Karl Kraus: The Last Days of Mankind

(On the Isonzo front. A command post.)

Lieutenant Fallota. Lieutenant Beinsteller.

Scene 4 (p. 247)

(In Jena.)

Two philosophy students.

Scene 5 (p. 248)

(Hermannstadt in Transylvania. In front of a closed German bookshop.)

A Prussian infantryman. A German bookseller.

Scene 6 (p. 249)

(In Vinzenz Chramosta’s grocery shop.)

Vincenz Chramosta. Customers. The inspector.

Scene 7 (p. 250)

(Two Commercial Counsellors leaving the Imperial Hotel.)

Commercial Counsellors. Disabled veteran. Cabby. Beggar woman.

Scene 8 (p. 251)

Old Biach.

Scene 9 (p. 252)

(War Archive.)

Captain. Dörmann. Hans Müller. Men of letters. Two orderlies.

Scene 10 (p. 258)

(A chemical laboratory in Berlin.)

Privy Councillor Professor Delbrück.

Scene 11 (p. 258)

(Meeting of the Cheruscan Society in Krems.)

Pogatschnigg. Frau Pogatschnigg. Winfried Hromatka. Kasmader. Übelhör. Holomatsch.

Scene 12 (p. 261)

(At a dance in Hasenpoth in Lithuania.)

Baltic gentleman and Baltic lady.

Scene 13 (p. 261)

(Appeal hearing in the district court of Heilbronn)

Public prosecutor. The lady accused. Two persons in the courtroom.

Scene 14 (p. 262)

The Optimist and the Grumbler.

Scene 15 (p. 265)

(A Protestant church.)

Church superintendent Falke.

Scene 16 (p. 265)

(Another Protestant church.)

Consistory Councillor Rabe.

Scene 17 (p. 266)

(Another Protestant church.)

Pastor Geier.

Scene 18 (p. 267)

(Pilgrimage church.)

Sexton. A visitor.

Scene 19 (p. 268)

(Constantinople. A mosque.)

Two young Berliners. An imam. A lady.

Scene 20 (p. 270)

(Editorial office in Berlin.)

Alfred Kerr.

Scene 21 (p. 271)

(Consultation room in Berlin.)

Professor Molenaar. A patient.

Scene 22 (p. 271)

(Office at a command post.)

General Staff officer on the telephone. Two old generals. Journalist.

Scene 23 (p. 272)

(Headquarters.)

Archduke Friedrich. The two Buquoys. Adjutant.

Scene 24 (p. 273)

Two devotees of the Reichspost .

Scene 25 (p. 277)

(In front of the War Ministry.)

Two young men.

Scene 26 (p. 277)

(Ringstrasse.)

Fifty draft dodgers.

Scene 27 (p. 277)

(In front of the War Ministry.)

Another two young men.

Scene 28 (p. 278)

(Ministry of Defence.)

Captain. A civilian.

Scene 29 (p. 279)

(Innsbruck. A restaurant.)

Colonel. Colonel’s wife.

Scene 30 (p. 279)

(Market square in Grodno, Belarus.)

Town hall official. Curtseying girls. Dignitaries. German officials. German officers.

Scene 31 (p. 279)

(Censorship at a German front unit.)

Officer in charge of censorship. Captain. Airman. Senior NCO. Sergeant. Territorial reserve. Gun crew. Sixteen drivers. Lieutenant. Reconnaissance airman. Second-lieutenant. Military bandsman. Lance-corporal. Soldier. Captain in the medical corps. Gunner. Junior company commander. Acting officer. Sapper. Volunteer. Major-general.

Scene 32 (p. 282)

(A quiet poet’s retreat in the Styrian Woods.)

Kernstock. Two admirers.

Scene 33 (p. 283)

(At a sector control post.)

Alice Schalek.

Scene 34 (p. 284)

(Berlin, Tiergarten.)

Exchange Professor. National-Liberal Reichstag deputy.

