Effi Briest - Großdruck

Více o knize

Telling the tragic tale of a socially advantageous but emotionally ruinous match, this novel, translated by Hugh Rorrison with an introduction by Helen Chambers, presents the story of young Effi Briest, who is married to Baron von Innstetten, an austere civil servant twice her age. Isolated and bored in her new life, Effi seeks comfort in a brief affair with the married Major Crampas, a man with a dangerous reputation. Years later, as Effi has almost forgotten her indiscretion, the secret resurfaces, leading to devastating consequences. Through taut, ironic prose, the author explores a world where sexuality and the desire for joy are suppressed by societal pretenses and obligations. This work is considered the author's greatest, offering a humane, unsentimental portrait of a woman torn between her roles as a wife and mother and her own desires. Rorrison's modern translation is enhanced by Chambers’ introduction, which draws parallels between Effi and other literary heroines like Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina. The author, a prominent German novelist and political reporter, is also known for his ironic critique of middle-class hypocrisy in another notable work. Readers who appreciate this novel may also enjoy Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.