Investigates the function and meaning of sadness in German, Austrian, and Swiss literature and culture from the 18th century to the present.

Introduction: Sadness and Melancholy in German-Language Literature from the Seventeenth Century to the Present: An Overview - Mary Cosgrove
Tears That Make the Heart Shine? "Godly Sadness" in Pietism - Peter Damrau
Produktive Negativität: Traurigkeit als Möglichkeitssinn um 1800 - Johannes Kaminski
Die Schwester Lenaus? Betty Paoli und der Weltschmerz - Karin S Wozonig
"Immer wieder kehrst du, Melancholie": Plotting Georg Trakl's Poetic Sadness - Richard Millington
Die Lust am Unendlichen: Melancholie und Ironie bei Robert Walser - Per Brandt and Jens Hobus
Melancholy Echo and the Case of Serenus Zeitblom - Steve Joy
Melancholy in Wilhelm Genazino's Novels and Its Construction as Other - Svenja Frank
The Past is Another Country and the Country Is Another Past: Sadness in East German Texts by Jakob Hein and Julia Schoch - Franziska Meyer