Author: Theodor Fontane

Theodor Fontane was born on December 30, 1819, in Neuruppin, Brandenburg. After a four-year apprenticeship, he worked as an assistant pharmacist in various cities and obtained his license as a first-class pharmacist in 1847. In 1849, he left the profession, established himself as a journalist and freelance writer, and married Emilie Rouanet-Kummer in 1850. From 1855 to early 1858, he stayed in London, among other roles as a press agent for the Prussian envoy. Between 1862 and 1882, he published "Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg." In addition to his extensive work as a war correspondent and travel writer, Fontane was a theater critic for the Vossische Zeitung for two decades. He made his debut as a novelist at the age of 60. His first novel, "Vor dem Sturm" (1878), was followed in quick succession by his famous novels and stories, as well as the two memoirs "Meine Kinderjahre" and "Von Zwanzig bis Dreissig." Fontane died on September 20, 1898, in Berlin.

Editor: Gabriele Radecke

Gabriele Radecke, born in 1967, lives in Munich. From 1989 to 1995, she studied German studies, political science, and law in Mainz. She dedicated her doctoral thesis to Theodor Fontane's novel "L'Adultera," which she reissued in 1998 as part of the comprehensive Brandenburg Fontane edition published by Aufbau-Verlag. In 1999, she presented the highly regarded first publication of the travel diary "Auf einer Reise nach Süden" by August von Goethe. She is the head of the Fontane research center and editor of the GBA. In 2017, she was awarded the prize of the Foundation Council of the University of Göttingen for her commitment to bridging the gap between academia and the public.