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Reviews393 intellectual case history ofhow someone trained in theater criticism and practice , with a strong Christian faith,has come to deploythe imaginative processes of each to support the other. To join argument with it—if this analogy is not excessively hubristic—can be as tricky as was the attempt to reconcile philosophy with theology in Abelard's Paris. Pamela M. King University ofBristol John J.White. BertoltBrecht'sDramatic Theory. Rochester,N.Y.: Camden House, 2004. Pp. ix + 348. $90.00. The cover ofJohnWhite's book shows us Brecht—cigar in hand, smiling pleased and somewhat mischievously—as I have seen him often when he was going to respond to an interlocutor' s question with some provocative argument. This personal gestus can also frequently be intuited by the reader of his theoretical writings in the original German. Many of the extensively quoted German passages from the texts covered in White's book, though they may make the reading difficult for non-German readers, convey this typical gestus of Brecht, so difficult to communicate fully in translation. Furthermore, the often lengthy German quotes help readers appreciate White's remarkably close readings of Brecht's theoretical deliberations, readings that are as thorough as they are astute and sound in their assessment. White's book is the most comprehensive, solidly researched presentation and discussion of Brecht's theory that has been published in English, taking into account much of the scholarship that has been devoted to Brecht's work during five decades. It is an achievement as admirable as it is overdue nearly fifty years after Brecht's death. After all, he is the only German playwright/ director whose works attained a permanent place in the world theater's repertoire and whose ideas had momentous impact on the theory and practice of contemporary theater. White emphasizes that he is "aware this can only be but a first step" (24). He argues convincingly that much further "exegetical close reading" (24) is needed of the many texts left behind by Brecht and published in the Grosse Berliner und FrankfurterAusgabe of his works. White reminds us that the very scattered mode of previous English language publication has made it difficult to arrive at a full understanding of Brecht's theoretical and dramaturgical thinking. For instance, John Wdlett's anthology Brechton Theatre and his translation of The MessingkaufDialogues are still the only available 394Comparative Drama writings on dramatic theory in English, and they could only include texts that had been published at the time ofWillett's translation. (Willett was at work on a second volume of Brecht on Theatre but, alas, his recent death prevented the completion ofthe project.) Consequently,White's volume is now the most useful source available in English to scholars and theater workers interested in the study of Brecht's theory and the ways in which his plays and productions informed that theory as much as they were engendered by it. Among the virtues ofWhite's book are his professed adherence to a method of "focused close readings of chosen passages and arguments "(24) which, he argues, is the only effective way to arrive at a "reading of the theory against the background of Brecht's theater practice" (21). Following his own proposition, he minutely analyzes the texts he takes into consideration and usually avoids any hasty assertions about Brecht's intentions. He limits his study to "taking strategically planned soundings" of selected texts, as to "free up space for the intellectual and historical contextualization ofBrecht's theoretical writings" (24). He also wants"to provide in-depth critical analysis ofBrecht's thinking ... both with reference to the intellectual context ofthe time and in the light of subsequent dramatic and aesthetic theory"(l). In many regards he succeeds in doing what he outlines in his introduction.And his decision not"to enter the minefield surrounding Brecht's early 'Lehrstück' theory" (25) is arguably quite wise, not merely because "it involves reconstructing a putative theoretical position out of . . . inconclusive fragments, but also because others . .. effectively established the main areas of agreement and debate" (25). The '"Lehrstück" theory, as important as it was at a point in Brecht's development, in the final analysis had...

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