This thesis is based on the major plays of Bertolt Brecht; reference to his lyrics and critical writings is made where pertinent. The thesis examines the contradictions between Brecht's realistic assessment of human nature and his Marxist ideal of how man should be in order to change society. Brecht viewed society and the behaviour of the individual from two vantage points: the first was that of man who accepted society and conformed because he was concerned mostly with his own survival; the second was that of the Marxist critic, who claimed that the survival of the individual was unimportant, and that the traditional class structure had to be destroyed. Brecht pleaded idealistically for heroism and martyrdom in the service of the Marxist cause. On the other hand, he was sympathetic to the misfortunes of the common man, and realistically urged him to repudiate the necessity of heroic acts. Chapter I introduces the main problems of the thesis, and traces briefly their development throughout Brecht’s work. Chapter II discusses the problems of individualism in four of the "Erste Stϋcke". Man's search to discover his own values for existence ends in disappointment; his insistence on hedonistic and homosexual behaviour is a sign of his rejection of society and all traditional values. In only one of the works does the protagonist join society. The choice he has to make between security and revolution anticipates the dilemma of man in most of the later plays; he prefers conformity to individual freedom. The isolation of man, and the insufficiency of sensual pleasure reveal to the hedonists also that individualism is futile. The main characters in each of these plays are striking examples of Brecht’s experimentation with the figure of the anti-hero. Chapter III examines the implications of unheroic behaviour and capitulation in Mann ist Mann, and of conformity in Die Dreigroschenoper and Mahagonny. In the two operas, man is gradually forced to conform to the economic practices of bourgeois-capitalist society. In all three works, the individual's opportunism and willingness to capitulate to those in control, causes him to become evil and leads eventually to the dehumanizatlon of man. Chapter IV discusses Brecht’s insistence on the necessity of conformity to Marxist doctrine in the "Lehrstϋcke", Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe and Die Tage der Commune. The individual finds that the ethics of the communist collective compel him to become evil. These plays mark the beginning of the Marxist Brecht’s conflict with the poet of human nature. In his attempt to accept Marxist doctrine without reservation, Brecht had to force himself consciously to overlook the shortcomings of Marxist practice. These plays stress that man must replace his belief in personal integrity with an unyielding faith in the ethics of the collective. Consequently, he must refuse to help or pity the suffering, and deliberately resort to revolutionary violence. Chapter V investigates Brecht's contradictory views about heroism in a number of the plays of exile and the later "Bearbeitungen”. His greater fidelity to his knowledge of human nature, and to his sympathy for the common man generally prevailed over his desire to show that man would accept Marxist doctrine and sacrifice himself for the cause. Most of these plays present unheroic, finely observed individuals who prefer to settle for the small pleasures of life rather than resist oppression in order to seek freedom or justice. The plays of exile reveal a less dogmatic Brecht, but still one who never ceased to emphasize the need for social change. He avoided depicting contemporary social evils in these dramas, and showed those of all time. Chapter VI assesses the varying emphases and the contradictions of Brecht’s thought. The chapter concludes that although Brecht insisted from first to last on the necessity of man's unheroic behaviour, his individuals did become more humane. There was no progression in his ideas concerning how man was to survive in traditional society or how he might achieve social change. The plays since the “Lehrstϋcke” revealed a shifting of emphasis from the dehumanization of the individual to the necessity of man's accepting personal responsibility for the welfare of his fellows. The real progression of Brecht was not in his thought, but in his art, in his ability to depict human nature in conflict with the injustices of all ages and societies. / Arts, Faculty of / Central Eastern Northern European Studies, Department of / Graduate

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Este trabalho pretende reconstituir o debate entre Benjamin e Brecht durante a década de 1930 em torno da relação entre recursos formais e engajamento político na produção teatral brechtiana do período do fim da República de Weimar. Para isto, realizaremos um estudo de textos e montagens de determinadas peças, buscando trazer à tona, então, questões presentes nos comentários teóricos e interpretações realizadas pelos autores. O percurso deste trabalho divide-se em quatro partes. Primeiramente, nas duas partes iniciais, trataremos da crítica de Brecht à instituição teatral em seu teor ideológico e do início do desenvolvimento de seu projeto de refuncionalização social do aparelho produtivo teatral, bem como do papel da técnica neste contexto, valorizado por Benjamin. Para isso, realizaremos, inicialmente, uma reconstituição do panorama estético-político do período histórico e trataremos dos experimentos com A Ópera dos Três Vinténs e Ascensão e Queda da Cidade de Mahagonny. Em seguida, voltaremo-nos à peça radiofônica e ao Processo dos Três Vinténs, assim como, buscando aprofundar-nos na peça de aprendizagem, analisaremos o caso da peça A Medida. Em uma terceira parte, realizaremos um estudo da peça Um Homem é um homem, central para tal debate e tomada por Benjamin como modelo do teatro épico. Por fim, abordaremos o debate dos autores acerca da parábola em Kafka, a ser confrontada, então, com o trabalho brechtiano com a parábola. Pretende-se mostrar que se há, nas primeiras partes mencionadas, uma grande aproximação das perspectivas dos autores, nas duas últimas partes deste trabalho surgem, sobretudo em torno de uma tensão, de um conflito de compreensões entre a esfera gestual e a forma da parábola, diferentes interpretações do potencial crítico e da efetividade política do teatro épico. As divergências relacionam-se, em última instância, a diferentes compreensões dos vínculos entre arte e política, bem como a diferentes noções de dialética. / This work aims to reconstruct the debate between Benjamin and Brecht in the 1930\'s on the relation between formal resources and political engagement in Brecht\'s theatre works during the end of the Weimar Republic. To achieve so we will carry out a study of texts and staging of plays, with a view to surface then issues present in theoretical comments and interpretations by the authors. The path followed by this work is divided in four parts. In the first two parts we will deal with Brecht\'s critique to theatre as institution in its ideological content and with the beginning of the development of his project for social \"refunctioning\" of the theatrical production apparatus, in addition to the role of technique within this context, which is valued by Benjamin. In order to do so we will firstly reconstruct the aesthetical and political panorama of the historical period and consider the experiments with The Threepenny Opera and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Subsequently, we will focus on the radio play and on The Threepenny Lawsuit, as well as on his \"learning play\" The Measures Taken. On a third part we will study the play Man equals Man, capital to such debate and understood by Benjamin as \"a model for epic theatre\". Finally, we will tackle the author debate as regards the use of parables by Kafka, which is to be compared to the use of parables by Brecht himself. It is intended to show that if at first there is a great approach of the authors\' prospects, in the last two parts of this work, different interpretations of the critical potential and the political effectiveness of epic theatre appear, especially around a tension, linked to a conflict of understandings between the gestural sphere and the form of the parable. The divergences are related, ultimately, to the different understandings of links between art and politics, as well as to the different notions of dialectics.

Inaug. Diss. : Geisteswissenschaft : Marburg/L. : 1982. / Bibliogr. p. 303-310. -

Berlin, Freie University, Diss., 2006 (Nicht für den Austausch).

Revision of thesis (Ph.D.)--Universität Göteborg, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 673-703).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1973. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Bielefeld, Universiẗat, Diss., 2002.

Diss.--Fribourg-en-Brisgau, 1999. / Bibliogr. p. 215-226.