The essays in this book document how the impressive body of literary works and films created by women writers and filmmakers has greatly enriched the Austrian cultural scene since 1945. Their contributions, however, were only marginally recognised during the 1950s and early 1960s and remained hidden within the shadows of the body of art created by their male counterparts in the process of re-establishing Austria's post-World War II cultural identity. The situation changed during the 1970s, when the literary and film texts of the younger generation began to strongly assert feminist views and issues. The texts of contemporary Austrian women writers and filmmakers were directed towards social and ethnic consciousness-raising and are united by their radically new use of language.

This collection of seventeen articles offers an investigation of some of the most important voices from Austria's theatre world between 1945 and 2001. They are for the most part critical voices engaged in the constantly evolving redefinition of a political state and its private citizens, undermining the status quo and the general complacency. They include both writers, producers and directors, for the written word must take shape on stage and the real debate of drama takes place in a public space. Therefore this volume attempts to include issues of staging and reception where possible. Taken as a whole this volume is intended to show the incredible richness and variety of the theatre scene in Austria.

This volume documents the triple-series Austrian-American Podium Dialog held at Lafayette College in 2013, 2015, and 2018 to which twelve Austrian authors were invited and paired with scholars from American universities and colleges. After the introductory essays that explain how the symposia came about and what took place, the volume offers seventeen literary texts, in their original German as well as in English translations, that were read during the symposia followed by seven scholarly essays that introduce the Austrian writers and provide insightful interpretations of their diverse literatures. Excerpts from conversations among the writers, scholars and German undergraduate students give testimony to the enlightened and spirited dialogs about the role of literature and their personal writing and the literary production in today's Austria. Additionally, two scholars reflect on their experiences and tell how they influenced their subsequent collaboration with the writers at their respective universities. The entire volume, intended for reading and teaching Austrian literature not only in German departments but also in English and comparative literature departments, is accessible to English-speakers.