On the Limit of Literature

The European Literature Days 2013 put the spotlight on new forms of narrative currently a talking point in literary circles. Genres like the graphic novel or the documentary novel challenge traditional literature. Writers, critics and readers discuss whether and how contemporary literature transgresses its usual limits. How do life crises, or social and technological conflicts affect or change our conception of literature? Is our understanding currently being expanded or even transformed? The new media are fundamentally changing the general conditions for literary production. In a new century, literature is to some extent advancing to the next level. Writers’ (auto)biographical schemes are undergoing change, as are relationships between writers and readers. Literature is self-transforming – of its own accord: how does this affect the concept of authorship? And do the newly developed products still qualify as literature?