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C.
Friedrich

(1811–1875),
a
family
friend,
he
started
a
job
in
the
Deaconess
Hospital
Bethanien

in
Kreuzberg,
Berlin.
His
task
was
to
prepare
two
deaconesses
for
their

examination
and
to
work
in
the
hospital
pharmacy.
Both
women
passed
their

exams
very
well,
which
is
evidence
of
Fontane’s
pharmaceutical
knowledge.
After

this
job
he
considered
his
future
and
decided
to
abandon
the
pharmacist

profession,
because
he
feared
to
end
up
like
his
father.
His
father
Louis
Henri

Fontane
(1796–1867)
was
a
gifted
man,
a
delightful
narrator,
but
also
a
gambler

and
drinker.

Theodor
Fontane
realized
that
his
fortune
did
not
suffice
to
buy
a
good

pharmacy,
so
he
quitted
his
profession.
In
the
following
years
he
worked
as
editor,

corrector,
press
agent
and
finally
as
the
secretary
of
the
Academy
of
Arts
in
Berlin.

In
1878
he
published
his
first
novel
‘Before
the
Storm’
(‘Vordem
Sturm’)
(8).

Only
one
year
later
Fontane
mentioned
plans
for
a
contemporary
novel

titled
‘All
Kinds
of
Luck’
(‘Allerlei
Glück’),
the

protagonist
of
which
was
a
pharmacist
who

resembled
his
former
master
Wilhelm
Rose

very
much.
However,
the
novel
remained

fragmentary,
but
Fontane
incorporated
many

sketchily
drawn
characters
and
milieu

depictions
in
his
later
works.
The
publishers

rather
preferred
shorter
narrations
or
novellas.

Besides,
Fontane
did
not
want
to
be

distinguished
as
a
‘writing
pharmacist’
(10).

In
1892,
Fontane
was
taken
ill
with
an

age-­-related
depression.
His
physician
was
about

to
admit
him
to
a
mental
asylum.
Fontane

Figure
4.-­-
Theodor
Fontane.
believed
that
he
would
die
at
the
age
of
72
like

his
father.
When
he
was
recovering
–
without

medicine
which
he
as
a
former
pharmacist
was
disinclined
to
take
–
his
doctor

recommended,
“If
you
want
to
get
well
again,
write.”
Fontane
started
to
write

down
his
childhood
memories
and
proceeded
with
his
novel
‘Effi
Briest’.
In
both

works
pharmacist
characters
appear:
his
own
father
in
his
childhood
memories

and
Dr.
Alonzo
Gieshübler
in
‘Effi
Briest’,
the
last
of
which
without
a
doubt
shares

features
of
his
father,
and
according
to
Georg
Urdang
he
is
“one
of
the
most

likeable,
though
authentic
representatives
of
his
profession
ever
created
by
a

writer.”
Gieshübler,
who
affirmed
that
he
had
never
been
young,
is
presented
as
an

exceedingly
positive
figure
feeling
a
lot
of
sympathy
for
other
people
(8).

Another
writer
originating
from
the
profession
of
pharmacists
is
the

dramatist
and
novelist
Hermann
Sudermann
(1857–1928),
whose
dramas
were

successful
in
Berlin
and
other
theatres
in
his
lifetime.
Currently,
Sudermann
is

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