Gender and politics in Austrian fiction

This volume of essays on Austrian fiction, compiled at a time when Austria is forming stronger links within the European Union, illustrates a transition from traditional preoccupations with character differences between Austrian and German literature to wider concerns of politics and gender. Fictional treatments of such issues as male homosexuality, problems in feminism, the representation of women in male-authored texts and anti-war protest are examined both in well-known novels and in little-known works by underrated authors. Many of the authors discussed have received insufficient recognition because they do not fall within a familiar canon of German literature. The specialised research involved in compiling this material is accessible through a series of book reviews included at the end of the volume which range in subject area from the life of an eighteenth-century soldier in the Habsburg service to the continuing discussion on Austrian identity.