The sixteen articles compiled here are devoted to individual prose works published after 1970 that reflect the "Austrian tradition" within the field of German literature. The works treated include those of the popular and widely recognisable names of world-renowned writers such as Peter Handke, Thomas Bernhard, Ingeborg Bachmann, and Nobel Prize winner Elias Canetti as well as of less well-known figures. Collectively these authors display a distinctly Austrian point of view: they are the literary voice of modern-day Austria, a country whose cultural and artistic achievements are often too casually subsumed under the more general "German" rubric. The authors and their works clearly demonstrate that Austria has made and continues to make a unique contribution to modern German-language literature and to world literature that is greatly disproportionate to its modest size and population. The essays in this volume have been written by experts in the field of Austrian cultural and literary studies. With but one exception, the works they present are readily available in English translation. The essays reveal a variety of interpretative perspectives but all share the common goal of explicating a single literary text for a diverse readership interested in the modern literary scene.

Schneider's play about prejudice and anti-foreign sentiment has become one of the most frequently performed works on the contemporary German stage.

A man walks onto the stage with a bouquet of roses in his hand. He begins to speak. The man's name is Sad -- he is an Arab. In the evening he sells roses to finance his studies. The hatred of the population towards him is so intense that he begins to turn on himself. "That's correct", he says, "I am dirty". The intensity of the monologue increases; it becomes passionate, desperate. He continues to speak. He screams. Screams for his life.