Scene 35 (p. 286)

(Lecture hall in Berlin.)

The poet. The audience.

Scene 36 (p. 287)

(Lecture hall in Vienna.)

The Grumbler. A member of the audience and his wife.

Scene 37 (p. 288)

The Subscriber to the Neue Freie Presse and the Patriot.

Scene 38 (p. 290)

(In a railway compartment.)

Two sales reps.

Scene 39 (p. 292)

The Optimist and the Grumbler.

Scene 40 (p. 293)

(The German spa Gross-Salze.)

Kommerzienrat Ottomar Wilhelm Wahnschaffe. Frau Kommerzienrat Auguste Wahnschaffe. Little Willy and Little Marie. An invisible choir, representing laughter from abroad. Two wounded soldiers. Two nursemaids.

Children: Hänschen and Trudchen. Hans Adalbert and Annemarie. August and Guste. Mieze. Klaus and Dolly. Walter and Marga. Little Paul and Little Pauline. Jochen and Suse. Elsbeth.

A mother. A gentleman. Two fathers. Two little sons.

Scene 41 (p. 306)

The Optimist and the Grumbler.

Scene 42 (p. 310)

(During the Battle of the Somme. Gateway to a park in front of a villa.)

The German Crown Prince. A company marching past.

Scene 43 (p. 310)

(War Ministry.)

Captain. A civilian.

Scene 44 (p. 311)

(Kastelruth, South Tyrol.)

Second-lieutenant Helwig. Another second-lieutenant. Waitress. Duty officer.

Scene 45 (p. 311)

(A Viennese nightspot.)

Rolf, the impromptu poet. Two officers. Frieda Morelli, chanteuse. A voice. Hungarian cattle dealer. Proprietor of the nightspot. Cloakroom staff and washroom attendant. Grain merchant. A regular. Drunken Red Cross official. His colleague. Army doctor. His colleague. Drunken customer.

Scene 46 (p. 316)

(Night. The Graben in Vienna.)

The Grumbler. A drunkard answering the call of nature.

Act III Extras:

Masked figures and lemurs, promenaders, wounded veterans, the blind, beggars, customers, literary figures, Cheruskans in Krems, dancers in Hasenpoth, law-court officials, persons in the courtroom, churchgoers, officers, restaurant customers, soldiers, audience at a lecture, barmaids, nightspot hostesses, men-about-town, gentlemen from the Red Cross, Polish legionaries, nightclub staff, the Nechwatal salon orchestra, the Miskolczy Jancsi gypsy band.

Act IV

Scene 1 (p. 138)

(Vienna. At the corner where the Kärntnerstrasse meets the Ring and people take their evening stroll.)

Newspaper vendors. Four officers. Countess. Her lady companion. Blind soldier in a wheelchair. An intellectual. His companion. Poldi Fesch. Baby Fanto. Black hotel porter. Singing conscripts. Berlin exporter. His companion. A passerby with hands raised. Another passerby. An officer’s wife. Her companion. Two walkers. Two devotees of the Reichspost . An oddball. His companion. Lenzer v. Lenzbruck. Frau Back v. Brünnerherz. Woman selling flowers. Two gentlemen. Storm. Fräulein Löwenstamm. Fräulein Körmendy. A fare. Cabby.

Scene 2 (p. 322)

The Optimist and the Grumbler.

Scene 3 (p. 323)

(A railway station near Vienna.)

A porter. Six Viennese. The Grumbler. The Austrian Face. Someone in the know.

Scene 4 (p. 325)

(Vienna, Kohlmarkt. In front of the window display of a picture gallery.)

Margosches. Wolffsohn.

Scene 5 (p. 326)

The poets: Strobl. Ertl.

Scene 6 (p. 326)

(Student drinking fraternity.)

An alumnus. The members. A recruit.

Scene 7 (p. 328)

(Medical convention in Berlin.)