Germanic Languages & Literature.(Critical Essay)

In der Bresche stehen: Expectation and Reality in the Role of Pastor in Fontane's Efri Briest. Mary E. Buteyn, Calvin College, Department of Germanic Languages, Grand Rapids, MI 49546; 616/459-4945

In 1884 Theodor Fontane wrote,"... trotz ihrer enormen Fehler bleiben markische Junker und Landpastoren meine Ideale, meine stille Liebe." With this brief comment he anticipated his novel Effi Briest, which appeared a decade later. Set in primarily aristocratic circles, the narrative nevertheless features Pastor Niemeyer in an important supporting role. As the Protestant Church and its role with Prussian society had evolved through the nineteenth century, so too had the function of its local representative, the pastor. By the last decade Fontane presented the precarious and isolating social position of the clergy and its failure to fill the aristocracy's expectation of the minister as moral educator, proponent of theological orthodoxy, and guarantor of the social status quo. Although Fontane may have an affection for both the nobility and the clergy, he does not hesitate to portray their deficiencies and, in his portrayal, to …