Since publishing his first volume of verse titled so beginnen am körper die tagewriter Gerhard Falkner has been regarded one of the most notable lyricists of our day. His poems set new standards by combining and confronting classical notions, themes and modes of speaking with those of the present in both irritating and intelligent ways. Alongside verse, prose, drama, translations and cross-media works, Falkner’s oeuvre also includes essays, speeches, commentaries and polemics on literature and art. In contrast to most of his colleagues, Falkner does not mince his words and accepts any challenge. He fights with the saber not the foil, turning the burning lens of his essays and polemics towards the fundamental problems of literature and art in a society high on an overkill of information and communication. Gerhard Falkner reflects and criticizes the possibilities, conditions and losses of literature and other artistic systems in our times with intellectual verve and emotional furor.