I have just finished reading No Way Back by Theodore Fontane (translated by Hugh Rorrison and Helen Chambers).
About Denmark: "It's actually a fine nation, very clever people, very gifted, with many talents. And as surely as they have the virtues that commerce with the world brings, they have its darker sides too. They're all hedonists; they've never really had to suffer and struggle, and wealth and good fortune have fallen into their lap... instead of recognising that those who would rule must start by ruling themselves."
"...entertainment in politics invariably means chronique scandaleuse."
"What would life be without love affairs? Dull, dismal, boring. But to watch, to feel, to understand as something builds up from the most fleeting encounters and glances to end up stronger than death..."
"...atonement is something an injustice demands..."
After separation from his wife Count Holk travels to London and lives for a time in a house overlooking Tavistock Square - like this end of terrace house I imagine, opposite the BMA ("...Holk occupied the first-floor rooms in an old but very well-conserved double-fronted corner house with a blacony running round it").
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