Historically famous critics

Karl Kraus

1874-1936 · Austrian · Early 20th century

Austrian satirist who waged war on the corrupt press and the abuse of language

Karl Kraus spent decades attacking the corruption he saw spreading through language, journalism, and public life. From his one-man journal Die Fackel he exposed the lies and cliches of the Viennese press, arguing that debased language prepares the way for debased action. His epic drama The Last Days of Mankind assembled the propaganda and euphemism of World War I into a damning portrait of a civilization destroying itself. He mattered because he treated words as moral evidence and held writers and editors accountable for them.