M.A. (English) / The aim of this d i s s e r t a t i on is to identify the influence of Bertolt Bretht on Fugard's life and work in South African theatre. As Fugard himself is not German-speaking, and his experience of Brecht is perforce through translations of Brecht into English, this is not a comparative study bet veeri the dramatists. It merely uses Fugard's own statements about his reading of Brecht in English at various points in his career, from the 1950s to the present, to show this particular aspect of his own development as a dramatist. The standard works on Fugard - Athol Fugard, Stephen Gray (ed.) (Johannesburg: McGraw-Hill, 1982), Dennis Walder, Athol Fugard (London: Macmillan, 1984) and Russell Vandenbroucke, Truths the Hand can Touch (Johannesburg: Donker, 1986) - refer only glancingly to this possibility. The introduction establishes the many references Fugard has made to Brecht in his writing - which includes not only his plays, but his novel, filmscripts, notebooks, letters and interviews and interprets how Fugard perceives various Brechtian theatre principles, such as the use of the alienation effect, the epic nature of drama and the function of theatre in the community. In the following chapters Fugard's vorks are examined, in order to show how Brecht has been of use to him at various key points in his career. This is done chronologically, so that a larger picture of the influence on Fugard's development as a dramatist and his changing use of Brecht as a source may be seen. The conclusion of this dissertation takes the findings of the previous chapters and assesses the nature of the BrechtFugard link, taking into account the different aspects and levels. This is briefly compared to the findings of the latest critical work to have corne out in which Fugard features - Martin Orkin, Drama and the South African State (Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1991) - in an attempt to show how using the methodology of a source and influence study like this is of value in coming to a deeper understanding of the dramaturgy of a writer like Fugard...

Brecht's concept of character and its influence on the content and style of his works Brecht's concept of character, based on the Marxist-socialist premise of the perfectibility of man, is one of the most important aspects of his work. He believes that man's character is comparable to an atom, constantly falling apart and re-assembling itself. He states that man should be defined by his contradictory actions. With this view of man, several assumptions of the traditional theater no longer hold. There is no stalwart hero to pit the strength of his character against fate, there is no moral code by which he could act, since all is seen as being in flux and ethics are decided upon according to the demands of each specific situation. Since the heart of tragedy usually is the struggle of a heroic figure against fate, and since Brecht's figures are changeable and no longer heroic, the premises of tragedy no longer exist. Furthermore, the hero's character can no longer serve to advance the action of the play. The environment has to serve now as a stimulus for its progress. Although Brecht believes in the eventual advent of a "golden age,” he presents his figures as being engaged in a daily struggle, winning, losing and compromising. Such figures no longer can be shown by traditional acting methods Brecht invented the "epic" way of acting to accommodate them. New methods of observation and expression are the result of these new "heroes." Thus, Brecht's concept of character serves to convey his idea of man's existential possibilities, but also causes stylistic changes in his work.

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This study presents an examination of the theory of alienation which is found in the dramatic work of Bertolt Brecht, the German writer and producer. A historical survey is followed by an attempt to describe the presence of the same phenomenon in the text of two plays by Brecht, Mutter Courage and Der kaukasiche Kreiderkreis. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

...In this thesis I will attempt to demonstrate the enduring power of Brecht's proletarian vision by reference to a production of THE GOOD WOMAN OF SETZUAN that I directed at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, in December, 1981. In this introductory chapter I will outline and discuss the theoretical writings that I used to prepare for an analysis of the play. An exhaustive survey of either Marxist theory or of the works of Carl Jung as they relate to Brechtian production are clearly outside the scope of this thesis: there are sufficient studies available for further research by the reader. I will examine only those sources which contributed to the development of a production concept for THE GOOD WOMAN OF SETZUAN... / Master of Fine Arts

