Shakespearean Thoughts as Statutes. Law and Literature in Karl Kraus

  • Irene Fantappie Humboldt Universität Berlin
Keywords: Kraus, Shakespeare, law, literature, quotation

Abstract

It is not possible to understand Karl Kraus, claims Walter Benjamin, without assuming that in the oeuvre of the Viennese writer "everything takes place in the sphere of law". In Kraus’s thought legal issues are strongly related to literature and language. His concept of law stems from a higher ideal of ‘justice’; justice is based on language and language has a strong ideal and prescriptive value. Through the use of quotation Kraus charges literature and journalism with betraying language, while on the other hand he charges law with betraying justice.

This essay aims at demonstrating trough an interdisciplinary approach that Kraus did not only involve law issues in his literary writings, he also invested some literary works – especially Shakespeare’s plays – with a legal value. In Kraus’s thought Shakespeare is a symbol of consubstantiality between reality and literature, and an 'encyclopedia' providing eternally valid categories. As an ideal paradigm for the interpretation of reality, Shakespeare is the utopian background of Kraus’s reflection on language and justice, bearing witness to the indissolubility, in Kraus’s thought, of literature and law.   

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Author Biography

Irene Fantappie, Humboldt Universität Berlin
Research Fellow (Cultural Studies, Italian Literature) at Humboldt University Berlin; Teaching Fellow (Italian Literature)

References

Adorno, Theodor Wiesengrund, „Sittlichkeit und Kriminalität“ (1965), trad. it. “Morale e criminalità”, Note per la letteratura, Ed. Enrico De Angelis, Einaudi, Torino 1979, 47-67.

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Canetti, Elias, “Karl Kraus, Schule des Widerstands”, Das Gewissen der Worte, Hanser, München 1974, 234-257, trad it. “Karl Kraus, scuola di resistenza”, La coscienza delle parole, Eds. Renata Colorni – Furio Jesi Milano, Adelphi 1984, 61-77.

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Fantappiè, Irene, “Accusativo assoluto. Karl Kraus, la legge e la doppia morale”, in: Karl Kraus, Con le donne monologo spesso. Morale, stampa e vita erotica nella Vienna d’inizio Novecento, Ed. Irene Fantappiè, Castelvecchi, Roma 2007, 7-34.

Fantappiè, Irene, Karl Kraus e Shakespeare. Recitare, citare, tradurre, Quodlibet, Macerata 2012 (forthcoming).

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- „Die Fackel“, Die Fackel, 1 (1899), 1-3.

- „Sexualjustiz”, Die Fackel, 179 (1905), 1-7, trad. it. ”Eros e Temi“, Con le donne monologo spesso. Morale, stampa e vita erotica nella Vienna d’inizio Novecento, Ed. Irene Fantappiè, 102-111.

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- „Der sterbende Mensch“, Die Fackel, 381-382-383 (1913), 74-76.

- „Schicksal der Silbe“, Die Fackel, 572 (1921), 31-45.

Jenaczek, Friedrich, Zeittafeln zur «Fackel», Gans, Gräfeling 1965.

Merkel, Reinhardt, Strafrecht und Satire im Werk von Karl Kraus, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt/M. 1998.

Stefan Morawski, “The basic Function of Quotation”, Sign, language, culture, Eds. Julien Algirdas Greimas – Roman Jakobson, Mouton, Paris 1970, 690-705.

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Timms, Edward, Kraus’s Shakespearian Politics, Austria in the Thirties: Culture and Politics, Eds. Kenneth Segar – John Warren, Ariadne Press, Riverside, California 1991, 345-358.

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Published
2012-06-06
How to Cite
Fantappie, I. (2012). Shakespearean Thoughts as Statutes. Law and Literature in Karl Kraus. Between, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.13125/2039-6597/437
Section
Narratives on Law, Narratives in Law