Karl Kraus

Karl Kraus (1874–1936) was an Austrian writer, journalist, and satirist whose criticism of language, journalism, and political power centered on his journal Die Fackel.

Die Fackel: A Viennese journal founded and edited by Karl Kraus from 1899 until 1936. Kraus used this journal as his principal platform for essays, satire, and polemic.
Satire: A mode of criticism that uses wit, irony, or ridicule to expose folly and wrongdoing. Kraus made satire a vehicle for attacking public language and institutions.
Adolf Loos: An Austrian architect and writer who criticized ornamental design and was a close associate of Karl Kraus. Loos shared Kraus’s suspicion of ornament and empty cultural display.
Expressionism: A modernist movement that distorted form to express subjective experience and social tensions. Kraus’s drama and polemics intersected with the cultural upheavals surrounding expressionism.
Vienna: Austria’s capital, a major center of European politics, music, and intellectual life. The city’s press and political culture supplied many of Kraus’s targets.
Quotation: The reproduction of another person’s words, usually identified as borrowed speech or writing. He often let published language indict its authors through exact quotation.
Peter Altenberg: An Austrian writer known for short prose sketches and a prominent figure in Vienna’s literary life. Kraus supported Altenberg’s writing and helped bring it to public attention.
Modernist literature: Literature that experiments with form and perspective in response to modern life. Kraus’s montage and linguistic scrutiny belong to wider modernist formal experiments.
German language: A West Germanic language spoken primarily in Central Europe. Kraus treated exact German usage as a measure of thought and public responsibility.
Parody: An imitation of a work or style that exaggerates its features for comic or critical effect. Kraus mimicked journalistic and political styles to reveal their distortions.

Linked from 7 pages