Hardly anyone had such a sensitive feel for language as Karl Kraus, and hardly anyone had such a keen instinct for distinguishing the wheat from the chaff in literature, differentiating the genuine from mere commercialism. From his engagement with language alone, Kraus developed a sharp-witted critique of culture and society. This volume contains the most important essays on literature, including the two fundamental essays "Heine and the Consequences" and "Nestroy and the Afterlife." Frank Wedekind, Peter Altenberg, Gerhard Hauptmann, August Strindberg, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Arthur Schnitzler, and many others are subjects of both biting and entertaining satires and polemics.