The Biographical Narrative on the Occasion of an Anniversary. 200 Years of the Birth of Theodor Fontane

Authors:

Pages: 61-75
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/HCYX8109

Abstract:

The Celebration of Theodore Fontane’s 200th Birthday in 2019 gave rise to the biographical narrative to come into the spotlight again. Four new biographies of the writer appeared in a short period. Their specificity – coincidence of the reference object and the same cultural and historical background of their creation and occurrence – is an argument to try observations on the current state of biographical writing. After a brief review of biographical theoretical discourse, the criteria by which biographical texts can be compared are formulated. In the proposed article these criteria are tested by applying them to the selected biographical text – Iwan Michelangelo D’Aprile: Fontane. Ein Jahrhundert in Bewegung. Observations made in this way allow significant conclusions to be drawn.

Keywords:

Theodor Fontane; biography; biographical debate; scientific and literary biography; comparison criteria

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