Starting out from Marx’s theory of alienated work, the ideology critique of the Frankfurt School, Sartre’s concept of mauvaise-foi, and more recent alienation theories, the present work investigates new and old forms of alienation in the working world of the 21st century, which has become a central subject especially in Italian Contemporary literature. Cora Rok examines selected novels and short stories by Christian Raimo, Tommaso Pincio, Nicola Lagioia, Michela Murgia, Andrea Bajani, Sebastiano Nata and Luca Ricci, in order to elaborate motifs, concepts of characters and techniques with which alienated working conditions and forms of consciousness are literarily represented. It is also analyzed if critique of alienation is being practiced in contemporary literature and if the possibilities of overcoming alienation are considered. By examining a novel by Philipp Schönthaler, Cora Rok also takes a look at contemporary German work representations.