Abstract
In Aristotle’s Poetics, we find a definition for the epic, “by an Epic structure I mean one with a multiplicity of plots.”1 Bertolt Brecht was familiar with Aristotle and was quite happy to describe his theater as non-Aristotelian. Empathy, catharsis, the homogeneity of the poetic elements, and so forth, are all Aristotelian qualities that Brecht has rejected. However, the Aristotelian defining quality of epic poetry as having a multiplicity of plots isolates the key quality of the Brechtian theatrical endeavor, and one should keep that in mind when confronted by Brecht’s characterization of his own theatrical praxis as “episches Theater,” not least because the term “epic” in English sends out different signals, all misleading.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Aristotle. Poetics from Part XVIII. Translated by S. H. Butcher (from the web), http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1974/1974-h/1974-h.htm
Ibid. Parts XXIII and XXIV.
Willett, John. Brecht on Theatre. The Development of An Aesthetic Methuen, London (1984) p. 23.
Ibid., p. 190.
See Barthes, Roland and Savran, David. “The Dolls of Bunraku.” in Diacritics Vol. 6, No. 4. Winter (1976) pp. 46–47.
Demetz, Peter. Brecht: A Collection of Critical Essays Prentice-Hall Inc., New York (1962) p. 8.
Althusser, Louis. Essays in Self Criticism NLB, London (1976) p. 52..
See Dial. J. The Contribution of Marxism to Bertolt Brecht’s Theater Theory: The Epistemological Basis of Epic Theater and Brecht’s Concept of Realism Dissertation Harvard (1975) p. 50f.
Willett (1984) op. cit., p. 15.
Brecht, Bertolt. Elays Vol. 1 Eyre Methuen, London (1970) p. 115.
Eagleton, Terry. The Ideology of the Aesthetic Basil Blackwell, Oxford (1990) p. 350.
BBA 110/31 andl09/22. Although there are published accounts of the Fatzer project, I have used here the numbers from the Bertolt Brecht Archives (BBA followed by book and page) because the source material is so massive, chaotic, and contradictory. But no distinction has been made between the photocopies of the original documents and typed volumes of transcriptions when the archive numbers are the same. All translations are mine.
Fatzer: BBA 110/47.
Ibid., 822/105.
Ibid., Fatzer: BBA 109/7. For the Kranlieder see 9—302.
Ibid., Fatzer: BBA 109/35—36.
Willett (1984) op. cit., pp. 46—47.
Iljin, M. Naturgewalten und Menschenmacht Mundus Verlag, Basel (1945) pp. 172–173.
Brecht, Bertolt Gesammelte Werke Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main (1967) pp. 1007—1008. The imagery of rain, water, and stream is ubiquitous in Brecht.
For a discussion of this, see Rilla, P. “Brecht from 1918 to 1950” in Witt, H. (ed.) Brecht as They Knew Him Seven Seas Publishers, Berlin DDR (1977) p. 125f.
Willett (1984) op. cit., pp. 266—270.
Ibid., pp. 100—101 and see also the “Horace” story, p. 270.
Willett (1984) op. cit., p. 4.
See Hornby, Nick. Fever Pitch Penguin Books, England (2000) p. 113.
Barthes, Roland. Mythologies Jonathan Cape, London (1972) pp. 15–16.
Hornby (2000) op. cit., pp. 178-179.
Ibid., p. 194.
Apel, Karl-Otto. ‘Die ethische Bedeutung des Sports in der Sicht einer universalistischen Diskursethik’ in Diskurs und Verantwortung Suhrkamp, Franfurt am Main (1988) p. 238. My translation.
Brecht, Bertolt. The Measures Taken, and Other Lehrstücke Eyre Methuen, London (1977) p. 18. I have, however, sometimes used my own translation. The German original is in Brecht (1967) op. cit., Vol. 2. As the play is so short no further page references are given.
Fischer, Ruth. Stalin and German Communism. A Study in the Origins of the State Party Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. (1948) p. 618.
Pike, David. Lukács and Brecht University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, London (1985) p. XIV.
Kurella, Alfred. “An Experiment with Not Quite Adequate Means” in Literatur der Weltrevolution (1931) No. 4, pp. 100–109.
Mittenzwei, Werner. Bertolt Brecht von der ‘Massnahme’ zu ‘Leben des Galilei’ Aufbau-Verlag Berlin and Weimar (1977) see pp. 55–60.
Esslin, Martin. Brecht: A Choice of Evils Eyre and Spottiswoode, London (1959) pp. 138–140. My emphasis.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Humanism and Terror. An Essay on the Communist Problem Beacon Press, Boston (1971) p. 109.
Ibid., p. 110.
Brecht, Bertolt. Diaries 1920—1922 Eyre Methuen, London (1979) p. 36.
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich. Collected Works Lawrence and Wishart, London (1960 onwards) Vol. 12, pp. 425–428.
Ibid., Vol. 31, p. 70. See also p. 28 for the importance of retreating.
Ibid., p. 24.
Ibid., pp. 79-80.
It is central to the argument—as far as Brecht is concerned—that his desire to return to the Teaching Play form is a confirmation of how crucial the issues (political and aesthetic) he was then dealing with are. With regard to Brecht seeing The Measures Taken as the model for the theater of the future, see Wekwerth, Manfred. Schriften. Arbeit mit Brecht Berlin DDR (1975) pp. 78-79.
Apel (1988) op. cit., p. 219.
Ibid., p. 242.
Ibid., p. 230.
Koestler, Arthur. “On Disbelieving Atrocities” (1944) in The Yogi and the Commissar and Other Essays Jonathan Cape, London (1945) reprinted (1971) p. 98.
See Wills, Garry. “Fringe Government” in The New York Review of Books Vol.ume LII No.umber 15, October 6 (2005) pp. 46–50.
Copyright information
© 2012 Barry Emslie
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Emslie, B. (2012). Realism Brecht, Sport, the Bible, Lenin, Conspiracy Theories. In: Narrative and Truth. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137275455_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137275455_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-44618-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-27545-5
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)