Brecht on Theatre: The Development of An Aesthetic ed. by John Willett (review)

BOOK REVIEWS BRECHT ON THEATRE: THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN AESTHETIC. Edited and translated by John Willett. New York, Hill and Wang, 1964. 294 pp. This book fills a long-felt need. It makes available to the English-speaking reader the major body of Brecht's theoretical and critical writings. The editor must first be commended for having undertaken this task; for the range and the principle of his selections from Brecht's writings; for the highly informative annotations which are inserted after each selection and frequently utilize unpub· lished material; and finally for the felicity and faithfulness of his translations which in idiomatic English preserve most of the contrived, aggressive plainness of Brecht's style. The thorough index proves most helpful. Mr. Willett's arrangement of Brecht's writings follows a chronological sequence, beginning with 1918, when Brecht was twenty, and ending in 1956, the year of his death. The editor's consistency in adhering to this principle enables the reader to discern the development of Brecht's aesthetics (or rather poetics) as the clarification , elaboration, and maturing of a few fundamental notions, all potentially present in Brecht's writings of the twenties. With the aid of the editor's notes this arrangement also illumines the considerable impact environment and con· temporary history exerted upon Brecht's ideas. Genesis, development, and mean· ing of the key concepts of Brecht's poetics-epic theater, non-Aristotelian drama, alienation effect, realism, dialectics in the theater etc.-can be traced and com· prehended by following Mr. Willett's selections and annotations. For instance, the idea of "non-Aristotelian drama"-the term appears in the early thirties and dominates Brecht's writings of that period-can be detected, in its germinal form, in Brecht's glorification of the sports arena almost a decade earlier. There he finds a public of cool critical experts who do not identify emotionally with the contestants, but watch their moves with detached curiosity. For these spectators victory and defeat do not flow from a higher fate or a mysterious entity called "character"-the existence of which the behaviorist Brecht largely denies-but result from observable strategies and skills which teach the spectators something about the adequacy and inadequacy of human behavior in specific situations. The foundations of Brecht's "epic theater" are laid in these early pieces. The core of Brecht's aesthetics is his concept of realism. Realism for Brecht means not surface depiction, but explanation, uncovering, of the structure of human reality in its socio·historical circumstances. In the theater, understanding of reality begins, however, with the spectator's awareness of the "unreality" of the staged events. He must be reminded that their relationship to. reality is that of a "show." In the twofold meaning of "show" as, on the one hand, showing, demonstrating, and exposing the truth, and as, on the other, make· believe and entertainment, lies the key to the dual aspect of Brecht's "epic theater." His aesthetics is a new version of the ancient Horatian prodesse et delectare, the demand that art afford both moral (social) utility and aesthetic pleasure. Despite his non-Aristotelianism there is a good deal of the classicist in Brecht. Mr. Willett's edition proves Brecht to be not only a pioneering thinker on 227 228 MODERN DRAMA September drama and a learned, astute, and profound critic, but also a stage director of genius. All of Brecht's writings, but especially the late "model books" and the discussions with members of his East Berlin ensemble contain fascinating analyses and insights of great practical value for the stage. His able editor and translator must be thanked for providing the English-speaking reader with this opportunity to come to know, at first hand, the signifIcance of Brecht's thought for the art of the theater. WALTER H. SOKEL Stanford University LE THEATRE DE LUIGI PIRANDELLO DANS LE MOUVEMENT DRAMATIQUE CONTEMPORAIN, by Aureliu Weiss, Librairie 73, Paris, 1964, 106 pp. Price $5.50 F. Bergson disait que ron est jamais frfnu de faire un livre et il est evident que Ie regrette Aureliu Weiss partageait cette opinion. Au moment ou de nombreux professionnels de la critique nous accablent d'ouvrages aussi monumentaux...