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A History of Austrian Literature 1918–2000. Ed. Katrin Kohl & Ritchie Robertson. Rochester, NY: Boydell & Brewer, 2006. xii + 336 pp. £50.00/$90.00. ISBN 1–157113–276–7, Forum for Modern Language Studies, Volume 43, Issue 4, October 2007, Page 474, https://doi.org/10.1093/fmls/cqm085
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Not so much a narrative history, more a collection of twelve mainly excellent essays that between them cover all the most important literary categories, and occasionally touch on music and other arts. The year 1945 has conveniently been chosen as the dividing line between the two chapters each on drama, prose fiction, and popular culture, including cabaret and film. More general pieces range over publishers and institutions; the politics of Austrian literature; Austrian poetry; the political, institutional and publishing context since the Second World War; responses to National Socialism and the Holocaust; and to multiculturalism at the start of the new century. The expert contributors are supported by a generous editorial policy, with a table of key dates and a deft introductory chapter. One may look in vain for this or that respected minor figure; and conversely can occasionally feel bewildered by the press of names. There are endnotes to each essay, recommendations for further reading, notes on the contributors, and a full, detailed index. A block of well-chosen and mainly high quality photographs enhances the book's attraction; it will satisfy teachers and students alike, as well as inform and satisfy the more general reader.
