The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12 by Theodor Fontane It is difficult to assign to Gustav Freytag his exact niche in the hall of fame, because of his many-sidedness. He wrote one novel of which the statement has been made by an eminent French critic that no book in the German language, with the exception of the Bible, has enjoyed in its day so wide a circulation; he wrote one comedy which for years was more frequently played than any other on the German stage; he wrote a series of historical sketches-Pictures of the German Past he calls them-which hold a unique place in German literature, being as charming in style as they are sound in scholarship.