Die letzten Tage der Menschheit
letzten Tage der Menschheit, Die, a gigantic Expressionistic drama by Karl Kraus, written in wartime between 1915 and 1917. The first version (Akt-Ausgabe) appeared in 1918-19 in Die Fackel (Sonderhefte), the second version (Buchausgabe) in 1922, and the final version in 1926. It is in five acts with a prelude (Vorspiel) and an epilogue, ‘Die letzte Nacht’. In all, including the epilogue, there are 220 scenes. Kraus points out in a preface that performance would take something like ten evenings, and claims that the work is destined for a Martian theatre, an allusion to the apocalyptic end, which is the extermination of mankind by forces from Mars.
Die letzten Tage der Menschheit is a kaleidoscopic presentation of the 1914-18 War, as seen from a Viennese observation point. Kraus's bitter and ruthless satire ferociously passes in review the ruling house, the army commanders, the politicians, the press, the profiteers, the brutal regimental officers, the gullible newspaper readers, and the fickle crowd. The focus of his satire is the universal corruption of language, by which thought and feeling are falsified and smothered and the truth perverted by the press and the politicians. Through the whole play wanders the figure of the faultfinder (der Nörgler), easily identifiable with Kraus, who makes his searing comments on the bestiality and stupidity paraded. The treatment of the closing stages is visionary, and Die letzte Nacht takes on a deliberate resemblance to the last act of Faust Pt. II.
