Anthology of Contemporary Austrian Folk PlaysTranslation and Afterword by Richard Dixon

The five plays collected in this volume provide a representative sampling of the Austrian contemporary Volksstuck (folk play). The Volksstuck which has its origins in the eighteenth century has become a favorite genre of modern Austrian playwrights because of its tradition of treating basic social problems critically and realistically.

The timeless universal drives of greed, power, and inhumanity remain the dominant themes of the modern Volksstuck as they were of the older version. These Selections — Veza Canetti, The Ogre; Peter Preses/Ulrich Becher, Our Mr. Bockerer; Peter Turrini, Swine; Felix Mitterer, No Place for Idiots; Gerald Szyszkowitz, Friedemann Puntigam — are available in English for the first time.