Theodor Fontane (1819-98) was born in a small Prussian town. He worked for most of his life as a journalist, and spent many years in London as a foreign correspondent for the Prussian intelligence agency. He began writing novels at the age of fifty-seven, and these works earned him an enduring reputation in German letters. Several of his realist masterpieces are published or forthcoming from Pushkin Press, including No Way Back, On Tangled Paths and his masterpiece Effi Briest.
STANLEY RADCLIFFE (1922-2019) was a Germanist and translator who championed the works of Theodor Fontane. His critical guide to Effi Briest was published by Grant & Cutler in 1987. He also translated Gerhart Hauptmann's naturalist novella of 1888 Bahnwärter Thiel as Lineman Thiel (1989).