FONTANE, THEODOR (1819-1898), German poet and novelist, was born at Neu-Ruppin on Dec. 3o, 1819. He made repeated visits to England, interesting himself in old English ballads, and as the first fruits of his tours published Ein Sommer in London (1854) ; Aus England, Studien and Briefe (186o) and Jenseit des Tweed, Bilder and Briefe aus Schottland (186o); and a volume of ballads Manner and Heiden (186o) . Fontane ranks with Uhland as one of the great ballad writers of the i9th century. He drew his material from English, Scottish and above all Prussian sources; sometimes, as in Die Briick'am Tay from contemporary events. Among the most famous are Archi bald Douglas, Schloss Eger, and one on "der alte Dessauer." Fontane was particularly attached to his native Mark of Branden burg; the fascination which it had for him may be seen in his delightfully picturesque Wanderungen durch die Mark Branden burg (1862-82, 4 vols.). In 187o he was for three months a prisoner of war at Vaucouleurs. His fine historical romance Vor dem Sturm (1878) was followed by a series of novels of con temporary life : Irrungen, Wirrungen (1888) ; Stine (189o) ; Un wiederbringlich (1891) ; Ef'i Briest (1895) ; Der Stechlin in which Fontane adapted the realistic methods and social crit icism of contemporary French fiction to the conditions of Prus sian life. He died on Sept. 2o, 1898 at Berlin.
Fontane's other works include: Kriegsgefangen, Erlebtes 187o (1871) ; Der Krieg gegen Frankreich 1870-71 (1874-76) . Fontane's Gesammelte Romane and Erzdhlungen were published in 12 vols. (1890-91, end ed., 19.35). For his life see the autobiographical works Meine Kinderjahre (1894) , and Von Zwanzig bis Dreissig (1898) , also Briefe an seine Familie (1905) . See also monographs by F. Servaes (190o), Zillman (Stuttgart, 1919), Wandrey (Munich, 1919), and K. Hayens (London, 192o) .