Karl Kraus

Wednesday 22 November 2017

• 12.30-13.15 Registration
• 13.15-13.30 Welcome by Vivian Liska
• 13.30-14.30 Introduction to Karl Kraus’ Dritte Walpurgisnacht
                        Chair: Vivian Liska
                        Gerald Krieghofer, Gal Hertz (German and English)
• 14.30-15.00 Coffee break
• 15.00-16.30 Karl Kraus and the Political Crisis – die Sozial Demokraten und
                         Dollfuss
                         Chair: Daniel Weidner
                         Lucile Dreidemy, Florian Wenninger (German)
• 16.30-16.45 Coffee break
• 16.45-17.45 Images of Violence
                         Chair: Gal Hertz
                         Bernd Witte, Theresa Walter (German)

Thursday 23 November 2017

• 09.30-11.00 Kraus’s Poetics of Quotation in Times of Despair
                         Chair: Annelies Augustyns
                         Keynote lecture by António Ribeiro (English)
• 11.00-11.15 Coffee break
• 11.15-12.45 Citing Violence: Kraus, Adorno and Arendt
                         Chair: Sebastian Müngersdorff
                         Björn Quiring, Ariel L. Linden (German and English)
• 12.45-14.00  Lunch break (speakers only)
• 14.00-15.00 Kressmann Taylor’s Address Unknown
                         Chair: Gal Hertz
                         Bernd Witte, Vivian Liska (English)
• 15.00-16.30 Words and Deeds: Critique of Language in Nazi Times
                         Chair: Gerald Krieghofer
                         Daniel Weidner, Ron Mieczkowski (German)
• 20.00             “Er ist Doch ä Jud” – He Is Still A Jew: Karl Kraus and Jewish Identity
                         Chair: Vivian Liska
                         Gerald Krieghofer, Katharina Prager, Galili Shahar (English)
                         Followed by a reception

Friday 24 November 2017

• 09.30-11.00 1933, Why was the Fackel not published?
                         Chair: Arvi Sepp
                         Katharina Prager, Brigitte Stocker (German)
• 11.00-11.15 Coffee break
• 11.15-12.30 Concluding remarks by Gal Hertz, followed by a discussion

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CALL FOR PAPERS

Citing Violence, Inciting Critique: Karl Kraus, 1933
22-24/11/2017, University of Antwerp

“To me, nothing comes to mind about Hitler” (Mir fällt zu Hitler nichts ein) is the famous opening line of Karl Kraus’s analysis of the first months of National Socialism. This 300-page fragment was written between May and September 1933, and first published only in 1952 as Third Walpurgis Night.

The conference CITING VIOLENCE, INCITING CRITIQUE will seek to read this text by Kraus, paying attention to the political, historical and cultural conflicts of this decisive year of Hitler’s rise to power. We will discuss this topic in a transnational perspective that also takes into account developments in Austria, Italy, and other countries. Additionally, the conference seeks to place Kraus’s writings in dialog with a broader spectrum of voices, including literary, theatrical, philosophical, historical, or others (e.g. Brecht, Benjamin, Arendt).

We propose the following questions and themes:

• What possible position – other than defeatism - can one take once political violence shapes a state and demolishes the rule of law?
• What can a critic of language, discourse and media possibly have to say when confronted with such a comprehensive, totalized form of state-evil as the Third Reich?
• What lies behind Kraus' silence during this time and how was it perceived?
• How to come to terms with Kraus's support of Austrian fascism ("als kleineres Übel") and his critique of the social democrats?
• "Die Weltdummheit macht jede Arbeit – außer an Shakespeare – unmöglich." In what way we can think about poetical work (translations, adaptation, citations etc.) as a response or as a way of dealing with such historical moments?

Please send abstracts in English or German (500 words), or suggestions for panels which directly relate to these themes in the context of Kraus’ Third Walpurgis Night. We will provide funding for travel and accommodation to a limited number of young scholars whose abstracts have been accepted to the conference.

Please send your proposals along with a short bio no later than 30.4.17 to hertz@zfl-berlin.org.