Description
Karl Kraus’s monumental tragedy about the First World War draws attention to the absurd and the melodramatic, to the deceit and the self-deceit, and to the unresolved contradictions of everyday life at the time. He documents how the knock-out argument “We are at war now” transformed injustice into justice, the exception into the rule, crimes into heroic deeds, and rumors into death sentences.
His passionate criticism focuses on the fatal part played by contemporary media in general, and the press in particular.
Newspapers stoked the enthusiasm for war as the war became an enticing story in the features section. This centennial tragedy
will feel shockingly topical to present-day readers…