrund der damals, Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts vorherrschenden gesellschaftlichen Normen und dem vorherrschenden Standesdenken. Er fängt die Atmosphäre und Realität der damaligen Zeit so transparent ein, dass der Leser das Gefühl hat, selbst während all der Geschehnisse zugegen zu sein.
Was mich zunächst störte, begeisterte mich im Laufe des Lesens. Fontane differenziert in der Art seiner Erzählung und in Form der Sprache und Ausdrucksweise, die er seinen Charakteren in den Mund legt, sehr stark und trifft dabei die Vollkommenheit der Wiederspiegelung der Standeszugehörigkeit und des gesellschaftlichen Denkens, Handelns und Lebens.
Gleichzeitig hält er so der damaligen Gesellschaft einen sehr kritischen und schmerzhaften Spiegel vor Augen, der die damals nicht selten gelebten Lebenslügen entlarvt.
Wie schon in Effi Briest, für die die Zwangs-Verheiratung mit einem ungeliebten, aber standesadäquaten Mann, der Beginn der gelebten Lebenslüge darstellt, deckt Fontane auch hier in sehr literarischer, aber dennoch eindeutigen und klaren Erzählweise auf, was die betroffen Menschen fühlten und dachten, aber nie geschafft hätten, zum Ausdruck zu bringen.
Die einfache Schneiderin, Lene, kommuniziert dies durchaus gegenüber Botho ihrem Geliebten. Dieser, der im gesellschaftlichen Stand und sicherlich auch hinsichtlich seiner Bildung, Lene überlegen ist, zeigt in all seinem Verhalten, dass er nie in der Lage sein würde, diese Lebenslüge zu verlassen, geschweige denn sie öffentlich zu benennen.
Tröstlich, dass er sie zumindest sich selbst eingesteht.
Fontane erzählt seine Geschichte vor dem Hintergrund der damals, Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts vorherrschenden gesellschaftlichen Normen und dem vorherrschenden Standesdenken. Er fängt die Atmosphäre und Realität der damaligen Zeit so transparent ein, dass der Leser das Gefühl hat, selbst während all der Geschehnisse zugegen zu sein.
Was mich zunächst störte, begeisterte mich im Laufe des Lesens. Fontane differenziert in der Art seiner Erzählung und in Form der Sprache und Ausdrucksweise, die er seinen Charakteren in den Mund legt, sehr stark und trifft dabei die Vollkommenheit der Wiederspiegelung der Standeszugehörigkeit und des gesellschaftlichen Denkens, Handelns und Lebens.
Gleichzeitig hält er so der damaligen Gesellschaft einen sehr kritischen und schmerzhaften Spiegel vor Augen, der die damals nicht selten gelebten Lebenslügen entlarvt.
Wie schon in Effi Briest, für die die Zwangs-Verheiratung mit einem ungeliebten, aber standesadäquaten Mann, der Beginn der gelebten Lebenslüge darstellt, deckt Fontane auch hier in sehr literarischer, aber dennoch eindeutigen und klaren Erzählweise auf, was die betroffen Menschen fühlten und dachten, aber nie geschafft hätten, zum Ausdruck zu bringen.
Die einfache Schneiderin, Lene, kommuniziert dies durchaus gegenüber Botho ihrem Geliebten. Dieser, der im gesellschaftlichen Stand und sicherlich auch hinsichtlich seiner Bildung, Lene überlegen ist, zeigt in all seinem Verhalten, dass er nie in der Lage sein würde, diese Lebenslüge zu verlassen, geschweige denn sie öffentlich zu benennen.
Tröstlich, dass er sie zumindest sich selbst eingesteht.
October 27, 2019
Alsoooo... Halten wir zuerst mal fest: Ich hasse die Bücher, die ich in der Schule lesen muss immernoch.
Dafür, dass es aber in die Sparte fiel, von Büchern, die ich generell nicht sehr mag, war es trotzdem ein Buch, das mir besser gefallen hat, als manch andere in der Kategorie "Klassiker". (Ich hoffe, das war verständlich)
Der Schreibstil von Fontane ist weitaus angenehmer und flüssiger zu lesen, als der von zum Beispiel Goethe. Großer Pluspunkt!
Die Handlung an sich war auch relativ interessant, wohingegen ich die Charaktere nicht allzu sehr mochte. Möglicherweise, weil sie etwas zu realistisch waren für meinen Geschmack.
