Some Notes on Brecht and Dialectics

Philosophizing Brecht: Critical Readings on Art, Consciousness, Social Theory and Performance

The anthology unites scholars from varied backgrounds with the notion that the theories and artistic productions of Bertolt Brecht are key missing links in bridging diverse discourses in social philosophy, theatre, consciousness studies, and aesthetics. It offers readers interdisciplinary perspectives that create unique dialogues between Brecht and important thinkers such as Althusser, Anders, Bakhtin, Benjamin, Godard, Marx, and Plato. While exploring salient topics such as consciousness, courage, ethics, political aesthetics, and representations of race and the body, it penetrates the philosophical Brecht seeing in him the never-ending dialectic-the idea, the theory, the narrative, the character that is never foreclosed. This book is an essential read for all those interested in Brecht as a socio-cultural theorist and for theatre practitioners.

Mediations 23.3 (Fall 2007) 27-61

This essay looks into ways Bertolt Brecht recycles and exploits what could be called "ludic thinking" mainly in his play Schweik in the Second World War (Schweyk im Zweiten Weltkrieg) and in his Stories of Mr. Keuner. The "ludic" is a significant term in that it does not denote something merely amusing, light, unserious, or escapist ("it is just a game"); it rather signifies a structure that through the categories of play, lightness, or amusement actually grasps seriousness, reality and ethics par excellence. In a three-step argument, I show the kind of ludic approach Brecht uses in his works in the frame of his practices of recycling. First, I explain the project of ludic thinking in its broader historical and systematic context. I mainly flesh out the ideas of Donald Winnicott and Friedrich Nietzsche, who not only introduce the important duality of seriousness and playfulness in the ludic stance, but also show how playfulness nourishes maturity in human beings. Winnicott and Nietzsche also touch upon the ethical dimension of play that plays a crucial role in the reflection on ludic thinking in Brecht, too. Secondly, the aspects of ludic thinking in Brecht are elucidated by clarifying the characteristics of the Brechtian ludic agent. Through the analysis of several passages of the original story on Schweik and its recycling by Brecht, and through analysis of particular stories of Mr. Keuner, I identify these aspects in the rejection of "identification with" and "separation from" as well as in the self-distance and distance from social norms. Lastly, I show that the ludic approach forms a basis of a unique philosophical thinking and ethics.

Bertolt Brecht is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in Twentieth Century literature. An acclaimed poet, he is best known as a playwright and director. His 'epic theatre' revolutionized the theatre by creating radical breaks from traditional literary and theatrical form. These radical breaks were done in an effort to facilitate radical social change. Specifically, Brecht designed his epic theatre as a revolutionary aesthetic which would help bring about the advent of a Marxist revolution. There is a broad corpus of academic work which analyzes the formalistic elements of his work. However, this body of work has been severely limited by a formalistic understanding of Brecht's thought and work and neglects his unique philosophical contributions to Marxism. This dissertation serves to remedy this by reconstructing Brecht's social and political philosophy into a single theoretical framework. In doing this, the dissertation presents Brecht's thought in context of a revolutionary Marxist aesthetic and explores his vision of historical materialism, dialectic of enlightenment, social ontology, epistemological foundations and ethics, in an effort to reveal his relevance today. This is accomplished by meticulous readings of his theoretical writings and deep analysis of three of his plays, the Good Woman of Setzuan, Life of Galileo, and his adaption of Coriolanus.

1. On Haltung; 2. Approaching Brecht and Agency; 3. Emotions Are Not Split from Cognition; 4. Emotions Intertwining with Haltung as Basis for Acting

Journal of European Studies, 2021

1991

This thesis explores aspects of Brecht's adaptations of Shakespeare's plots and rhetoric while focusing particularly on matters of structural influence. Both authors use metafictional references in their plays to foreground a stylised artificiality, thereby pointing to the interaction of social and literary semiotics. These 'alienating' strategies expose the construction and the limitations of ideologies presented in a play, demanding recognition of the dialectical processes thus engaged. The study of Brecht's theory and practice against the background of Shakespeare's drama produces new insight into Brecht's works; similarly, Shakespeare's plays viewed against the background of Brecht's theatre and dramatic theory provide new insight into Shakespeare's literary practice. Both authors are seen to operate within and against their societies' discursive limitations in ways which are best understood through the intertextual connections propose...