Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director. A seminal theatre practitioner of the twentieth century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the Berliner Ensemble—the post-war theatre company operated by Brecht and his wife and long-time collaborator, the actress Helene Weigel—with its internationally acclaimed productions.
From his late twenties Brecht remained a life-long committed Marxist who, in developing the combined theory and practice of his 'epic theatre', synthesized and extended the experiments of Piscator and Meyerhold to explore the theatre as a forum for political ideas and the creation of a critical aesthetics of dialectical materialism. Brecht's modernist concern with drama-as-a-medium led to his refinement of the 'epic form' of the drama (which constitutes that medium's rendering of 'autonomization' or the 'non-organic work of art'—related in kind to the strategy of divergent chapters in Joyce's novel Ulysses, to Eisenstein's evolution of a constructivist 'montage' in the cinema, and to Picasso's introduction of cubist 'collage' in the visual arts). In contrast to many other avant-garde approaches, however, Brecht had no desire to destroy art as an institution; rather, he hoped to 're-function' the apparatus of theatrical production to a new social use. In this regard he was a vital participant in the aesthetic debates of his era—particularly over the 'high art/popular culture' dichotomy—vying with the likes of Adorno, Lukács, Bloch, and developing a close friendship with Benjamin. Brechtian theatre articulated popular themes and forms with avant-garde formal experimentation to create a modernist realism that stood in sharp contrast both to its psychological and socialist varieties. "Brecht's work is the most important and original in European drama since Ibsen and Strindberg," Raymond Williams argues, while Peter Bürger insists that he is "the most important materialist writer of our time."
As Jameson among others has stressed, "Brecht is also ‘Brecht’"—collective and collaborative working methods were inherent to his approach. This 'Brecht' was a collective subject that "certainly seemed to have a distinctive style (the one we now call 'Brechtian') but was no longer personal in the bourgeois or individualistic sense." During the course of his career, Brecht sustained many long-lasting creative relationships with other writers, composers, scenographers, directors, dramaturgs and actors; the list includes: Elisabeth Hauptmann, Margarete Steffin, Ruth Berlau, Slatan Dudow, Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Paul Dessau, Caspar Neher, Teo Otto, Karl von Appen, Ernst Busch, Lotte Lenya, Peter Lorre, Therese Giehse, Angelika Hurwicz, and Helene Weigel herself. This is "theatre as collective experiment [...] as something radically different from theatre as expression or as experience."
There are few areas of modern theatrical culture that have not felt the impact or influence of Brecht's ideas and practices; dramatists and directors in whom one may trace a clear Brechtian legacy include: Dario Fo, Augusto Boal, Joan Littlewood, Peter Brook, Peter Weiss, Heiner Müller, Pina Bausch, Tony Kushner and Caryl Churchill. In addition to the theatre, Brechtian theories and techniques have exerted considerable sway over certain strands of film theory and cinematic practice; Brecht's influence may be detected in the films of Joseph Losey, Jean-Luc Godard, Lindsay Anderson, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Nagisa Oshima, Ritwik Ghatak, Lars von Trier, Jan Bucquoy and Hal Hartley.
During the war years, Brecht became a prominent writer of the Exilliteratur. He expressed his opposition to the National Socialist and Fascist movements in his most famous plays.
“For once you must try not to shirk the facts:Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts.”
“Grub first, then ethics.”
“Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes”
“The thinking man often rebuked his girlfriend because of her extravagance. Once he discovered four pairs of shoes in her room. “I also have four different kinds of feet,” she excused herself. The thinking man laughed and asked: “So what do you do, when one pair is worn out?” At that, she realized he was not yet quite in the picture and said, “I made a mistake, I have five different kinds of feet.” With that the thinking man was finally in the picture.”
“and you i beg make not your anger manifest. For all that lives needs help from all the rest.”
“In my poetry a rhymeWould seem to me almost insolent.Inside me contendDelight at the apple tree in blossomAnd horror at the house-painter’s speeches.But only the secondDrives me to my desk.”
“Dabei wissen wir doch:Auch der Hass gegen die NiedrigkeitVerzerrt die Züge.Auch der Zorn über das UnrechtMacht die Stimme heiser. Ach, wirDie wir den Boden bereiten wollten für FreundlichkeitKonnten selber nicht freundlich sein.”
