"Effi Briest," "Irrungen, Wirrungen," "Frau Jenny Treibel," or "Herr von Ribbeck": Theodor Fontane was the most important representative of German realism and was considered a literary mirror of Prussia. This biographical essay by his estate administrator Josef Ettlinger was published shortly after his death in 1890. The contemporary Ettlinger examines the life stages of the writer before the development of his work and takes the reader on a journey through Fontane's eventful life. "We only own the hour. And an hour, when it is happy, is much.".