On Sunday October 27, Mayflower Bookshop Great Loves series presents Theodor Fontane’s masterpiece Effi Briest as the 7th lecture in the series. Published in book form in 1895, Effi Briest marks both a watershed and a climax in the poetic realism of literature. It can be thematically compared to other novels on 19th-century marriage from a female perspective, such as Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary, which are also adultery tragedies.

The novel is about the love between Effi Briest and major Crampas. Effi, a 17-year old girl of noble descent, is married off to the 38-year-old Baron Geert von Instetten. The marriage is not a success. Effi is playful and wants to be played with. Also, Instetten is away for weeks. When Major Crampas arrives, Effi cannot help relishing his attentions despite Crampas being a married womaniser, and their love is consummated. Her husband looks down on Crampas, whom he finds a lewd philanderer with cavalier views of law. Crampas views Innstetten as a patronising prig.
Years later, when Geert, Effi and daughter Lütt-Anni has moved to Berlin, Geert finds love letters written by Crampas by chance.
A duel is inevitable. Crampas dies and the marriage is dissolved. Effi is allowed to to meet her daughter only once; a visit which ends dramatically. Effi goes back
to her parents and dies there shortly afterwards.

Today Effi Briest is widely discussed and taught at German schools. It has greatly influenced German writers, including Thomas Mann in his creation of Buddenbrooks. Mann said that if one had to reduce one’s library to six novels, Effi Briest would have to be one of them.

Hans van der Veen, translator of poetry and retired teacher of German will tell us not only about the story and its author, but also illuminate us about the context in which it was written.

Hans van der Veen is a germanist and retired German language teacher. He is also a gifted translator of poetry into German.