Bertolt Brecht was one of the most important dramatists of the 20th century. At the start of his career he studied literature but switched from the humanities to medicine. This paper discusses reasons for this switch, the influence of his medical experiences on his poetic work and why he eventually abandoned his medical career. His political development towards Marxism is described and a short sketch of his theory of theatre is given. He is considered the most important German-speaking dramatist of the 20th century.
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References
1.
The spelling is unclear. On the birth certificate it is ‘Berthold’, Brecht himself wrote ‘Bertolt’ or ‘Bert’. Mittenzwei W. Das Leben des Bertolt Brecht.Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1987; 1: 9
2.
Ibid.: pp. 9–58
3.
TretjakowS.Bert Brecht. International Literature (Moscov)1937; 5: 60–70
4.
Mittenzwei W (op. cit. ref. 1): p. 77
5.
Letter to Paula Bahnholzer. In: BrechtB: Werke: Große kommentierte Berliner und Frankfurter Ausgabe.Berlin und Frankfurt: Aufbau und Suhrkamp, 1993; 28: 55
6.
FrischW, ObermeierKW.Brecht in Augsburg.Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1976
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Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805). Together with Johann Wolfgang Goethe Germany's most popular poet. Being the son of a doctor he was forced to study fist law and then medicine although he would have preferred theology. Thanks to his friend Goethe he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the University of Jena. Since he was strongly interested in history his plays often focus on historic characters like Joan of Arc or Mary Stuart. Georg Büchner (1813-37), son of a doctor, studied medicine. Being an opponent of the reigning prince of Hesse he had to leave the country and became professor of anatomy in Zurich where he died from typhus. In his most famous play Woyzeck he describes the true case of the mentally ill soldier Franz Woyzeck who kills his wife and then commits suicide. Wolfram von Eschenbach (c. 1170-1220), writer and minstrel. Almost nothing is known about his life. Maybe he took part in the third crusade under Frederick Barbarossa and Richard Lionheart. He wrote poems and courtly novels, often in a dark and enigmatic style
8.
HaageB.Urjans Heilung nach der ‘Chirurgia’ des Abu L-Quasim. Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie1985; 104: 357–67
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BüchnerG.Woyzeck.Stuttgart: Reclam, 1996: 13
10.
HaasW.Bert Brecht (Köpfe des XX. Jh., Vol. 7). Berlin: Colloquium, 1958; 7: 23 Bornemann E. Ein Epitaph für Bertolt Brecht. Sinn und Form 1957; 2: 149
11.
JensW.Statt einer Literaturgeschichte.Pfullingen: Neske, 1962: 229
12.
SternbergF.Der Dichter und die Ratio. Erinnerungen an Bertolt Brecht.Göttingen: Sachse & Pohl, 1963: 25
13.
Notizen über unsere Zeit. In: Brecht B (op. cit. ref. 5): vol. 21, p. 12. In the same tenor are the articles Turmwacht (op. cit. ref. 5): vol. 21:7 or the poems Der belgische Acker (op. cit. ref. 5): vol. 13, p. 83, Der Kaiser (op. cit. ref. 5): vol. 13, p. 76, Französische Bauern (op. cit. ref. 5): vol. 13, p. 85, and many more
14.
MittenzweiW (op. cit. ref. 1): p. 41 and footnote 34
15.
Unfortunately, the essay on Horace has not survived. What we have is the memory of one of Brecht's classmates, published in 1949. SchmidtD.‘Baal’ und der junge Brecht.Stuttgart: Metzler, 1966
16.
MittenzweiW (op. cit. ref. 1): p. 84
17.
BrechtB (op. cit. ref. 5)
18.
SchmidtD (op. cit. ref. 15): p. 37
19.
MittenzweiW (op. cit. ref. 1): p. 103
20.
Ibid.: 94. The left-wingers of the ‘German Social Democratic Party’ left the party in April 1917 and founded the USPD. For the history of the SPD/USPD see: Erdmann KD. Der erste Weltkrieg. In: Grundmann H, ed. Gebhardt. Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte. 22 Vols. Deutscher TaschenbuchVerlag: München, 1997; 18: 184
21.
BrechtB (op. cit. ref. 5): vol. 22, pp. 138, 927
22.
MittenzweiW (op. cit. ref. 1): p. 101
23.
FranklinBenjamin (‘Frank’) Wedekind (1864-1918), son of a German doctor and an American actress. Journalist, actor, and playwright whose plays prevalently deal with sex and erotica
24.
Quotation from: Schmidt D (op. cit. ref. 15): p. 2
25.
ReuschRG.Goebbels. Eine Biographie.München: Piper, 1995: 52
26.
MittenzweiW (op. cit. ref. 1): 64. ‘Kutscher’ = ‘coachman’, ‘Leichen’ = ‘dead bodies’. ‘Leichen-Kutscher’ = he who drives a hearse
27.
BrechtB (op. cit. ref. 5): vol. 28, p. 50
28.
Ibid.: vol. 23, p. 47
29.
MittenzweiW (op. cit. ref. 1): p. 76
30.
Ibid: pp. 60, 62. Brecht (op. cit. ref. 5): vol. 28, p. 55
31.
BornemannE (op. cit. ref. 10): p. 149
32.
BrechtB (op. cit. ref. 5): vol. 22, pp. 68, 138
33.
MittenzweiW (op. cit. ref. 1): p. 79
34.
BrechtB (op. cit. ref. 5): vol. 1, p. 11
35.
Ibid.: vol. 1, pp. 322-323; Mittenzwei W (op. cit. ref. 1): p. 59
For Brechts's time in Hollywood see: Mittenzwei W (op. cit. ref. 1): vol. 2, pp. 7-135. For the stages of his flight: Hecht W (op. cit. ref. 37): pp. 349-754
39.
MittenzweiW (op. cit. ref. 1): vol. 2, pp. 356-71, 662
40.
BrechtB (op. cit. ref. 5): vol. 22, p. 68
41.
Ibid.: p. 110
42.
Aristotle. The Poetics.Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam Jun., 2002: 19–25
43.
Ibid
44.
Ibid.: p. 211. A table, published in 1935, displaying the main differences between the two systems (1935;22: 109)
