Karl Kraus, Ludwig Wittgenstein and "Poststructual" Paradigms of Textual Understanding

The mice folk's reception of Josefine's art in Kafka's story "Josefine, die Sängerin oder Das Volk der Mäuse" reflects the reception on the part of Kraus's audience of his literary art with its "meta-ideological" cultural analysis. This analysis was recognized by the primary members of the Frankfurt School for Social Research and is easily demonstrable in Kraus's analytical treatment of the Social Democrats in the short essay "Hüben und Drüben." The question of the efficacy of Kraus's analysis is better posed as a question of the reception on the part of the mice folk of the meta-ideological analysis undertaken.