In the present study, the sonnets Margarete Steffin and Bertolt Brecht wrote each other will be examined both in regard to the form of the sonnet as well as the tradition with which this form is associated. A second point of consideration, which stands to a certain extent in conflict with the first, is the dialogue which these sonnets constitute. This dialogue provided Steffin and Brecht the forum and opportunity to be equal partners, contrary to their real-life situations, where equality between the two did not exist. This forum allowed them to witness and experience each other simultaneously both as subjects and objects both in terms of longing and desire, as in poetic discourse, enabling them to mutually influence each other. And as the sonnets show, this influence did in fact occur regarding their different ideas, attitudes and needs in their relationship to each other.

This dissertation interprets Brecht's Mutter Courage through its protagonist. Most interpreters have derived Courage's meaning from only one term of the contradiction of merchant and mother that constitutes her, either blaming the inhuman, war-mongering merchant for her participation in war, or defending the vital, productive, and nurturing mother for that same (unavoidable) participation. Some have stressed instead the unity formed by Courage's contradiction, without being able to elucidate its meaning. The present interpretation, proceeding from a clue given in scene 7 to the meaning of the text, draws parallels between the drama and Brecht's view of the world, and shows that the world of Mutter Courage is the symbolic representation of capitalism as Brecht knew it during the rise of fascism and the approach of the Second World War. Courage is then shown to be a concentrated form of this symbolic representation; indeed, she turns out to be a representation of capitalism in its "totality". This representation is inseparable from the invocation, through Courage, of the Great Mother archetype. The Great Mother describes a contradictory capitalism that is both a Good Mother in its promising productivity, and a Terrible Mother in its destructive warring and oppression; but she, as the symbol of Nature, also describes a capitalism that had begun to seem even to Brecht like a second Nature. Courage also represents the totality of capitalism (as the Marxist Brecht saw it) by embodying both its "affirmative" aspect (as a merchant who engenders soldiering sons), and (undermining the archetype of the Great Mother) its "critical" aspect as the representation of the resistance of the oppressed to their warring world (as the outlaw who engenders a daughter who rebels against war). The meaning of the drama, then, is the story of Courage as the incarnation of the dialectic of capitalism, a dark tale whose conditions seem eternal, but which contains the promise of something bet

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PhD / This thesis considers actors as ‘manual philosophers’; it engages the proposition that acting can reveal aspects of existence and Being. In this sense, forms of acting that analyse and engage with lived experience of the world offer a phenomenological approach to the problem of Being. But rather than arrive at abstract, general conclusions about the human subject’s relationship to the world, at least some approaches to acting investigate the structures of experience through those experiences themselves in a lived, physical way. I begin with the troubled relationship between philosophy and theatre and briefly consider the history of attacks on actors. I suggest that at the heart of antitheatricality is what Jonas Barish (1981: 3) calls ‘ontological queasiness’: theatre poses a problem in the distinction between ‘what is’ and ‘what is not’. Turning to phenomenology as a particular way of doing philosophy that challenges any dualistic understanding of subjectivity, I reflect on Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time as a lens for viewing the process of performing and preparing for a role. Heidegger emphasises the intermeshed relationship between the human subject, Dasein (Being-there), and the world to the point that it is impossible to consider one without the other. I have chosen three of the most influential theatre and acting theorists of the twentieth century and examine how each uncovers aspects of existence that are presented in Heidegger’s phenomenology. Firstly, I consider Constantin Stanislavski’s ‘system’ which emphasises action for a purpose within an environment, the individual’s relationship to objects in the world and its involvement with other people who share the same type of Being in the world. Secondly, I examine Antonin Artaud’s conception of theatre that seeks to resist the structures of Being, the way the world is interpreted by others (the ‘They’) and the way that the world gets handed over to consciousness for the most part. In many respects, Artaud’s theatre is the embodiment of Anxiety, a world-revealing state where Being becomes apparent. Thirdly, I discuss Bertolt Brecht’s theatre practice as an attestation to authenticity (a truthful engagement with human existence as possibility) through the medium of performance. Brecht seeks to engage audiences in philosophical debate and change the world. Like Heidegger, Brecht also stresses the historical and temporal constitution of the human subject, whilst emphasising practicality in theatre making. By examining these approaches to performance as case studies, this thesis rethinks the notional intersection of philosophy and theatre, concentrating on process rather than literary analysis. This application of phenomenology is new in that it does not merely consider theatre analysis from an ‘ideal’ audience point of view (i.e. provide a phenomenology of theatre). By focusing on acting, I emphasise the development of artistic creation and becoming, and show how certain types of acting are phenomenological. The bold upshot here is a conception of philosophy that acknowledges various theatre practices as embodied forms of philosophical practice. Furthermore, theatre might well be thought of as phenomenological because it can be an investigation of Being firmly entrenched in practical action and performance. Conversely, philosophy is more than just words on a page; it is a performed activity. Actors can be considered manual philosophers in so far as they engage with the problem of Being not in mere abstraction but in the practical challenges of performance.

Freie Universiẗat, Diss., 2006--Berlin. / Dateiformat: zip, Dateien im PDF-Format.

Thesis (M.A. 1972) from the Department of German Language and Literature, University of Adelaide.

Zugl.: Hamburg, Univ., Diss., 2007

Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät--Köln--Universität Köln, 1990-1991.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2007. / "Graduate Program in Comparative Literature." Includes bibliographical references (p. 186-194).