Anthology of Contemporary Austrian Folk Plays. (Studies in Austrian Literature, Culture and Thought. Translation Series).

The five plays contained within this volume represent a good sampling of that most difficult of genres in German-language literature: the Austrian Volksstuck (folk play). It has its origins in the eighteenth century, but it has become a favorite of modern Austrian playwrights for good reasons. They can take full advantage of the tradition, which seems to aim its often critical message at those who seldom have the means to set foot in a theater proper. These playwrights take their case to a greater audience than the traditional theater could or can contain; in doing so, they reenact the great ritual of the folk play genre. - The timeless elements of greed, power and inhumanity are the dominant themes of the modern Volksstuck as they were of the older, somewhat tamer versions. - The plays of this collection articulate these themes against a background of modern Austria. Austria as it was under the Habsburgs, under the Nazis, and as it exists today, buffered by social and political forces which increasingly threaten to overwhelm the frail structures of social integrity and human decency.