{"product_id":"the-last-days-of-mankind-9780999754412","title":"The Last Days of Mankind","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Great War drama by Viennese satirist Karl Kraus, restaged by Sengl in \"stunning display\" of taxidermied rat-actors, with commentary.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Last Days of Mankind\u003c\/i\u003e is, naturally enough, about the First World War, and about all war, but it is also about what our civilization is and about who we are. That is why, like all great works of art, it is, and will always remain, a 'contemporary' work. Those questions; who we are, what are our beliefs and values, what do we stand for, are as urgent today as they were in 1914–18 and its aftermath. Kraus, like the other three great writers he stands beside (Aristophanes, Juvenal, Swift) [...] is the voice we need to hear.\u003cb\u003e– Michael Russell, author of \u003ci\u003eCity of Shadows\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eCity of Lies\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Deborah Sengl’s] stunning display of 176 taxidermied rats as actors presenting forty-four scenes from The Last Days of Mankind deliver[s] a bracing test of [the play’s] potential. […] The preparation, costuming and posing of the rats as well as the meticulous attention to miniature props – facsimiles of period newspapers, a factory owner’s top hat and bow tie, the sample cases of traveling salesmen, infantry rifles – reflect a deep knowledge of Kraus’ text and disciplined commitment to an unconventional representation of its meaning. The powerful effect of this large assemblage of monochromatic tableaux is heightened by juxtaposition with the preparatory drawings, which were exhibited next to them and are beautifully reproduced in the catalogue. These delicate line drawings all use color, sparingly but pointedly, so that the viewer is inevitably drawn to a comparison with the corresponding tableaux. Seen up close, as they are in the catalogue photographs, which include some unsettling enlargements, every white rat’s cocked head, gaping mouth, or crooked claw points back to the linguistic physiognomy of the speakers of a war-contaminated language who people Kraus’ drama. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e– Leo Lensing, \"Karl Kraus at War\", \u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen the age died by its own hand, that hand was Karl Kraus’.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e– Bertolt Brecht\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eModern fables for adults.\u003cb\u003e– \u003ci\u003eWidewalls\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe initial reaction to seeing the white rats wearing the tiny corsets and holding rat-sized guns results in deeply conflicted emotions. Cuteness and horror collide in these miniature scenes. [...] Sengl continues the legacy of acid-tongued Austrian artists from Kraus and Kafka to more contemporary voices like Thomas Bernhard and Elfriede Jelinek. Her adaptation of Kraus’ war epic, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Days of Mankind\u003c\/i\u003e, makes it more accessible to audiences and helps to render the experimental play into a more comprehensible whole.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e– \u003ci\u003eNew York Journal of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDeborah Sengl’s Karl Kraus\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Marjorie Perloff\u003cbr\u003e The Mousetrap\u003cbr\u003e The Turn to Abstraction\u003cbr\u003e Representation \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e“The Document Is a Figure”\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Matthias Goldmann\u003cbr\u003e Conversion of Horror into Words\u003cbr\u003e Operetta Figures Play out the Tragedy of Mankind\u003cbr\u003e Come Forward and Be Silent\u003cbr\u003e Masks of the Tragic Carnival\u003cbr\u003e Flesh for Blood and Blood for Ink\u003cbr\u003e The Word Died \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eTrench Rats\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Anna C. Souchuk\u003cbr\u003e Miniatures\u003cbr\u003e Taxidermy and Tableau: An Invitation to Look at Animals\u003cbr\u003e Metaphorical Animals: The Role of Rats in the Stories Humans Tell \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Last Days of Mankind\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e [installation images and excerpts from Karl Kraus’ play]\u003cbr\u003e Deborah Sengl \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Afterword\u003cbr\u003e Paul Reitter \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments","brand":"DoppelHouse Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49083788853591,"sku":"9780999754412","price":26.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-last-days-of-mankind-9780999754412","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}