Klar, Sinn und Zweck dieser Epoche, aber "perfektere" Charaktere sind mir dann doch lieber :D
Dafür, dass es aber in die Sparte fiel, von Büchern, die ich generell nicht sehr mag, war es trotzdem ein Buch, das mir besser gefallen hat, als manch andere in der Kategorie "Klassiker". (Ich hoffe, das war verständlich)
Der Schreibstil von Fontane ist weitaus angenehmer und flüssiger zu lesen, als der von zum Beispiel Goethe. Großer Pluspunkt!
Die Handlung an sich war auch relativ interessant, wohingegen ich die Charaktere nicht allzu sehr mochte. Möglicherweise, weil sie etwas zu realistisch waren für meinen Geschmack.
Klar, Sinn und Zweck dieser Epoche, aber "perfektere" Charaktere sind mir dann doch lieber :D
February 15, 2017
my teachers version of the electric chair
August 9, 2019
Netter Roman, in dem vor allem Berlin eine hervorragende Rolle spielt - das Berlin in den 1880er Jahren und das Milieu der einfachen Leute. Das bereitet oft großes Vergnügen, doch ist hin und wieder auch ein klein wenig ermüdend. An Effi Briest kommt die Geschichte stilistisch nicht heran und wenn es um Konflikte zwischen einfachem bürgerlichen und eher aristokratischem Milieu geht, dann würde ich Fontanes Stine vorziehen.
December 28, 2015
Eine Novelle, die den Realismus bedingungslos repräsentiert. Keine romantische Verklärtheit, kein Spannungsbogen, keine Auflösung. Nur das Leben, tragisch in seiner Einfachheit und deprimierend Lebensnah.
Dieses Buch sollte man nur lesen, wenn man sich für klassische deutsche Literatur, oder das Werk Fontanes interessiert. Das bewundernswerte hier ist schlicht sein ergreifender Realismus und um den zu erleben, kann man auch einfach aus dem Haus gehen.
Die Geschichte hinterlässt höchstens einen Anflug von Melancholie bei dem Gedanken daran, dass es im wahren Leben nun mal kein Happy End gibt und die Liebe nicht die Antwort auf alle Fragen ist.
Dieses Buch sollte man nur lesen, wenn man sich für klassische deutsche Literatur, oder das Werk Fontanes interessiert. Das bewundernswerte hier ist schlicht sein ergreifender Realismus und um den zu erleben, kann man auch einfach aus dem Haus gehen.
Die Geschichte hinterlässt höchstens einen Anflug von Melancholie bei dem Gedanken daran, dass es im wahren Leben nun mal kein Happy End gibt und die Liebe nicht die Antwort auf alle Fragen ist.
July 30, 2019
Mag der Titel auch wie eine seichte Liebesschmonzette wirken, mit "Irrungen, Wirrungen" untermauert Fontane in meinen Augen wieder einmal seine herausragende Stellung in der realistischen Literatur. Unprätentiös und doch poetisch kommt seine Sprache daher, er braucht keine weitschweifigen Ausführungen, die Personen werden durch ihre Rede und Handlung charakterisiert und treten lebensecht und authentisch vor mein lesenedes Angesicht. Fontane porträtiert gekonnt die damalige Gesellschaft und ihre Konventionen, stellt das Leben einfacher und vermögender Personen gegenüber, ohne dabei zu offensichtlich die Moralkeule zu schwingen. Und doch regt er zum Nachdenken an: Was ist wichtiger? Persönliche Wunschentfaltung oder gesellschaftliche und familiäre Pflichterfüllung? Welche Möglichkeiten hat man angesichts gesellschaftlicher Erwartungen und Einschränkungen, nach eigener Facon zu leben? Eigentlich Fragen, die auch heute nicht an Aktualität verloren haben, auch wenn wir glauben möchten, dass wir heute frei von Einschränkungen unser Glück verfolgen.
July 27, 2019
Auch mein zweiter Fontane hat mir sehr gut gefallen.
Liebenswerte Charaktere, viel Berliner Lokalkolorit, Sozialstudie und Liebesroman. Alles in einem.
Mit viel Berliner Dialekt, viel reden wie der Schnabel gewachsen ist.
Einfach schön und sehr unterhaltend.
Ich schau schon mal nach dem nächsten Fontane und werde im neuen Bücherregal ein ganzes Brett für ihn bereit halten.
Liebenswerte Charaktere, viel Berliner Lokalkolorit, Sozialstudie und Liebesroman. Alles in einem.
Mit viel Berliner Dialekt, viel reden wie der Schnabel gewachsen ist.
Einfach schön und sehr unterhaltend.
