Felix Mitterer : A Critical Introduction

During the last decades, the contemporary author Felix Mitterer has grown steadily in both critical and popular acclaim throughout the German-speaking world. He is a native of Aachenkirch in Tirol; his folk plays are today performed on all of the major stages in Germany and Austria, and his television plays and series attract large audiences. In recent years Mitterer's works have also attracted serious interest abroad, and they have been translated into twelve different languages. To date, however, no scholarly or general introduction to Mitterer and his works exist in English; it is this latter point that the present volume is meant to address. It is comprised of four sections: a general introduction to the life of Mitterer; an analysis of the reception of his works on the German stage; an extensive interview with Mitterer regarding relevant biographical information, literary forms and his salient themes; invited essays by eleven prominent Germanists who specialize in Mitterer and contemporary Austrian literature. Topics cover a broad range in section three, including the various roles of female protagonists in his works, innovation in the use of traditional theatrical devices, aspects of provincialism and universality in his oeuvre, and the interpretation of individual works.