The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the History and Theory of Biography was founded in April 2005 and comprises an international team of 10 researchers. The main critical focus is on the methods of modern biographical writing. Drawing on insights from social science, literary theory, anthropology and gender theory, the institute is developing a comprehensive theory of the genre biography. In addition, work is in progress on four scholarly biographies of exponents of Austrian Modernism: Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Eugenie Schwarzwald, Thomas Bernhard and Ernst Jandl. The work of the Institute contributes to the dynamic and interdisiplinary field of biographical research while reflecting critically on different approaches to biography and on the assumptions underlying biographical writing.