The Encyclopedia of German Literary Studies is the standard work of German language and literature studies. It explains all of the important terms of the field precisely and extensively. The terminology of different genres (e.g. drama, poetry, short novel), as well as those of methodology (e.g. hermeneutics, structuralism) and literary theory (e.g. author, narrative perspective), are exhaustively illustrated with regard to their etymology and subject matter. Each article features an extensive bibliography. The encyclopedia is now available for the first time in an affordable paperback edition. The contents of this edition are identical to those of the original hardback edition (1997-2003) and, just as the original edition, provide the first source of information for all questions about the basic concepts in the field of German language and literature studies.