Bertolt Brecht: A Literary LifeThis first English language biography of Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) in two decades paints a strikingly new picture of one of the twentieth century's most controversial cultural icons. Drawing on letters, diaries and unpublished material, including Brecht's medical records, Parker offers a rich and enthralling account of Brecht's life and work, viewed through the prism of the artist. Tracing his extraordinary life, from his formative years in Augsburg, through the First World War, his politicisation during the Weimar Republic and his years of exile, up to the Berliner Ensemble's dazzling productions in Paris and London, Parker shows how Brecht achieved his transformative effect upon world theatre and poetry. Bertolt Brecht: A Literary Life is a powerful portrait of a great, compulsively contradictory personality, whose artistry left its lasting imprint on modern culture. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 5 | |
| 7 | |
Dramatic Iconoclast | 93 |
Marxist Heretic | 249 |
Chastened Survivor | 377 |
Contentious Master | 485 |
Notes | 597 |
Abbreviations | 651 |
Bibliography | 655 |
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actors anti-Fascist artistic asked audience Augsburg Baal ballads became Becher behaviour Benjamin Berlau Berliner Ensemble Berthold Bertolt Brecht bourgeois boys Brecht and Weigel Brecht found Brecht told Brecht wrote Brechtian Brentano Bronnen Comintern Communist critical cultural death diary dramatic East Berlin Eisler Elisabeth Hauptmann émigrés Epic Theatre Eugen Brecht exile Fascism father fear Feuchtwanger film friends Galileo German Hanns Hauptmann heart Helene Weigel Hitler intellectual Keuner Korsch later letter literary living look Lukács Mahagonny Mann Marianne Marxist Moscow Mother Courage Müllereisert Munich Münsterer Nazi Nazism Neher never Otto Party performance Pfanzelt Piscator play poem political premiere production published rehearsals relationship remained revolutionary Ronald Speirs scene social songs Sophie Soviet stage stay Steffin story struggle Suhrkamp Svendborg things Thomas Mann Threepenny Opera took Ulbricht visited Walter wanted Weill writing young Zurich