‘Feinde in Scharen. Ein wahres Vergnügen dazusein’. Karl Kraus – Herwarth Waiden. Briefwechsel 1909–1912 ed. by George C. Avery (review)
2004; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 12; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/aus.2004.0001
ISSN2222-4262
Autores Tópico(s)Linguistic research and analysis
Resumo292 Reviews Bernadette Rieder, provide helpful analyses of Austrian emigrants to Israel and their relationship to theGerman language. Overall, the book provides a useful survey of issues relevant to anti-Semitism and Jewish writing inAustrian Germanistik,though it noticeably lacks any mention of gender and its role in the development of anti-Semitism and Jewish identity in Austria. Nonetheless, it contains both explicit and implicit critiques of Austrian Germanists, who, when approaching the topic at all, often fail tomove beyond merely mentioning theJewish background of Austrian authors, or discussing the anti-Semitism they faced. By thematizing both issues, this volume represents an important step forward in both Austrian Germanistikand Jewish Studies. Yale University Lisa Silverman 'FeindeinScharen. Ein wahresVergn?gen dazusein'.Karl Kraus HerwarthWaiden . Briefwechsel igog-igi2. Ed. by George C. Avery. (Ver?ffentiichungen der Deutschen Akademie f?r Sprache und Dichtung Darmstadt 79). G?ttingen: Wallstein. 2002. 680 pp. 49,00. isbn 3-89244-613-x. Specialists have known of the correspondence between Karl Kraus (1874-1936) and Herwarth Waiden ( 878-1941) for some time now, but it has never before been published in its entirety. In this excellent edition, Avery presents the 650 letters, postcards and telegrams thatKraus andWaiden sent each other between June 1909 and November 1912.Kraus is famous as the editor ofDie Fackel (from 1899 until his death), themain platform for his ongoing polemics with journalists and for his attacks on the abuse of language; Waiden was the founder-editor of theBerlin-based journal Der Sturm (1910-32), one of the leading and longest-lived journals of Expressionism. An admirer of Kraus, Waiden asked him in summer 1909 for support in the venture thatwas to become Der Sturm;and itsearly issues have a decidedly Austrian slant,with contributions by, among others,Kraus, Loos and Kokoschka. In return forKraus's modest and intermittent financial support,Waiden helped promote Kraus in Wilhelmine Germany, mainly through a Berlin office ofDie Fackel. Read as a whole, these letters illustrate how Kraus and Waiden struggled to create a space for their particular idea of the avant-garde inwhat they perceived as the philistine culture of pre-1914 Austria and Germany. As opposed tomere 'Literaten', 'Schriftsteller' or, worse still, 'Kritiker', they saw themselves as artists, striving to uphold a powerful idea of 'art' inmodern culture. Three intertwined themes emerge quite clearly ? art, power and money ? and the linkbetween these is neady summarized inKraus's dictum 'Zum Kriegf?hren geh?rt Geld' (p. 67). This is thewarfare of the avant-garde against modern culture, of the intellectual against modern society, and the aim is to extend one's personal power over that culture. Ideas are therefore subordinated to personality, and Kraus states thismost clearly when he writes: 'diemoderne "Meinung" ist sowerdos wie die unmoderne. Es kommt darauf an, wer sie hat (p. 88). Frequendy, 'Kriegf?hren' translates into a ruthless personal war against thosewhom Kraus and Waiden felt to be enemies ? for example, Max Brod, Paul Cassirer, Kurt Hiller, Siegfried Jacobsohn and Franz Pfemfert.This tendency isparticularly striking in Waiden who writes sentences such as 'Solche Leute sollteman einfach erschie?en' (p. 129) about someone who dared AUSTRIAN STUDIES, 12, 2OO4 293 to criticize his collaborator Rudolf Bl?mner. Ever combative and litigious, Waiden would take such enemies to court, which in turn required moral and, most impor tandy, financial support fromKraus, who did not always have money available. At times, reference to a shortage of funds ispoignant ? such as when Waiden admits, after a gap in the correspondence, that he could not afford the 10 Pfennig it then cost to send a letter toVienna. Perhaps themost important insight these lettersallow is into the role of art, and the relationship between art and politics, as seen by these tireless promoters of avant-garde culture. Even though Kraus's essays and 'Glossen' deal with topical issues, each is intended primarily tobe a 'Kunstwerk' (p. 396) that justifies itself,and only in a secondary sense are they political statements or interventions. As Kraus insists repeatedly in these letters,what ispolitical is the quality ofwriting, its style and itspresentation inprint. In this context, his demonization ofmisprints (p. 239), his diatribe about the 'Vieh von Setzern' and...
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