The Preparation of the Future

By identifying techniques of anticipation that occur in the novels of Theodor Fontane and Thomas Mann and by grouping them in a systematic way, the author presents new information about Fontane's and Mann's use of this particular narrative device. This study also has a general theoretical purpose: it provides a framework for examining techniques of anticipation in the novel genre. By exploring how these techniques function in particular novels, the contribution of anticipatory devices to narrative integration and their structural significance for the unity of the novel is demonstrated.