Ich schau schon mal nach dem nächsten Fontane und werde im neuen Bücherregal ein ganzes Brett für ihn bereit halten.
January 10, 2019
This novella is a classic for sure. Not much "action", more a slice of life, treating of the spring/summer affair of a working-class seamstress, Lene, and a feckless aristocratic cavalryman, Baron Botho von Rienäcker, set in the 1870s. Each is in love with the other, but each is bound by the class strictures of those days and so chooses to remain in it. Botho marries a rich young lady to save his family estate, and Lene knows they should part--a hint is given when on an overnight trip together, Lene sees the pictures in their hotel room and can't read the English inscription; she realizes he is "untouchable" as marriage material. She does marry a worthy man of her class and Botho suffers in his suffocating marriage with the empty-headed Käthe. When a friend comes to Botho for advice on a situation similar to Botho's own, he is advised, although it might bring pain, it is best to stay in his class. At the time it was written, it was considered risqué. In the author's descriptions, Berlin of that time comes to life, and he is a master of dialogue [inner and outer] bringing out the character of his protagonists. This was unforgettable; I don't understand the GR low ratings. This was a respite from the exciting action-packed, gory book I just finished and maybe I was in the mood for something quiet.
Most highly recommended.
Most highly recommended.
August 4, 2020
"Jott, Kind, Sie verfärben sich ja; Sie sind woll am Ende mit hier dabei" (und sie wies aufs Herz) "und tun alles aus Liebe? Ja, Kind, denn is es schlimm, denn gibt es nen Kladderadatsch." (Seite 76).
Und einen Kladderadatsch gibt es wirklich für die arme Lene. Einen, den sie zwar einigermaßen verkraften kann, aber der ihr und mir dennoch das Herz bricht. Lene liebt nämlich den Baron Botho und er liebt sie auch, aber das nutzt in der standesdünkelnden Gesellschaft des 19. Jahrhundert nichts, denn Bothos Familie ist bankrott und er muss wohl überlegt eine Frau aus reichem Hause heiraten. Bevor es so weit ist, bleibt ihm ein romantischer Sommer mit Lene, von dem sie schon weiß, dass es ihr einziges kurzes Glück ist.
Fontane beschreibt diesen Liebessommer teils romantisch, teils sachlich, immer gespickt mit detaillierten Beobachtungen und politischen Einsprengseln.
Eine Vorausdeutung der Geschehnisse gibt es natürlich gleich zu Beginn und eine Begründung, warum die Rebellion gegen die Gesellschaft nicht glücklich machen kann, am Ende.
Ich habe dieses Büchlein auch beim zweiten Mal lesen wieder sehr gemocht und mir lauter hübsche Formulierungen angestrichen.
Und einen Kladderadatsch gibt es wirklich für die arme Lene. Einen, den sie zwar einigermaßen verkraften kann, aber der ihr und mir dennoch das Herz bricht. Lene liebt nämlich den Baron Botho und er liebt sie auch, aber das nutzt in der standesdünkelnden Gesellschaft des 19. Jahrhundert nichts, denn Bothos Familie ist bankrott und er muss wohl überlegt eine Frau aus reichem Hause heiraten. Bevor es so weit ist, bleibt ihm ein romantischer Sommer mit Lene, von dem sie schon weiß, dass es ihr einziges kurzes Glück ist.
Fontane beschreibt diesen Liebessommer teils romantisch, teils sachlich, immer gespickt mit detaillierten Beobachtungen und politischen Einsprengseln.
Eine Vorausdeutung der Geschehnisse gibt es natürlich gleich zu Beginn und eine Begründung, warum die Rebellion gegen die Gesellschaft nicht glücklich machen kann, am Ende.
Ich habe dieses Büchlein auch beim zweiten Mal lesen wieder sehr gemocht und mir lauter hübsche Formulierungen angestrichen.
August 30, 2022
Die vielen Dialoge haben mir gefallen und der Hörbuchsprecher hat einen tollen Job gemacht mit den vielen Dialekten. Die Geschichte fand ich leider eher langatmig, weil nicht viel passiert und es wird mehr nur "geschwätzt". Besonders schade fand ich, dass in der zweiten Hälfte kaum mehr vorkommt.
December 29, 2015
“Trials and Tribulations” is about achieving happiness in late nineteenth century Prussia by following society’s rules. Young men can sow their wild oats with women of inferior social station but when the time comes in their lives to enter into respectable marriages they must promptly end any inappropriate liaison. Young women from lower social classes should respect the rules that govern the lives of any lovers they might have from higher social classes and not make a fuss when they are inevitably dropped.
