The first chapter of this paper is dedicated to the man without whom there would be no Epic theatre, and the theatrical group he founded.
Bertolt Brecht was born on February 10, 1898 in Augsburg, Germany. He manifested his interest in literature at a young age, writing poetry and book reviews for local papers before he was 15. His flourishing career was interrupted by WWI in 1914. Brecht was lucky enough not to have been drafted into the war until the last few weeks, and he served as a medical orderly. He then moved to Munich to continue his medical studies at the Munich University where he wrote his first well-known play Baal at only 20 years of age, years before he developed his signature theory and methodology that would later become known as Epic theatre. Baal was written after Brecht attended Artur Kutscher’s seminar on literary style and criticism. Perhaps here Brecht demonstrated his revolutionary nature, as Baal was written as a response to Hanns Johst’s play The Lonely One. Johst attended Kutscher’s seminar as did Brecht, and after The Lonely One became a success, Brecht did not hold back with his contempt, criticizing expressionism and Johst’s nationalistic political beliefs. Moreover, Brecht went …show more content…
Brecht was a supporter of communism, he, however, never became a member of the communist party in Germany (KPD) as he did not want to be constricted by its rules and restrictions. Moreover, as Brecht wrote in his journal, “I greatly like the proletariat belief in its final victory. But the proletariat closely connected beliefs in various other things it has been told, I find disturbing.” By not joining the party, Brecht did not have to limit himself in his political views and did not have to answer for them. Fuegi remarks that Brecht did not want to submit his day-to-day life to the party’s esthetics and
Bertolt Brecht was born on February 10, 1898 in Augsburg, Germany. He manifested his interest in literature at a young age, writing poetry and book reviews for local papers before he was 15. His flourishing career was interrupted by WWI in 1914. Brecht was lucky enough not to have been drafted into the war until the last few weeks, and he served as a medical orderly. He then moved to Munich to continue his medical studies at the Munich University where he wrote his first well-known play Baal at only 20 years of age, years before he developed his signature theory and methodology that would later become known as Epic theatre. Baal was written after Brecht attended Artur Kutscher’s seminar on literary style and criticism. Perhaps here Brecht demonstrated his revolutionary nature, as Baal was written as a response to Hanns Johst’s play The Lonely One. Johst attended Kutscher’s seminar as did Brecht, and after The Lonely One became a success, Brecht did not hold back with his contempt, criticizing expressionism and Johst’s nationalistic political beliefs. Moreover, Brecht went …show more content…
Brecht was a supporter of communism, he, however, never became a member of the communist party in Germany (KPD) as he did not want to be constricted by its rules and restrictions. Moreover, as Brecht wrote in his journal, “I greatly like the proletariat belief in its final victory. But the proletariat closely connected beliefs in various other things it has been told, I find disturbing.” By not joining the party, Brecht did not have to limit himself in his political views and did not have to answer for them. Fuegi remarks that Brecht did not want to submit his day-to-day life to the party’s esthetics and