“Write me what you're wearing! Is it warm? Write me how you lie! Do you lie there softly? Write me how you look! Is it still the same? Write me what you're missing! Is it my arm? Write me how you are! Have you been spared? Write me what they're doing! Do you have enough courage? Write me what you're doing! Is it good? Write me, who are you thinking of? Is it me? Freely, I've given you only my questions. And I hear the answers, how they fall. When you're tired, I can't carry it for you. If you're hungry, I have nothing for you to eat. And so now I leave the world No longer there, as if I've forgotten you.”
“Schwächen: Du hattest keine. Ich hatte eine. Ich liebte.”
“Il peggior analfabeta è l’analfabeta politico. Egli non sente, non parla, né s’interessa degli avvenimenti politici. Egli non sa che il costo della vita, il prezzo dei fagioli, del pesce, della farina, dell’affitto, delle scarpe e delle medicine, dipendono dalle decisioni politiche. L’analfabeta politico è talmente somaro che si inorgoglisce e si gonfia il petto nel dire che odia la politica. Non sa, l’imbecille, che dalla sua ignoranza politica nasce la prostituta, il minore abbandonato, il rapinatore e il peggiore di tutti i banditi che è il politico disonesto, il mafioso, il corrotto, il lacchè delle imprese nazionali e multinazionali.”
“Knowledge is just a commodity. It is acquired in order to be resold. All those who have grown out of going to school have to do their learning virtually in secret, for anyone who admits the he has still something to learn devalues himself as a man whose knowledge is inadequate.”
“One must live well to know what living is.”
“Di tutte le cose sicure la più certa è il dubbio.”
“I won't let you spoil my war for me. Destroys the weak, does it? Well, what does peace do for'em, huh? War feeds its people better.”
“I hope I can pull the wagon by myself. Yes, I'll manage, there's not much in it now. I must get back into business.”
“Then I will tell you something. I do not believe in it. Forty years among men has consistently taught me that they are not amenable to common sense. Show them the red tail of a comet, fill them with black terror, and they will all come running out of their houses and break their legs. But tell them one sensible proposition and support it with seven reasons, and they will simply laugh in your face”
“A criatura humana aguenta tudo: é o principal defeito que tem. Pode prestar-se a uma porção de coisas. E é muito difícil de destruir.”
“When the waters poured into Atlantis, the rich men still screamed for their slaves.”
“Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good.”
“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events. He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics. The imbecile doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the prostitute, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.”
“If you join the rat race — you're in the race of rats.”
“Tutti vedono la violenza del fiume in piena,nessuno vede la violenza degli argini che lo costringono.”
“A Man lives off his head.His head won't see him through.Inspect your own—What lives on that?At most, a louse or two . . .”
“General, your tank is a powerful vehicleIt smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men.But it has one defect:It needs a driver.General, your bomber is powerful.It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant.But it has one defect:It needs a mechanic.General, man is very useful.He can fly and he can kill.But he has one defect:He can think.”
“Aquele que não cedeufoi abatido.O que foi abatidonão cedeu.”
“Girl Tractorist: As the poet Mayakovsky said: "The home of the Soviet people shall be the home of Reason"!”
“Old Man, right (sighing): Death to the fascists!”
“Sto lavorando duro per preparare il mio prossimo errore.”
“Mankind lives by its headIts head won't see him throughInspect your own. What lives off that?At most a louse or two.”
“تعيس هو البلد الذي يحتاج إلى أبطال.”
