Staging History

Astrid Oesmann

Description

Staging History analyzes the commitment to social change present in the theatrical and theoretical writings of Bertolt Brecht. Challenging previous notions, Astrid Oesmann argues that Brecht's work was less dependent on Marxist ideology than is often assumed and that his work should be seen as a coherent whole. Brecht used the stage to release political ideas into experimental spaces in which actors and spectators could explore the relationships between abstract thought and concrete social life. Oesmann places Brecht within the context of the major leftist theorists of the twentieth century, particularly Adorno, Benjamin, and Lukàcs, focusing on their discussions of realism, aesthetics, natural history, and mimesis. Oesmann elaborates upon the vision of a "counter-public sphere" in a number of Brecht's theoretical texts and plays—especially The Three Penny Trial and Fear and Misery of the Third Reich—that present the emergence of such a sphere in the face of fascism. By exploring Brecht's theoretical writings, selected plays, and recently published theatrical fragments, Oesmann reveals unpredictable constructions of history and surprising distinctions among various political ideologies, while also proving that Brecht remains vitally relevant to a "post-communist" world.

Foreword
Acknowledgments

Introduction

1 Brecht and Theory

Realism and Reversed Perception
Art as the Speaker of History
Natural History
Mimetic Activities

2 Prehistories

The Theatrical Destruction of Subjectivity
The Unorganized Material
Instincts and Transformations

3 Man Between Material and Social Order

Material Against Identity: Mann ist Mann
Brecht’s Concept of the Public Sphere
The Captured Material (Exploitation/Imploitation)
Political Distinctions

4 Revolution: Change and Persistence

The Teaching Plays: Brecht’s Theatre of Poverty
Social Space and Human Standing
Einverständnis: Consent in Crisis
Subject Bound/Thought Unbound
Defacement and Death

5 Brecht’s Archaeology of Knowledge

The Genealogy of Terror
Memory and Morality
Body in Time: Haltung
Thought in Time: Lehre

Notes
Index

Sujets

• Literary theory
• Germany

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791483602
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Staging History

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Staging History

Brecht’s Social Concepts of Ideology

Astrid Oesmann

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2005 State University of New York

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Oesmann, Astrid, 1961– Staging history : Brecht’s social concepts of ideology / Astrid Oesmann. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-6385-0 (hardcover) 1. Brecht, Bertolt, 1898–1956—Political and social views. 2. Brecht, Bertolt, 1898– 1956—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. PT2603.R397Z79442 2005 832'.912—dc22 2004007224

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Contents

1 Brecht and Theory Realism and Reversed Perception Art as the Speaker of History Natural History Mimetic Activities

2 Prehistories The Theatrical Destruction of Subjectivity The Unorganized Material Instincts and Transformations

3 Man Between Material and Social Order Material Against Identity:Mann ist Mann Brecht’s Concept of the Public Sphere The Captured Material (Exploitation/Imploitation) Political Distinctions

4 Revolution: Change and Persistence The Teaching Plays: Brecht’s Theatre of Poverty Social Space and Human Standing Einverständnis: Consent in Crisis Subject Bound/Thought Unbound Defacement and Death

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7 10 17 26 36

47 48 68 77

89 92 96 103 114

129 129 135 144 151 161

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Contents

5 Brecht’s Archaeology of Knowledge The Genealogy of Terror Memory and Morality Body in Time:Haltung Thought in Time:Lehre

Notes

Index

173 175 186 190 197

207

225

Foreword

All translations of quotations from the works of Bertolt Brecht were pre- pared specifically for this book in order to facilitate the English speaker’s reading of the analyses based on the original German passages. However, for the convenience of readers who desire access to more complete Eng- lish translations of the works discussed, the translated titles of these works follow, wherever possible, those listed in:

Brecht, Bertolt.Collected Plays. 8 vols. Edited by John Willett and Ralph Manheim. Lon- don: Methuen, 1970–1987. Brecht, Bertolt.Poems,1913–1956. Edited by John Willett and Ralph Manheim. Lon- don: Methuen, 1976. Brecht, Bertolt.Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic. 2d ed. Edited and translated by John Willett. New York: Hill and Wang, 1978. Brecht, Bertolt.The Good Person of Szechwan;Mother Courage and Her Children;Fear and Misery of the Third Reich. Translated by John Willett. New York: Arcade, 1993. Brecht, Bertolt.The Measures Taken and Other Lehrstücke. Edited by John Willett and Ralph Manheim. New York: Arcade, 2001. Brecht, Bertolt.Stories of Mr. Keuner. Translated by Martin Chalmers. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 2001.

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C HRIS L ONG

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities and the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Iowa who supported this project through a fellowship and a grant respectively. I also want to thank the professional staff of the Brecht-Archive in Berlin for the patient assis- tance during the time I spent working there. Parts of this book were originally published elsewhere. The first part of chapter 2 appeared inThe German Quarterly70.2 (Spring 1997), and the sec- ond part of the same chapter appeared inThe Brecht Yearbook26 (Fall 2001). I thank the editors of those journals for permission to use that material here. This book is the result of a long and complex process of thinking about Brecht and his works. From this perspective I thank my parents for keeping an old recording ofThe Threepenny Operaand my brother Rainer for playing it because this introduced me to Brecht when I was a child. I also want to thank my high school teachers for withholding Brecht’s works from us and thus for not spoiling for us the pleasures of his texts. More recently, Andreas Huyssen, my dissertation advisor at Columbia University, fostered a productive dialogue and provided insightful obser- vations about my research and writing. Joachim Lucchesi, Jan Knopf, Siegfried Mews, and Marc Silberman have also stimulated my work through their discussions and comments on multiple talks, papers, and chapters. I would especially like to thank Jan Knopf and Marc Silberman for their thorough readings and valuable critiques of my various writings on Brecht. I am also grateful to Chris Long for her exemplary work edit- ing the final version of my manuscript and translating into English the Brecht material quoted in this book as well as to James Peltz and Michael Haggett at SUNY Press for their dedication to this project. Finally,Stag- ing Historywould not have been realized without James Sidbury, himself a historian, who in countless discussions about Brecht and perusals of chapter drafts made the transition from German thought to English syn- tax not only possible, but enjoyable. To him I dedicate this book.

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