Quoting the Language of Nature in Karl Kraus's Satires

Linden, Ari

Publication

Quoting the Language of Nature in Karl Kraus's Satires

Linden, Ari

Abstract

This article focuses on the less "punitive" (Walter Benjamin) dimension of Karl Kraus's notorious practice of quotation: namely, his invocation of nature in its multitude of forms and functions. Rather than advocating a return to a prelapsarian state of nature, as was often the case with his contemporaries, Kraus attempts to endow nature with a de-humanized, non-subjective voice. In so doing, he is able to mount a nuanced critique of the anthropocentrism that resulted in war and unbridled capitalist exploitation. Addressing both Kraus's critique of the press—which destroys natural resources without yielding a product commensurate to the bounty provided by nature in its initial iteration—as well as of sentimental poetry (represented by Heine), this article further shows that Kraus does not reject the technological and cultural advancements that have accompanied modernity—only their employment toward destructive ends.