The contributions of this anthology deal with realistic works of the past 25 years in Romance literature, film and series, with a focus on content-related and formal aspects that are based on the following questions: To what extent are the narratives engaged? Can an educational and didactic gesture be recognized? Which narrative instruments do the works use to convey authenticity? What effect do literary or cinematic hybrids of fiction and documentary, journalism, reportage, non-fiction have? What function do intertextuality, inter- and transmediality fulfill in the context of realistic writing? To what extent can the subject be rehabilitated? Are there (old and new) forms of first-person narration that act as markers of authenticity (writing between autobiography and autofiction, diary, etc.)? Can a paradigm shift be identified? Is it a resumption of older realisms or is something completely new emerging? Are there epoch-spanning characteristics of realistic writing?