Questions tagged [effi-briest]
Questions about the novel "Effi Briest" (1895) by Theodor Fontane. Should be tagged with [theodor-fontane] and [german-language].
10
questions
4
votes
1
answer
193
views
Significance of Effi Briest's name
I've been thinking about Theodor Fontane's novel Effi Briest for a while, and the names of the characters, especially Effi Briest's name, but also the other important characters, like for instance ...
2
votes
1
answer
314
views
When and where did Thomas Mann say that Effi Briest is one of the six best novels in his library?
Theodor Fontane's novel Effi Briest is often taught at German schools. The Wikipedia article about the novel has a section on the novel's legacy which says,
[Thomas] Mann said that if one had to ...
3
votes
0
answers
177
views
What is the purpose of the motif of the Chinaman in Fontane's novel Effi Briest?
One of the recurring elements or motifs in Theodor Fontane's novel Effi Briest is that of the Chinaman. The Chinaman is a source of fear for Effi, something like a phantom. References to him are ...
2
votes
2
answers
267
views
In Effi Briest, what is the meaning and significance of a "wide field"?
I noticed a similar phrase recurring twice in the conversation between Effi's parents in Chapter V of Theodor Fontane's Effi Briest, which I'm reading online:
Miss Hulda had clinked her glass too ...
2
votes
0
answers
41
views
What was Briest implying with his "Very true, very true"?
In Theodor Fontane's Effi Briest, which I'm reading online, an exchange between Effi and her mother in Chapter IV seems to betray Effi's lack of love for her fiance Innstetten. Later, in Chapter V, ...
12
votes
1
answer
1k
views
What are the "torch dance" and "garter dance", in 19th-century Germany?
From Theodor Fontane's Effi Briest, which I'm reading online, during the wedding of Effi and Innstetten in Chapter V:
The dancing had continued till three o'clock, with the effect that Briest, who ...
10
votes
3
answers
2k
views
What is the "Isle of the Blessed" and why should a girl see it before marriage?
In Chapter 3 of Theodor Fontane's novel Effi Briest, which I've recently started reading online, Effi and her mother are spending some days in Berlin before her marriage, accompanied by her cousin ...
2
votes
1
answer
208
views
What is the significance of "Come, Effi"?
In Chapter 3 of Theodor Fontane's novel Effi Briest, which I've started reading online, there seems to be some kind of foreshadowing when Effi's future husband Baron von Innstetten is talking with (or ...
9
votes
3
answers
2k
views
What would it mean for a 19th-century German soldier to "wear the cross"?
In the first chapter of Theodor Fontane's Effi Briest, which I've started reading online, we are introduced to the character of Baron Geert von Innstetten as follows (emphasis mine):
"Yes, ...
3
votes
1
answer
96
views
What is this passage saying about Precentor Jahnke?
In Chapter 1 of Theodor Fontane's novel Effi Briest, which I've just started reading online, two friends of Effi are introduced as follows:
Two of the young girls, plump little creatures, whose ...