Aesthetic communication is an integral part of all disciplines at the Faculty. Within the traditional philologies, this especially applies to literature studies. In this field the Faculty provides an opportunity of investigating the aesthetic communication of different channels (music, theatre, literature, film, digital media) as well as of diverse forms of cultural and linguistic expression, also looking at them from the perspectives of philology, literature studies, cultural studies and comparative literature. Especially in the (sub)disciplines with a historical orientation, the analysis and (digital) preparation of manuscripts – in the sense of material philology – plays an important role. On the one hand, additional focuses are defined by the specific situation of Vienna and Austria (with regard to both the availability of ample material and its special position of geographical contact); and on the other, the Faculty regards itself as a pioneer in the discourse on literature, media and cultural theories, even beyond the Austrian context.