{"product_id":"count-petfy-rex-rex-levang-9781640142206","title":"Count Pet?fy: A Novel of Austria-Hungary","description":"\u003cb\u003eFirst English translation of an unjustly overlooked novel by the great German realist novelist Theodor Fontane.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSet in Austria and Hungary in the 1870s, this novel is the story of Count Adam Pet?fy, 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 \u003ci\u003ecarte blanche\u003c\/i\u003e. Despite their differences of age, class, and background, they marry. Adam takes Franziska, now Countess Pet?fy, 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eCount Pet?fy\u003c\/i\u003e has been a neglected book, even in Germany, and has been overshadowed by Fontane's celebrated \"Berlin\" novels, such as \u003ci\u003eEffi Briest\u003c\/i\u003e. This first-ever English translation will allow a wider audience to read and study \u003ci\u003eCount Pet?fy\u003c\/i\u003e 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 \u003ci\u003eCount Pet?fy\u003c\/i\u003e before, and an afterword by Helen Chambers on the novel's relationship to the novelist's other works.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Rex Rex Levang, Theodor Fontane\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1640142207\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781640142206\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Camden House (NY)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/28\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 208\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Rex Rex Levang","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46881104298239,"sku":"9781640142206","price":120.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_9dc76da5-ee48-4b58-a553-c470fe0d219f.jpg?v=1747970686","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/count-petfy-rex-rex-levang-9781640142206","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}