Die Masken des Herrn Karl. Das österreichische Kabarett der Nachkriegszeit

Helmut Qualtinger, actor, author, film star, remains controversial, as several memoirs and biographies have shown. Durrani undertakes a comprehensive attempt to evaluate Qualtinger’s output (songs, prose sketches, television series and plays), tracing a development from parody and satire to the treatment of more serious political and social issues. Ultimately it is shown that Qualtinger’s later works fail to make the transition from cabaret to film and theatre because of the satirist’s inability to respond to the changing political climate in the 1980 and to accept the restrictions imposed by a new atmosphere of political correctness.