This is the second week of the Effi Briest readalong. I could’t post about it last week, because I joined the readalong quite late. Here are my answers to the readalong questions for the second week.
What strikes you most in this novel, what do you like or dislike the most?
I like the descriptions of Effi’s house in the initial part of the book – about how Effi is a playful girl who is playing with her friends and how in less than an hour her life is going to change in a fundamental way. I also found it interesting that Fontane doesn’t describe the major events in the novel – for example, Effi’s wedding or the music session by Marietta Trippelli. (I don’t know whether this is the translator’s doing or whether Fontane himself shies away from describing these events. I assumed that Fontane was the one who did it.) For some reason Fontane shies away from describing these important events in the novel. Even the affair between Effi and Crampas, which is an important part of the novel, is implied rather than described. I found this quite interesting. It seemed like Fontane wanted the reader to read closely and work hard to follow the story. Or he seemed to imply that what we consider important and what we consider common place in our lives, are all the same in the long run. I don’t know what Fontane thought, but I found this aspect of the novel quite interesting.
Do you think Fontane likes Effi? Whose side is he on?
Effi is the heroine of the novel and Fontane takes a lot of space in describing the events surrounding her life. I am not sure whose side Fontane is on. I felt that he tried to describe nineteenth century German values quite realistically and beautifully in the book and tries to show the world of that era from different perspectives.
What do you make of the story of the Chinese and the haunted house. How would you interpret it? And what about Crampas’ interpretation?
The story of the Chinaman and the haunted house was quite interesting. It succeeded in providing an eerie and haunting atmosphere for part of the book. I don’t know whether this is a feature of nineteenth century German literature, because I am discovering haunting and eerie descriptions in novels by different nineteenth century German authors. The haunting of the upstairs room seems to be real from Effi’s perspective. But as readers, we are not sure whether this is just a dream or a hallucination of Effi as a result of her conversation with her husband and her maid on the Chinaman, or whether the haunting is real. Crampas’ interpretation of the haunted room is interesting. I didn’t like it when I read it, because it looked like a smooth guy’s way of poisoning a girl’s heart. But when I read the book further, I wasn’t sure. Because there seemed to be some element of truth in what Crampas said that her husband was using the haunted house description to make his wife think in a particular way.
Descriptions are an important part in Effi Briest. How do you like them and how important do you think they are for the novel?
I liked the descriptions in ‘Effi Briest’. The descriptions in the initial part of the book which describe Effi’s carefree life are a pleasure to read. One of my favourite descriptions in the book comes in the last chapter (so this is a spoiler). It goes like this :
The only one who remained calm during the welcoming scene was Rollo himself, who either had no appreciation of time or considered the separation as an irregularity which was now simply removed. The fact that he had grown old also had something to do with it, no doubt. He remained sparing with his demonstrations of affection as he had been with his evidences of joy, during the welcoming scene. But he had grown in fidelity, if such a thing were possible. He never left the side of his mistress. The hunting dog he treated benevolently, but as a being of a lower order. At night he lay on the rush mat before Effi’s door; in the morning, when breakfast was served out of doors by the sundial, he was always quiet, always sleepy, and only when Effi arose from the breakfast table and walked toward the hall to take her straw hat and umbrella from the rack, did his youth return. Then, without troubling himself about whether his strength was to be put to a hard or easy test, he ran up the village road and back again and did not calm down till they were out in the fields.
It struck me while I was reading this novel how Fontane pairs descriptions of cozy and scary. Did you notice this as well and if so, what did you make of this?
I didn’t notice this when I read the book. But when I think about it now, I think it is true. Fontane’s pairing of contrasting situations – cozy and scary – is quite interesting. He definitely plays with opposites to create an interesting effect.
What do you think of Crampas?
I didn’t like Crampas much. His character is not really explored in depth in the book, though it serves an important part in the central theme of the book. He starts out as a playboy kind of character, and I didn’t find that changing much. Though towards the end I found it sad to read about him.
Fontane chose to describe more than one Christmas in this novel, what do you think Christmas signifies?
Fontane describes the contrasting Christmas weeks during different times of the novel. They reveal the pulse of the current moment in the story – the initial happy days of Effi’s married life, the days leading to her affair with Crampas and the time when she spends Christmas alone, cutoff from the world. In one way, reading the description of Effi’s Christmas during these three times, we can discover the central theme and plot of the story and its ebbs and flows.
What kind of mother is Effi?
She loves her daughter and accepts her as she is. And later pines for her. And is disappointed with her reunion with her daughter.
Where will the novel go from here? What do you think will happen next?
At the end of Chapter 24, Effi has settled down in Berlin and the second phase of her life has started. We hope that it will be peaceful for her and her family and the uncomfortable events of the past are forgotten. But the past has a way of coming back into one’s life. So, it will be interesting to wait and see what happens.
You can find the link to other participants’ readalong posts here.
Wonderful, Vishy, so well said.
I didn’t remember from the first time I read the book that the affair wasn’t described at all. If it wasn’t for Effi’s letter of goodbye to Crampas one would stay in doubt in guess. Someone wrote this meant he didn’t think the affair as such was important but that he thought how it happened and to what it led was important.
I think these ghost stories have something to do with the region but i would have to researc some more. These Northern parts of Germany are quite wild, with their marshes and the cold Northern sea, they are full of tales.
I almost liked Crampas but only because I do not like Instetten. He is quite mean at times. Maybe that was lost in translation.
Thanks Caroline! Yes, if it wasn’t for Effi’s goodbye letter, it would have been difficult to say anything definite about the affair. Yes, the consequences of the affair seem to be more important to the story than the affair itself.
It was interesting to read your thoughts on the ghost stories of Northern Germany and how that landscape inspires those stories. I found this eerie atmosphere in both of Storm’s stories I read and in ‘Effi Briest’ too.
It was interesting to read your thoughts on Crampas and Instetten. Yes, Instetten’s personality must have lost some of its complexity because of the translation, because it wasn’t obvious to me that he was a mean guy – he looked like a boring husband but not really mean.
He really makes condescending and almost snarky remarks. Often he will tell her something adding but something you wouldn’t have to know that and it just sounds like he was saying “You’re just a poor little woman, nobody can expect much from you”.
That is really sad, Caroline. I had a good impression of Instetten. I will re-read at those dialogues again.
I’m struck by what you say about Fontane not describing a number of important events – not just the affair, which might be seen as “delicacy” on his part, but other things too. It’s certainly worth pondering why he might have done this. I certainly need to re-read the book to reflect more on many of these questions.
Thanks for stopping by, Eibhlin 🙂 It struck me first, when I was expecting a detailed description of Effi’s lavish wedding, but Fontane just ignored the event itself and moved on with the story. Then I saw this happen again and again.
Hope you enjoy re-reading the story. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts during week 3 of the readalong.
As always, you entice my reading brain and it pushes me to be more open minded about different genres. Thank you, thank you!
You are welcome, Linda :)Glad to know that you liked this part-review.
Wahaha, those were pretty much the questions I had to answer on my German test in school 😀 I pretty much hated Effie Briest, and I daren’t try rereading it yet to see if that was because of school, or maybe I wasn’t mature enough as a reader. I remember that I found 19th century values interesting and depressing but young Effie and old Effie frustrated me to no end. Rebellious Effie was great though.
Interesting to know that, Bina 🙂 19th century values were quite different from those of today and sometimes it is difficult to understand them. I sometimes find people who still propound those values and it is difficult to talk to them or understand them. Glad to know that you liked rebellious Effi.
Peaceful? Pfft – not a chance 😉
That is sad, isn’t it?
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