Count Pet�fy: A Novel of Austria-Hungary
First English translation of an unjustly overlooked novel by the great German realist novelist Theodor Fontane.


Set in Austria and Hungary in the 1870s, this novel is the story of Count Adam Petöfy, a lifelong bachelor, who at age seventy, unexpectedly proposes marriage to a young actress, Franziska Franz. He explains that he is only looking for companionship and affectionate regard - apart from this, he will give Franziska carte blanche. Despite their differences of age, class, and background, they marry. Adam takes Franziska, now Countess Petöfy, from Vienna to his family's ancestral estates in the Hungarian countryside. Here they begin their new life: a life of ease and privilege - but later, of struggles which neither has anticipated.

Count Petöfy has been a neglected book, even in Germany, and has been overshadowed by Fontane's celebrated "Berlin" novels, such as Effi Briest. This first-ever English translation will allow a wider audience to read and study Count Petöfy for its exploration of missteps and the limits of self-realization, of questions of gender and social convention, of honour and duty; and for a narrative craft that reveals and conceals at the same time. The translation is bookended by contributions from two noted Fontane scholars: a contextualizing introduction by Brian Tucker, who has written on Count Petöfy before, and an afterword by Helen Chambers on the novel's relationship to the novelist's other works.
1147364175
Count Pet�fy: A Novel of Austria-Hungary
First English translation of an unjustly overlooked novel by the great German realist novelist Theodor Fontane.


Set in Austria and Hungary in the 1870s, this novel is the story of Count Adam Petöfy, a lifelong bachelor, who at age seventy, unexpectedly proposes marriage to a young actress, Franziska Franz. He explains that he is only looking for companionship and affectionate regard - apart from this, he will give Franziska carte blanche. Despite their differences of age, class, and background, they marry. Adam takes Franziska, now Countess Petöfy, from Vienna to his family's ancestral estates in the Hungarian countryside. Here they begin their new life: a life of ease and privilege - but later, of struggles which neither has anticipated.

Count Petöfy has been a neglected book, even in Germany, and has been overshadowed by Fontane's celebrated "Berlin" novels, such as Effi Briest. This first-ever English translation will allow a wider audience to read and study Count Petöfy for its exploration of missteps and the limits of self-realization, of questions of gender and social convention, of honour and duty; and for a narrative craft that reveals and conceals at the same time. The translation is bookended by contributions from two noted Fontane scholars: a contextualizing introduction by Brian Tucker, who has written on Count Petöfy before, and an afterword by Helen Chambers on the novel's relationship to the novelist's other works.
120.0 Pre Order

Hardcover

$120.00 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Available for Pre-Order. This item will be released on October 28, 2025

Related collections and offers


Overview

First English translation of an unjustly overlooked novel by the great German realist novelist Theodor Fontane.


Set in Austria and Hungary in the 1870s, this novel is the story of Count Adam Petöfy, a lifelong bachelor, who at age seventy, unexpectedly proposes marriage to a young actress, Franziska Franz. He explains that he is only looking for companionship and affectionate regard - apart from this, he will give Franziska carte blanche. Despite their differences of age, class, and background, they marry. Adam takes Franziska, now Countess Petöfy, from Vienna to his family's ancestral estates in the Hungarian countryside. Here they begin their new life: a life of ease and privilege - but later, of struggles which neither has anticipated.

Count Petöfy has been a neglected book, even in Germany, and has been overshadowed by Fontane's celebrated "Berlin" novels, such as Effi Briest. This first-ever English translation will allow a wider audience to read and study Count Petöfy for its exploration of missteps and the limits of self-realization, of questions of gender and social convention, of honour and duty; and for a narrative craft that reveals and conceals at the same time. The translation is bookended by contributions from two noted Fontane scholars: a contextualizing introduction by Brian Tucker, who has written on Count Petöfy before, and an afterword by Helen Chambers on the novel's relationship to the novelist's other works.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781640142206
Publisher: Camden House (NY)
Publication date: 10/28/2025
Series: Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture , #256
Pages: 208
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

REX LEVANG is a writer and translator, a graduate of Columbia University, and the retired Classical Music Director of Minnesota Public Radio.

THEODOR FONTANE (1819-1898) is among the greatest of German writers of the 19th century.

BRIAN TUCKER is Professor of German at Wabash College, IN.

HELEN CHAMBERS is Emeritus Professor of German at the University of St Andrews, UK.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Brian Tucker
Translator's Note

Count Petöfy
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five

Afterword
Helen Chambers
Bibliography
Index
From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews