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14. HOW WE DIGESTEP BERTOLT BRECHT
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
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HOWW EOIGESTE PBERTOL TBRECH T Wolf Sieger t I Beforeleavin gBerlin ,I ran gu pKlau sVolke ran dw e spokeabou tou rcontribution st othi sseminar .Whe nI tol d himtha tI intendedt ospea kabou tne wdevelopment si nth e receptiono fBrech ti nGermany ,h easke dme :'Poesi tstil l exist?'An dw elaughed .Wa sthi sblac khumour ? Iti strue .W ehav et ospea kabou ta ne wperio do f Brechtreceptio ni nGermany .I thin kthi swil lb ecalle d laterth ethir dperiod :th eperio dwhe npeopl ehav ego t tiredo fhi swork ,wher ethe yar esearchin gt odistanc e Brechtb yannouncin ghi sdeath ,th eforme rstudent s proclaimingtha tthe yhav efinall yan dforeve routgrow n him.I d ono tagre ewit hsuc ha nattitud eno rwit hsuc h schematisationbu ti tserve sa sa fram etha tallow su st o situateth eproces san dstage so fBrech treception .Eve n thosewh oar estil l'believers 'no wfin di tnecessar yt o speako fth enee dt o'actualise 'him. * Thoughdevelopment si nth ereceptio no fBrecht' swor k havebee nver ydifferen ti nth etw oseparate dGermanys , atth een do fth eSeventie sw efin da fairl ysimila rresult . Ina 197 8televisio nintervie wWol fBierman ndescribe di t inth efollowin gterms :'Afte rpeopl eha dfinall ybee nfe d enoughBrecht ,the yar eno wthoroughl yfe du pwit hhi meverybody i nhi sow nway .I nth eGerma nPemocrati c RepublicBrech twa sdegrade dt oth estatu so fa monumen t andbeate nint oth echildre nunti lthe ycouldn' tstan dhi m anymore ,lik eSchille ro ran yothe rclassic .I nth eWes to n theothe rhan dafte ra lon gperio do fdenigratio nan d silenceBrech tbecam ereall yfashionable .Bu tbecaus eo f theasthmati crhyth mo ffashio nher ei nth eWes tth e 176Wol fSieger t automaticconsequenc ei stha tpeopl ehav eno wha denoug h fora while' . Biermann,an deveryon eelse ,call sBrech ta classic ,a term,whic hdu et oth especific so fGerma nliterar yan d culturalhistory ,ha sconservativ econnotations .Hi shouse keeper Mar iOh mreport sho wBrech tuse dt osa yt oher : 'Oneda vI a mgoin gt ob efamous 'an d' Ia ma moder n classic'.^Bu trealit yha sadvance dfa rbeyon dhi s dreams,fo rh eha sno wbecom etw oclassics :inth eWes t' a modernclassic 'an di nth eEas t' aclassi co fsocialist realism '. Inthi scontex tther ei sa passag ei nBrecht' s autobiographicalwriting so f192 5tha ti sparticularl y apposite.Th etopi ci sskyscraper san dh ewrites :'I tshoo k mewhe nI sa w(i nth ebrochur eo fa nAmerica n constructioncompany )tha tthes eskyscraper sremaine...