J. P. Stern 
Idylls & Realities [PDF ebook] 
Studies in Nineteenth-Century German Literature

Originally published in 1971, this book outlines the period of Germany’s belated industrial revolution and suggests why German literature does not, before the 1880s, contribute to the tradition of European realism. It considers the alternatives to realism offered in three genres of drama, poetry and prose fiction. The book closely analyses specific texts, both in the original and in translation, with comparisons with non-German works.