On 2 October 2026, the Passau University Library welcomed a special guest to the Library Lounge: Prof. Peter Pabisch, an Austrian-American Germanist who, prior to his retirement, taught at the University of New Mexico, where he devoted himself in particular to dialect literature. He visited the Passau University Library to mark a donation, presenting the library with his six-volume Geschichte der deutschsprachigen Dialektliteratur seit der Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts. It is a comprehensive reference work which, contrary to conventional wisdom, accords dialect poetry an equal place alongside literature written in the standard language – so-called ‘high literature’.
During the discussion, Prof. Pabisch spoke with Prof. Jan-Oliver Decker, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Professor of Modern German Literature and Media Semiotics, as well as with the Lower Bavarian dialect poet Karl Krieg, co-editor of the Passau literary journal Pegasus, about his work and current trends in German-language dialect literature.
Passau University Library is delighted to have this addition to its collection and would like to express its sincere thanks to Professor Pabisch for his donation.