The work portrays Gustav Freytag as a key figure in the establishment of literary realism post 1848, and comprehensively contextualizes his writings. Starting from Freytag's successful works The Journalists and Debit and Credit , and his role as co-editor of the newspaper Die Grenzboten , the study examines the full range of the author's work while focusing on the typical contexts and constellations of the epoch.

Philipp Böttcher, Univ. of Göttingen, Germany.