This paper attempts to analyze the texts of Karl Kraus using a rhetorical perspective. Tradition has shown satire to have a close relationship to rhetoric: it is an engaged art form that is not only directed at the audience to a great degree, but also extraordinarily persuasive in character. Although satire contains an inherently large amount of rhetoricity, the literature pertaining to Karl Kraus has dealt with the connection between the satirist and the field of rhetoric in only a few

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... e instances up until now. The rhetorical perspective offers a new way to read the texts of Kraus. Satire has an ambivalent character. It is neither limited to a literary genre, nor to the art form of literature; it deals with specific historical events while claiming aesthetical autonomy. The rhetorical method takes this ambivalence into consideration. What does the satirical persona embody? Which roles (such as the person who fouls his own nest) does the satirist, who spoke of his work as the "written theatrics" (German: "geschriebener Schauspielkunst"), prescribe to this persona? The satiricist's self portrayal (ethos) not only creates levels of identification but, along with logos and pathos – the other classic-Aristotelian tools of persuasion, also serves the persuasion of the audience by appealing to the role of a moral authority. Kraus' work is not limited to the ›Fackel‹, which he penned and published, but is also comprised of his spoken word. The paper at hand is dedicated to this aspect of Kraus' oeuvre; the focus is on the time period of the twenties. In 700 lectures, Kraus not only read from his own works and from those of other authors, but he also held speeches, which were then subsequently printed in the issues of the ›Fackel‹ with the subtitle "spoken on..." (German: "Gesprochen am [...]"). The speeches, addresses and prefaces are recognized and isolated as independent textual types within the ›Fackel‹. Their analysis is based on the classical tools of persuasion: ethos, logos and pathos. It contains, other than [...]