This investigation is the first book devoted exclusively to Die Chronik der Sperlingsgasse (1854-55). Raabe’s first work is widely recognized as a precursor to his later masterpieces and anticipates developments in the modern novel, but misreadings and contradictions abound in the secondary literature. The present study seeks to clarify and interpret. It focuses on four elements of narrative structure: time, space, narrators and readers, and discusses the function of these elements and their implications for the reading process.