Studies in Central European Culture – serie

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.

All the Rage introduces Jelinek’s work and its critical relevance for understanding contemporary western society while gaining insight into the vibrancy of her aesthetics. Jelinek’s experimental reconceptualization of theater and literature and her critical interventions into public discourses that support, promote and endure social injustices are central to this volume. Themes of right-wing populism and neoliberalism, war, gender inequalities, racism, migration, the politics of memory, and the erasure of troubling historical pasts command her work. The volume brings together scholars, translators, and international artists who explore topics ranging from directorial considerations, postdramatic, intertextual and intermedial practices, the experience of performing, teaching and translating Jelinek’s work. Thematically relevant today, Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek, recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize for Literature, reveals the possibilities of literature and the stage to expose power, violence, and structural harm.