When our hero Baron Botha realizes that his financial difficulties have left him with no other alternative but to enter into an advantageous marriage, he rapidly terminates his affair with Lena a seamstress: He says to Lena: “Order is a great thing and sometimes it is worth everything. And now I must ask myself, has my life been ‘orderly’? No. Order means marriage. … Yes my dear Lena, you too believe in work and orderly living, and you will understand and not make it hard for me.”
Totally nonplussed, Lena our heroine assures him that she will not any fuss saying: “I am not like the country girl who ran and threw herself into the well because her sweetheart has abandoned her.”
Botha is of course immensely relieved. He does later reflect that he might have fled to the new world with Lena and started afresh. However, doing so would have required more effort than our hero would have been willing to make: “I cannot leave the service (i.e. my military career) at twenty-seven years of age to become a cowboy in Texas or a waiter on a Mississippi steamer.”
Lena fortunately finds a nice young man from the appropriate social class who is anxious to marry her even after she informs him of her fling with the Baron. The Baron is similarly fortunate as his wife chooses to gently smile at his earlier dalliances.
I find it difficult to admire any of the characters in this well-crafted novel but I must acknowledge that it probably describes very accurately the reality of a certain era.
When our hero Baron Botha realizes that his financial difficulties have left him with no other alternative but to enter into an advantageous marriage, he rapidly terminates his affair with Lena a seamstress: He says to Lena: “Order is a great thing and sometimes it is worth everything. And now I must ask myself, has my life been ‘orderly’? No. Order means marriage. … Yes my dear Lena, you too believe in work and orderly living, and you will understand and not make it hard for me.”
Totally nonplussed, Lena our heroine assures him that she will not any fuss saying: “I am not like the country girl who ran and threw herself into the well because her sweetheart has abandoned her.”
Botha is of course immensely relieved. He does later reflect that he might have fled to the new world with Lena and started afresh. However, doing so would have required more effort than our hero would have been willing to make: “I cannot leave the service (i.e. my military career) at twenty-seven years of age to become a cowboy in Texas or a waiter on a Mississippi steamer.”
Lena fortunately finds a nice young man from the appropriate social class who is anxious to marry her even after she informs him of her fling with the Baron. The Baron is similarly fortunate as his wife chooses to gently smile at his earlier dalliances.
I find it difficult to admire any of the characters in this well-crafted novel but I must acknowledge that it probably describes very accurately the reality of a certain era.
May 4, 2021
Junges, armes Mädchen Lene wird vom armen, jungen Baron Botho geliebt. Wobei die Armut Bothos natürlich relativ zu verstehen ist. Und auch Lene wird sich im Laufe der Erzählung mal so eben ein Häuschen von ihren Ersparnissen leisten können. Aber der gute Botho, wie von Lene, die auch noch lieb und schlau ist, vorausgesehen, verlässt sie, um die reiche Kusine Käthe zu heiraten.
Nichts besonderes soweit. Was die Meisterschaft dieser kleinen Novelle ausmacht, ist nun, wie es es Fontane schafft, sowohl die Ehe des Barons als auch das Leben der Verlassenen so zu schildern, dass man mit den beiden mitfühlt. Nicht mitleidet. Käthe ist gar nicht so schlimm, sie schwatzt halt gerne und Botho mag das nicht, und auch der spätere Verehrer und Gatte der Lene ist ganz passabel. Und doch ist es eine Tragödie, eine Alltagstragödie.
Und dann kommt ein fulminanter Schlusssatz, der das ganze prägnant zusammenfasst. Für den allein lohnt sich die Lektüre.
Nichts besonderes soweit. Was die Meisterschaft dieser kleinen Novelle ausmacht, ist nun, wie es es Fontane schafft, sowohl die Ehe des Barons als auch das Leben der Verlassenen so zu schildern, dass man mit den beiden mitfühlt. Nicht mitleidet. Käthe ist gar nicht so schlimm, sie schwatzt halt gerne und Botho mag das nicht, und auch der spätere Verehrer und Gatte der Lene ist ganz passabel. Und doch ist es eine Tragödie, eine Alltagstragödie.
Und dann kommt ein fulminanter Schlusssatz, der das ganze prägnant zusammenfasst. Für den allein lohnt sich die Lektüre.
November 20, 2021
Not quite sure what I think about it. I've read the swedish translation and found the writing to be both well written and flow beautifully. The content might been to elegant and serious for my brain at the moment. But overall I enjoyed it so it gets 3.5 stars. Might pick it back up in the future to see if my rating change. Quite fun to do that
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