Fontane's Landscapes
2010; University of Wisconsin Press; Volume: 102; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/mon.2010.0030
ISSN1934-2810
Autores ResumoReviewed by: Fontane's Landscapes Frederick Betz Fontane's Landscapes. By James N. Bade. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2009. 172 pages + illustrations. €28,00. Bade uses Fontane's landscapes to guide his readers, primarily English-speaking students of German literature, through three novels, Schach von Wuthenow (1883), Irrungen, [End Page 622] Wirrungen (1888), and Effi Briest (1895), which perhaps best illustrate how the landscape descriptions form an essential part of Fontane's narrative artistry. Fontane based his fictional settings on real places, which Bade meticulously identifies and amply illustrates with 56 photographs of the historical locations; but Fontane often modified the description of places or invented fictional settings to suit his narrative purpose. Fontane's landscapes reflect a character's inner thoughts or ulterior motives, or they prefigure future events; the scenery often occurs at a critical point in the novel, where the reflective or prefigurative function of the landscape is reinforced by weather conditions. In Schach, Fontane moved the plot from 1815 back to 1807 in order to make Schach's fate symbolic of Prussia's downfall following the Battle of Jena in 1806. Most landscapes reflect the mood of impending doom, with descriptions of places illuminated by the setting sun or threatened by an imminent storm. The landscape associated with the Carayons' excursion with Schach to Tempelhof, for example, introduces symbols, themes, motifs, and images of death, decay, and decline which recur repeatedly in subsequent chapters. Swans swimming off into the shadows on the Spree and the last shimmer of the sinking sun point to the parallel fates of Schach and Prince Louis Ferdinand and the Regiment Gensdarmes. The night and early morning landscapes of Schloß Wuthenow and Ruppiner See are also imbued with images of death. The landscapes of Paretz and Charlottenburg, where Schach is summoned to talk separately with King Friedrich Wilhelm III and Queen Luise, are bathed in the mid-day summer sun. The royal couple were greatly admired for their respectable marriage; the queen played a role in the rehabilitation of Prussia following defeat. Schach commits suicide rather than make a choice, which fellow officer Bülow associates with the fall of Prussia, but Victoire's child by Schach survives near-fatal illness, symbolizing Prussia's rebirth. In Irrungen, Wirrungen, the confluence of Kurfürstendamm and Kurfürstenstraße represents the intersecting lives of Botho and Lene and their different social spheres. The novel begins in early summer, and there appears to be no end to the bright sunlight, just as Botho hopes that his relationship with Lene will never end. However, the contrasting image of the sun setting behind the Wilmersdorf church is a reminder that nothing is permanent. The return from their walk anticipates later walks to Wilmersdorf and other excursions to landscapes (Hankels Ablage, Jungfernheide, Rixdorf) reflecting the psychology of the situation and foreshadowing future events. The setting sun in Hankels Ablage makes it clear that their relationship will not last. When Botho is called upon to marry Käthe and rides to Jungfernheide, he observes the Hinckeldey monument, which symbolizes for him duty and obligation. The landscape changes significantly with Botho and Käthe's honeymoon to Dresden and new residence in Landgrafenstraße, while the landscapes associated with Botho and Lene are recast in remembrance, as reflected most vividly in Botho's trip to Frau Nimptsch's grave at Rixdorf. When Botho returns to Landgrafenstraße, he sees in the distance Schloss Charlottenburg glistening in the sun, and his subsequent visit with Käthe to Charlottenburg reflects their strengthened commitment to each other. Like the real landscape of the Dörrs' garden in Irrungen, Wirrungen, the invented landscape of Hohen-Cremmen in Effi Briest is replete with symbolic, thematic, and prefigurative details. The sun is shining, but the Briests' house casts a large shadow [End Page 623] over the back garden, which introduces an ominous sign; indeed, at the end of the novel the sundial is replaced by Effi's grave. In Berlin, Effi and Innstetten see two landscape paintings in the Nationalgalerie: Böcklin's "Insel ["Die Gefilde"] der Seligen" and the St. Privat Panorama of a decisive battle in the Franco-Prussian War, which prefigure Effi...
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