“Un giorno, quando ne avremo il tempo penseremo i pensieri di tutti i pensatori di tutti i tempi guarderemo tutti i quadri di tutti i maestri rideremo con tutti i burloni faremo la corte a tutte le donne istruiremo tutti gli uomini”
“Fragen eines lesenden Arbeiters Wer baute das siebentorige Theben? In den Büchern stehen die Namen von Königen. Haben die Könige die Felsbrocken herbeigeschleppt? Und das mehrmals zerstörte Babylon – Wer baute es so viele Male auf? In welchen Häusern des goldstahlenden Lima wohnten die Bauleute? Wohin gingen an dem Abend, wo die Chinesische Mauer fertig war die Maurer? Das große Rom ist voll von Triumphbögen. Wer errichtete sie? Über wen triumphierten die Cäsaren? Hatte das vielbesungene Byzanz nur Paläste für seine Bewohner? Selbst in dem sagenhaften Atlantis brüllten in der Nacht, wo das Meer es verschlang die Ersaufenden nach ihren Sklaven. Der junge Alexander eroberte Indien. Er allein? Cäsar schlug die Gallier. Hatte er nicht wenigstens einen Koch bei sich? Philipp von Spanien weinte, als seine Flotte untergegangen war. Weinte sonst niemand? Friedrich der Zweite siegte im siebenjährigen Krieg. Wer siegte außer ihm? Jede Seite ein Sieg. Wer kochte den Siegesschmaus? Alle zehn Jahre ein großer Mann. Wer bezahlte die Spesen?”
“Von der Freundlichkeit der Welt (Bertold Brecht 1921)Auf die Erte voller kaltem WindKamt ihr alle als ein nacktes Kind.Frierend lagt ihr ohne alle HabAls ein Weib euch eine Windel gab.Keiner schrie euch, ihr wart nicht begehrtUnd man holte euch nicht im Gefaehrt.Hier auf Erden wart ihr unbekanntAls ein Mann euch einst nahm an der Hand.Von der Erde voller kaltem WindGeht ihr all bedeckt mit Schorf und Grind.Fast ein jeder hat die Welt geliebt,Wenn man ihm zwei Haende Erde gibt.”
“Von den Leben, die hellen.Von den Toden, die schnellenORGES WÜNSCHLISTE”
“Art is not a mirror. Art is a hammer.”
“Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is at their heels.”
“Das Volk hat das Vertrauen der Regierung verscherzt.Wäre es da nicht doch einfacher,die Regierung löste das Volk auf und wählte ein anderes?”
“Wir stehen selbst enttäuscht und sehn betroffen // Den Vorhang zu und alle Fragen offen”
“It is easier to rob by setting up a bank than by holding up a bank clerk.”
“Who built Thebes of the seven gates?In the books you will find the name of kings.Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?And Babylon, many times demolished.Who raised it up so many times? In what housesOf gold-glittering Lima did the builders live?Where, the evening that the Wall of China was finishedDid the masons go? Great RomeIs full of triumphal arches. Who erected them? Over whomDid the Caesars triumph? Had Byzantium, much praised in song,Only palaces for its inhabitants? Even in fabled AtlantisThe night the ocean engulfed itThe drowning still bawled for their slaves.”
“As crimes pile up, they become invisible.”
“Alas,we who wanted kindness, could not be kind ourselves.”
“Denn die einen sind im DunkelnUnd die anderen sind im Licht.Und man sieht nur die im LichteDie im Dunkeln sieht man nicht.”
“Charakter, das ist eine Zeitfrage. Er hält soundso lange, genau wie ein Handschuh. Es gibt gute, die halten lange. Aber sie halten nicht ewig.”
“Who built the seven towers of Thebes?The books are filled with the names of kings.Was it kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?...In the evening when the Chinese wall was finishedWhere did the masons go?...”
“Why be a man when you can be a success.”
“Las revoluciones se producen en los callejones sin salida.Cuando la verdad es demasiado débil para defenderse y tiene que pasar al ataque.”
“When the Chinese Wall was built, where'd the masons go for lunch? When Caesar conquered Gaul, was there not even a cook in the army? When the Armada sank, King Philip wept. Were there no other tears?”
“Natürlich muss die Wahrheit im Kampf mit der Unwahrheit geschrieben werden und sie darf nicht etwas Allgemeines, Hohes, Vieldeutiges sein. Von dieser allgemeinen, hohen, vieldeutigen Art ist ja gerade die Unwahrheit. Wenn von einem gesagt wird, er hat die Wahrheit gesagt, so haben zunächst einige oder viele oder einer etwas anderes gesagt, eine Lüge oder etwas Allgemeines, aber er hat die Wahrheit gesagt, etwas Praktisches, Tatsächliches, Unleugbares, das, um was es sich handelte.”
“EpitaphDen Tigern ertrann ichDie Wanzen nährte ichAufgefressen wurde ichVon den Mittelmäßigkeiten.”