Bertolt Brecht

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how Bertolt Brecht is justifiably famous as one of the greatest political dramatists and whose self-contradictory Marxist didactics have made him the subject of a love-hate relationship on both sides of the Marxist divide. It explores how a detailed scrutiny of his earliest works betrays a startling cognizance of his future developments and how, despite the fact that much of his later work was a direct response to world events, one finds that their nature, and, to some degree, the events that inspired them, can be found foretold in the umbra of his origins. In particular, it looks at how the metaphors and mythologies of Brecht's first play, "Baal", both predict, foreshadow, and, to some degree, determine the political atmosphere and ramifications of his future life and body of work.

From the Paper:

"BAAL has also been heralded by many as a nigh-prophetic work in terms of its discussion of the logical extensions of decadence, of revolution, and of the artistic individual within the proletariat mass. This play addresses issues that would not be entirely raised until after the 2nd World War and not fully understood until well into the Cold Wars. Some insight into the way in which Brecht's earliest work addresses issues budding at the time of his death can be seen by comparing the original BAAL to a latter-day reworking of the play called The Dream Engine (a radical anarchist piece released at Amherst College in 1969 and heralded by some as the first true rock opera)."

More papers on Bertolt Brecht:

• Analytical Essay # 135226 : "Bertolt Brecht on the Historical Interpretation of Galileo"
• Narrative Essay # 95429 : "Bertolt Brecht's "Life of Galileo"
• Analytical Essay # 7252 : "Analysis of Bertolt Brecht's "Mother Courage and Her Children"

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