A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Lewald, Fanny
Is a Prussian lady who has achieved a European reputation by her talents as a writer of tales and sketches of life and manners. Her delineations, if at times somewhat coarse, are drawn with a firm free hand. Her first novel, entitled "Clementina and Jenny," did not attract much attention; but her second, called "Diogena," to which was attached the nom de plume of Iduna Countess H.-H., as a sort of parody upon the name of the Countess Hahn-Hahn, then in the height of her popularity, achieved an immediate success. Although intended as a satirical sally, in the highly sentimental and romantic style of the novelist of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, yet the story had so much of deep and sustained interest, that it took a firm hold of the public mind, and was read and talked about as one of the most powerful and original works of the day. Being published anonymously, its authorship was a matter of dispute, and this, too, tended to increase its popularity.
In Mademoiselle Lewald's next work, "Italienisches Bilderbuch," she avowed herself the author of "Diogena," and thus set conjecture to rest, and turned the eyes of the admirers of that work upon herself. Under the title of "The Italians at Home," there appeared in 1848, a translation of the above series of graphic and entertaining sketches. In 1849, came out a novel entitled "Prinz Louis Ferdinand," which had a slight foundation on facts in the life of a Prussian Prince. In 1850, after a season spent in England, she published her impressions of its scenery and people. This book was translated in 1854, and won regard for the author by its frank cordial spirit and sound discriminating sense.