Description
Book SynopsisKraus’s iconic World War I drama, a satirical indictment of the glory of war, now in English in its entirety for the first time
Trade ReviewWinner of the 2016 Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Literary Work, sponsored by the Modern Language Association
“
The Last Days of Mankind is the strangest great play ever written.”—Jonathan Franzen, author of
The Kraus Project“Fred Bridgham and Edward Timms’ translation of the complete
The Last Days of Mankind, the apocalyptic drama by Karl Kraus, fills
the major gap in the presentation of the Viennese literature on WWI in [English]. It is one of the greatest documents of the language of euphemism, misdirection, and deceit. Kraus simply repeats, in the mouths of his characters, the language heard and read on the streets and cafes in Vienna before and during the war. It heralds the Austro-Hungarian collapse in 1919, turned by Kraus into a massive drama for the mind and the ear. What is most compelling is that it sounds like what all governments tell their population (and their population repeats) about the need, the glory, and the success of war but without any hint at its gore and horrors.”—Sander Gilman, Emory University
“Among his audience he created at least one unified and unalterable attitude: an absolute hatred of war.”—Elias Canetti
