Literaturwissenschaft heute

Right from the beginning literary studies have been concerned with the definition of their specific subject of analysis as well as with the reevaluation of their particular position within the sciences in general. In this respect literary studies are bound to work interdisciplinarily. Over the last few years the scientific community has predominately put its focus on concepts such as culture and media and has therefore formulated transdisciplinary demands. This has led to an unprecedented number of interdisciplinary approaches, which have provided the humanities with a wide range of new topics. The various branches of literary studies are to be understood as textual sciences that work within the wider context of other systems and media. By this means they react to epistemological changes that have taken place since the second half of the 20th century. Without doubt interdisciplinarity as well as the coexistence of a variety of methods/methodologies and new theoretical approaches have led to a number of new fields of research to which literary studies can provide cognitively productive contributions. The collection of essays tries to investigate the subject “literature” within the context of new concepts of art and within its theoretical potentials and at the same time discusses the capacity of literary studies and their theories within the context of modern society.