Bibliograph

In these great times, selected writings, Karl Kraus ; edited and translated by Patrick Healy

Type

Label

In these great times, selected writings, Karl Kraus ; edited and translated by Patrick Healy

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references

Index

no index present

Literary Form

mixed forms

Main title

In these great times

Medium

electronic resource

Nature of contents

bibliographydictionaries

Oclc number

934230833

Responsibility statement

Karl Kraus ; edited and translated by Patrick Healy

Series statement

ProQuest Ebook Central

Sub title

selected writings

Summary

"Perhaps one day man will [...] see what a small occurrence such a world-war was when set against the spiritual self-mutilation of mankind by its newspapers, and how the war was at bottom just one of its manifestations [...] Allow me to overestimate the press. But if I maintain incorrectly that an epoch which takes the special edition so lightly as the event itself, and with excited nerves takes lies for facts, if it is not true that more blood has flown from telegrams than they claimed to contain, then let this blood be on my hands."; Karl Kraus was a razor-sharp observer of fin-de-siecle Vienna. His work is inventive, subversive and immensely insightful. In 1899, Kraus established his own journal, Die Fackel (The Torch), and set out 'to drain the marsh of empty phrase-making', aiming his satire at favourite targets such as the press, psychoanalysis and Zionism. According to Kraus, much of the social and political divide in Vienna - where the issue of immigration was leading to mounting tensions and a virulent rise in anti-Semitism - was caused by the mass-circulation of the press, whose manipulation of public opinion by means of a language made up of mangled cliches and hackneyed phrases was corrosive of political and social life. This view dominates the despairing vision painted in his most outstanding creative achievement, The Last Days of Mankind, an apocalyptic drama written in response to the outbreak of World War I which runs to over 200 scenes and includes a cast of nearly 500.--, Provided by publisher

Table Of Contents

Cover; Title Page; Contents; Introduction; Chronology; A Crown for Zion; Salomé; Self-admiration; August Strindberg; The World of Posters; Interview with a Dying Child; Court Psychiatry; the Beaver Coat; In These Great Times; Hans Müller in Schönbrunn; Bread and Lies; The Last Days of Mankind; Aphorisms; Select Further Reading; About the Author; Acknowledgements; Colophon

Contributor

Creator