About the work
Anti-war drama by Karl Kraus in a prologue, five acts and an epilogue comprising more than 200 scenes, assembled between 1915 and 1922 from newspaper reports, official jargon and Kraus's own dialogue; the book edition appeared in 1922. Kraus considered the complete text unstageable and in 1929/30 prepared an abridged stage version that he himself used only for public readings; the actual stage premiere did not take place until after his death, on 14 June 1964, at the Vienna Festwochen at the Theater an der Wien, in an adaptation by Heinrich Fischer directed by Leopold Lindtberg.
Plot
The drama assembles hundreds of short scenes into a panorama of Austrian wartime society: war profiteers, journalists, officers and civilians speak almost throughout in phrases taken verbatim from newspapers, speeches and decrees. The recurring figure of the "Nörgler" ("Grumbler") acts as commentator and conscience of the play, dissecting society's self-destruction through hollow language and war enthusiasm. The epilogue lets contemporary events culminate in an apocalyptic vision.
Cultural significance
Kraus's critique of language – his conviction that dishonest phrases helped prepare the war – made the work a key text in the literary reckoning with the First World War. To this day it is regarded, on account of its documentary material and sheer length, as one of the most ambitious and least stageable plays in German-language literature.