The study is designed as a contribution to the history and aesthetics of post-1945 literature in German. It confronts Adorno's verdict that "after Auschwitz" art had no business being pleasurable (heiter) with examples taken from the literature actually written between 1945 and the present day. With reference to a broad selection of authors (Thomas Mann, Ernst Jünger, Bertolt Brecht, Günter Grass etc. etc.), the author discusses various concepts of and debates about Heiterkeit and various instances of writing for pleasure. In terms of method the study adheres closely to a production- and text-aesthetic approach. The frequently espoused theory that after 1945 and Adorno's dictum writing in German has been exlusively over-serious is shown to be untenable.