The Changing Image of Theodor Fontane: Helen Chambers the Changing Image of Theodor Fontane: 42 (Literary Criticism in Perspective) - Hardcover

Helen Chambers has produced a book which is both useful and distinctive.... She documents judiciously and systematically the extent to which Fontane has become the object of methodologically diverse approaches. SOUTH ATLANTIC REVIEW
'An invaluable survey ... should be read and reflected on by anyone who teaches, or just reads, 19th-century German literature.' SEMINAR
'... stimulating reading... Should be in every public library.' DEUTSCHE BUECHER
'Informative, clear, makes for rewarding reading.' GERMAN QUARTERLY'Meticulously researched...fills a void in Fontane scholarship.' JEGP'Provides an excellent reference tool for Fontane scholars and gives the general reading public a true survey of Fontane criticism on his narrative fiction...' GERMANIC NOTES & REVIEWS'Eminently readable survey of Fontane criticism.' MONATSHEFTE

This study of the literary scholarship on Fontane's narrative works is the first to present a systematic review of the ever-growing body of criticism on Germany's major realist novelist. Significant developments in Fontane criticism are traced in historical context, from their beginnings in contemporary commentary to the present day. The author places special emphasis on scholarship since 1980, analysing the influence of new literary critical trends in this period; she also considers the effect upon traditional literary criticism of feminism, psychoanalysis, and comparatist approaches, and the fresh developments in reception history, translation, and media studies.