Author:
Greve, Felix Paul, 1879-1948.

Title:
Fanny Essler : ein Berliner Roman / von Felix P. Greve. --

Edition: 2. Aufl. --
Published: Stuttgart : A. Juncker, [1905].
Description: 563 p.
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Local Notes:
A paper reproduction of this microfilm [= a photocopy] is also in The D. O. Spettigue Research Papers (Mss 57). --
A 1984 English Translation of this text was edited and published in 2 v. by Professors Anthony W. Riley & D. O. Spettigue, of Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.
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There are only two copies known to exist of Greve's first novel about Else, born Ploetz, divorced Endell, abandoned Greve, and lastly, Baroness von Freytag-Loringhoven:
    - the present text (Mf18) is from the Landesarchiv Berlin
    - a copy of the book's first printing stems from the British Museum (Mf 10).
While the pagination in Mf 10 remains the same, there are some differences in the book's presentation:
     it is set in Gothic type ; the subtitle simply reads "ein Roman" ; under "von Felix P. Greve" there is an intriguing note stating "Entwurf des Umschlags vom Verfasser" (Cover design by the author). --

Holdings: Mf 10, Dafoe Library ; Mf 18 and photocopy, UM Archives, Mss 57
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This novel is closely related to the scandalous pair's 1904/5 'Fanny Essler' Complex in poetry & prose. This project is best explained in Greve's correspondence with Gide:
attached to Claude Martin's fine edition of Gide's "Conversation avec un allemand"*** in the October 1976 issue of the Bulletin des amis d'André Gide were two extraordinarily informative letters by Felix Paul Greve. In the second of these, Greve says that he is publishing in triple identities:
   1. under his own name,
   2. under the name of Madame Else Greve, and
   3. under the name "Fanny Essler"
Tho latter's poems, he explains, have already attracted favourable attention in Germany. At this time, in October 1904, Greve still toys with the idea of publishing an ANONYMOUS autobiography BY the mysterious Lady Poet Fanny Essler ...
He also makes it quite clear that HE is doing ALL the work attributed to his two female doubles ("Je sommes TROIS / I am THREE").

While Else Endell -- she & Greve weren't married until 1907 -- could not have translated the two volumes of Flaubert's correspondence credited to "Else Greve," the subject matter of the beautifully crafted poetry cycle in the Petrarchan tradition published in Die Freistatt (1904 / 1905) is clearly hers: the eclusive topic is her unnamed and absent lover Greve.
Fanny Essler's anonymous "Autobiography", like Greve's second biographical book about Else's childhood Maurermeister Ihles Haus (1906/7), came out as a NOVEL with Greve's name sitting squarely in the author's position on the title page.
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***
Online Access:
- French & English e-Ed. of Claude Martin's 1976 ed. ofGide's "Conversation avec un allemand" & two 1904 letters by Greve
- The "je sommes trois" passage of the 17.10.1904 letter therer (c2001, Divay).
- The seven "Fanny Essler" cycle was first published as part of Greve/Grove's Poems / Gedichte, a comprehensive poetry edition from the UM Archives' collections (Divay, c1993 ; e-Edition, c2007 ; see Introd about them).
- An electronic edition with English translations haa been published in 2005 as a Centennial e-Edition  of Fanny Essler's 1904/5 Poetry"