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.

Acknowledgments - Introduction - Gabriele Petricek: Übergänge-Grenzen-Lichtungen - Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger: Crossings-Borders-Openings - Mascha Dabic: Was kann Literatur? - Translated by Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger: What is Literature Capable of? - Literature - Prose in German and English Translation - Patricia Brooks: Die Grammatik der Zeit (Excerpts) - Excerpts translated by Peter Waugh: The Grammar of Time - Mascha Dabic: Meine Grenzen - Translated by Geoffrey C. Howes: My Borders - Mascha Dabic: Reibungsverluste (Excerpts) - Excerpts translated by Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger: Friction Losses - Dimitré Dinev: Spas schläft (Excerpts) - Excerpts translated by Deborah Holmes: Spas Sleeps - Dimitré Dinev: Wasser (Excerpts) - Excerpts translated by Geoffrey C. Howes: Water - Marianne Gruber: Erinnerungen eines Narren (Excerpts) - Excerpts translated by Kirsten Krick-Aigner: Memories of a Clown - Udo Kawasser: Ache. Ein Versuch (Excerpts) - Excerpts translated by Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger: Ache. An Experiment - Hanno Millesi: Der Schmetterlingstrieb (Excerpts) - Excerpts translated by Geoffrey C. Howes: The Butterfly Drive - Gabriele Petricek: Streifzüge durch Welt oder: Der Rehe Spiegel funkeln silberdunkel - Translated by Peter Waugh: Roetails Glisten Silverdark - Gabriele Petricek: Labor des Lebens - Translated by Peter Waugh: Laboratory of Life - Judith Nika Pfeifer: Zwischenfall - Translated by Kirsten Krick-Aigner: Incident - Lydia Steinbacher: Die Frau und das Kästchen oder Der Bunker - Translated by Andreas Schachermayr: The Woman and the Casket or The Air-Raid Shelter - Lydia Steinbacher: Wenn der Wind dreht - Translated by Andreas Schachermayr: When the Wind Changes - Erwin Uhrmann: Ich bin die Zukunft (Excerpts) - Excerpts translated by Peter Waugh: I Am the Future - Vladmir Vertlib: Zwischenstationen (Excerpts) - Excerpts translated by Craig Decker: Way Stations - Phillip Weiss: Malachit und Amphisbaena - Translated by Barbara Kosta and Philipp Weiss: Malachit and Amphisbaena - Conversations Im Gespräch mit Patricia Brooks (Excerpts) - Excerpts translated by Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger: In Conversation with Patricia Brooks - Im Gespräch mit Udo Kawasser (Excerpts) - Excerpts translated Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger: In Conversation with Udo Kawasser - Im Gespräch mit Lydia Steinbacher (Excerpts) - Excerpts translated by Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger: In Conversation with Lydia Steinbacher - Im Gespräch mit Vladimir Vertlib (Excerpts) - Excerpts translated by Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger: In Conversation with Vladimir Vertlib - Literary Analyses Peter Höyng: Building Bridges: Initial Observations on Dimitré Dinev's Prose Texts - Kirsten Krick-Aigner: Marianne Gruber'sErinnerungen eines Narren: A Tale of Border Crossings, Real and Imagined - Britta Kallin: Surrealist Aesthetics and Intertextualities in Selected Works by Hanno Millesi - Geoffrey C. Howes: The Density of Life: Gabriele Petricek's Literary Laboratories - Elizabeth Ametsbichler: Notions of Interconnectedness: An Introduction to Judith Nika Pfeifer's Writing and an Interview - Felix Tweraser: Climate Change, Border Politics, and Mass Displacement in Erwin Uhrmann'sIch bin die Zukunft(2014) - Barbara Kosta: Voracious Productions: Philipp Weiss's Experimental Explorations - Impact Barbara Kosta reflects - Felix Tweraser reflects - Student Participants - About the Contributors.