{"id":4198,"date":"2012-08-24T11:05:07","date_gmt":"2012-08-24T11:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=4198"},"modified":"2012-08-23T11:05:19","modified_gmt":"2012-08-23T11:05:19","slug":"german-poetry-theodor-fontane-john-maynard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/german-poetry-theodor-fontane-john-maynard\/","title":{"rendered":"German Poetry: Theodor Fontane \u2013 \u201cJohn Maynard\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Theodor Fontane (born 30 December in Neuruppin) was a German novelist and poet. His main job was actually pharmacist \u2013 a profession also carried on by his father \u2013 but always felt called to writing. His first novel Geschwisterliebe<\/em><\/strong> (Siblings Love) was published in 1839, the same year he finished his education in pharmacy. Ten years later, in 1849, he decided to quit his job as a pharmacist in favor of being a full-time writer.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Maynard\u201d<\/strong> is one of Fontane\u2019s best known ballads. For the first time, it was published in the Berliner Bunte Mappe<\/em><\/strong> (here: \u201cBerlin Random Folder\u201d).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Historic background of \u201cJohn Maynard\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the night from 8 August to 9 August 1841, the paddle steamer Erie<\/em> caught fire while its trip from Buffalo to Erie (Pennsylvania). Turpentine and paint was stored next to the steam boilers. Unlike in the ballad, only 29 out of 200 passengers were rescued. It is also not known whether the real \u201cJohn Maynard\u201d (probably the helmsman Luther Fuller) had survive this catastrophe or survived seriously injured.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n