Reception of the Karl Kraus’ work among Serbian intellectuals

Abstract

The paper explores relations of both Serbian nationalist and antinationalist intellectuals towards Karl Kraus? work. Analysis of the ?Last days of mankind? shows that Kraus wrote satires against ruling circles of the Habsburg Monarchy, demanded its reorganization, and even its destruction. He mostly ridiculed the top circles of the Habsburg Monarchy and German Reich, and unmasked their war plans against Serbia. He ridiculed warmongering Wiennese press, intellectuals, who betrayed their vocation by supporting German nationalism and Habsburg imperialism. Whereas some of the most distinctive Croatian Yugoslav-oriented intellectuals in the aftermath of WWI highly respected Karl Kraus, Serbian intellectuals have almost utterly neglected this talented nonconformist, who sympathised with Serbian and Yugoslav tendences despite their unpopularity in his own surroundings. Furthermore, interest for Kraus is much more visible in today?s Croatia than in Serbia. The paper?s goal is to offer an explanation of lack of interest for Kraus among Serbian intellectuals. In the twilight of socialism, majority of them showed nationalist parochialism, and a part of them expressed even unbridled warlike attitude, which contributed to thorough neglect of Kraus? voluminous, intellectually demanded and uncompromising pacifistic work. At the same time, anti-nationalist and pacifistic intellectuals were prepared to pay attention only for such aspects of the Kraus work, while they have neglected other aspects such as his criticism of pan-German imperialist tendences recognizable throughout the short 20th century.