(Fast) ein literarisches Motiv: Effi Briest hin und zurück

The main issue of this paper is to analyse the literary motif „Effi Briest“ as it is found in the novel „Effi Briest“ by Fontane, Christine Brückners speechless monologues of angry women and in Rolf Hochhuths drama „Effis Nacht“ related altogether to the real protagonist Elisabeth von Ardenne and her more than unusual life. While Fontane and Brückner depicture a young helpless woman, restraint by society, unable to free herself but dying of grief, Hochhuth refers to the biography of Else von Ardenne whose life lasted almost a century. During her monologue the fictional Else comments not only on historical events like the two World Wars but also in intertextual remarks on Fontane’s novel based on her own biography