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SUMMARY:Second Annual Ludwig Boltzmann Lecture: 'War and Words. Krausian &
 quot\;Biographic&quot\; in The Last Days of Mankind' - Dr Deborah Holmes\,
  University of Kent
DTSTART:20140228T170000Z
DTEND:20140228T183000Z
UID:TALK51116@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ulrike Balser
DESCRIPTION:In his monumental drama "_Die letzten Tage der Menschheit_"\, 
 the Viennese satirist Karl Kraus launched a savage attack on the causes an
 d conduct of the First World War as seen from the perspective of Austria-H
 ungary. Over 800 pages long in its later versions (1922/28)\, it consists 
 in large part of quotations from newspaper articles\, proclamations\, lega
 l texts\, war poems and songs\, juxtaposed with snatches of conversation a
 s overheard in Vienna’s streets and coffeehouses. There is no plot as su
 ch\, rather a succession of dialogues created from this varied intertext a
 nd sustained by an immense cast whose members are largely based on histori
 cal figures.\nThe lecture will explore the relevance of Kraus’s mammoth 
 project to the biographies of the individuals he co-opted for his satire a
 nd vice versa. In particular\, the genesis of scenes from the first two ac
 ts featuring Hofrat and Hofrätin Schwarz-Gelber will be examined. These b
 lackly comical characters – ruthless careerists intent on exploiting the
  opportunities for social mobility created by the war – are claimed to h
 ave been based on the real-life models of either Hermann and Eugenie Schwa
 rzwald or Rudolf and Erna Schwarz-Hiller\, acculturated Jewish couples who
  were respected representatives of liberal reform movements in fin-de-siè
 cle Vienna. In investigating their literary incarnation here as paradigmat
 ic types\, I seek to shed light\, not only on the nature of Kraus’s sati
 re but also on the modes of biographical writing to emerge from German-lan
 guage Modernism.
LOCATION:Main Lecture Theatre\, Divinity School\, St John's College\, Camb
 ridge
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