These essays deal with Ingeborg Bachmann, the most important and most widely read Austrian woman writer of the twentieth century. Her work spans the genres of poetry, short story, radio play, and novel, in all of which she displays a mastery of the writer's craft combined with a deep understanding of human longings, trials, and triumphs. The writer, who died in 1973, is currently enjoying a resurgence of interest in her work, most noticeably her prose, which is being performed on various stages in Vienna in the form of collage presentations. In addition, the film adaptation of her novel "Malina" has aroused wide-spread interest and discussion. Although she had offered important insights into feminist issues long before this concept became commonplace, it would be misleading to call her a feminist writer, since her work addresses itself to all of humanity and not just women. Among the many important themes in her work the topic of language and its potential for expanding human consciousness and social norms is the most consistent and most urgent topic. The primary reason for this central focus Bachmann expressed in her most famous motto: 'In the interplay of the impossible with the possible we expand our possibilities'.