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo analisar a peça do dramaturgo britânico John Arden Serjeant Musgraves Dance (1959). Para tanto, empreende inicialmente uma contextualização da Grã-Bretanha do período pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial e, em seguida, acerca do teatro do período que ganhou novo fôlego, sobretudo a partir de 1956. Aborda também o teatro épico, que se consolidou em solo britânico na década de 1950. Por fim, situa brevemente a biografia do dramaturgo, destacando suas principais peças. Em um segundo momento, procede-se à análise da peça de John Arden, na qual são considerados seus principais aspectos e temáticas, como a questão da guerra, do messianismo e da possibilidade de ação política dos indivíduos. No terceiro capítulo, esta dissertação contrasta a peça de Arden com a obra de Bertolt Brecht Mãe Coragem e Seus Filhos (1939). A partir de um prisma comparativo, os temas e elementos formais das peças são analisados com vistas a apontar a potencialidade de reflexão política que o teatro épico brechtiano constituiu na cena teatral da Grã-Bretanha do pós-Guerra, no teatro de John Arden. / This work aims to analyse the play Serjeant Musgraves Dance (1959) by John Arden. To accomplish this, a contextualization of the post-Second World war period is made and subsequently a summary of the theatre in this period which established a new moment especially after 1956. The study also covers how the Epic Theatre was consolidated in Britain in the 1950s. Finally, a brief biography of the playwright is stated, highlighting his most important plays. In a second moment, an analysis of the play by John Arden considering its main formal and thematic aspects such as the war, messianism and the possibility of political agency by the individuals is presented. In the third chapter, the dissertation draws a contrast between Ardens play and the play Mother Courage and Her Children (1939) by Bertolt Brecht. From a comparative perspective, the political potential of Brechtian Epic Theatre as it was constituted in Ardens work and in Post-War Britain Theatre is pointed out.

Este trabalho analisa a recepção de Georg Büchner (1813-1837) por Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) enfocando a sua fase criativa inicial. Especificamente analisa-se a abordagem da recepção do drama Woyzeck em Tambores na Noite e da narrativa Lenz, de Büchner, em Baal de Brecht. As duas obras de Büchner, como a maior parte de seus trabalhos, foram publicadas postumamente: Lenz, em 1837, e Woyzeck, em 1878. Esta última estreou em 1913. A obra do autor, quase desconhecida em sua época, encontrou ressonância no Realismo e no Naturalismo, mas o auge da recepção se deu na virada do século XIX para o XX, com a Modernidade e os expressionistas. A presente análise investiga a repercussão de Woyzeck e de Lenz como formas específicas da recepção de Büchner por Brecht. Os dois escritores são importantes por refletirem posições críticas quanto à política e quanto ao ideário de suas épocas, na Alemanha. Brecht usou ambas as obras de Büchner como inspiração para pôr em evidência a posição do indivíduo frente a uma época em decadência, que se caracteriza ademais pela política autoritária na Alemanha, bem como pela falta de liberdade individual. A análise baseia-se na pesquisa hermenêutica de Hans Gadamer e nas premissas acerca da estética da recepção de Hans Robert Jauss. Partindo da estética da recepção, os dramas Tambores na Noite e Baal são examinados quanto à sua intertextualidade com o drama Woyzeck e a narrativa Lenz de Büchner, com auxílio de reflexões elaboradas por Broich e Pfister, num método que permite analisar as relações históricas e textuais entre obras literárias. Neste trabalho, procuramos estabelecer uma relação intertextual direta entre Woyzeck e Tambores na Noite e também entre Lenz e Baal, algo negligenciado na pesquisa literária até o presente momento. / This work analyzes the reception of Georg Büchner (1813-1837) by Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), focusing Brechts initial creative phase. In particular, the reception of the drama Woyzeck in Drums in the Night and of the novel Lenz, from Büchner, in Baal, from Brecht, is analyzed. Both works of Büchner, as is also the case for the majority of his remaining texts, were published posthumously: Lenz, in 1837, and Woyzeck, in 1878; the drama had its premiere only in November 1913. His works, close to unknown at his time, obtained some resonance in realism and in naturalism but the peak of the reception of his works occurred only in the beginning of the XXth century, with modernism and the expressionists. The present analysis investigates the impact of Woyzeck and Lenz and the specific form of Brechts reception of Büchner. Both these authors are important since they reflect critical positions within the political and ideological scenarios of their times, in Germany. Brecht used both works from Büchner as inspiration to put in evidence the position of the individual in a time of decadence, which, moreover was characterized by an authoritarian and repressive politics in Germany, as well as the lack of individual freedom. This analysis is based in the literary hermeneutics of Hans Gadamer, and the premises of the reader-response criticism of Hans Robert Jauss. The dramas Drums in the Night and Baal are examined taking into account the intertextuality with the drama Woyzeck and narrative Lenz of Büchner, with the help of reflections elaborated by Broich and Pfister, a method which allows to clarify the historic and textual relations of literary works. In this thesis we attempt to establish a direct intertextual relation between the dramas Woyzeck and Drums in the Night and also of Lenz and Baal, which had not been previously identified in literary research up to now.