Brecht and Tragedy Radicalism, Traditionalism, Eristics Classics after Antiquity Series

This wide-ranging, detailed and engaging study of Brecht's complex relationship with Greek tragedy and tragic tradition argues that this is fundamental for understanding his radicalism. Featuring an extensive discussion of The Antigone of Sophocles (1948) and further related works (the Antigone model book and the Small Organon for the Theatre), this monograph includes the first-ever publication of the complete set of colour photographs taken by Ruth Berlau. This is complemented by comparatist explorations of many of Brecht's own plays as his experiments with tragedy conceptualized as the 'big form'. The significance for Brecht of the Greek tragic tradition is positioned in relation to other formative influences on his work (Asian theatre, Naturalism, comedy, Schiller and Shakespeare). Brecht emerges as a theatre artist of enormous range and creativity, who has succeeded in re-shaping and re-energizing tragedy and has carved paths for its continued artistic and political relevance.

Introduction: Radicalism, traditionalism, eristics; Part I. Point of contact 1948: 1. 1948 – A year of krisis; 2. Professing non-Aristotelianism: Brecht's Small Organon for the Theatre (1948); 3. Utilizing Greek tragedy: Brecht's The Antigone of Sophocles (1948); 4. The making of a model: Antigonemodell 1948; Part II. Positionings: 5. The other Other: Brecht's Asia; 6. Naturalism and related diseases; 7. Schiller: rival and inspiration; 8. Comedy and the comic; 9. Shakespeare and the road beyond tragedy; Part III. Comparatist explorations: 10. The tragedy of Mother Courage; 11. Brechtian chorality; 12. Threepenny Opera: the view from below; 13. Appellative anti-tragedy: gods, parody and closure in The Good Person of Sezuan; 14. Mahagonny: rise and fall of a dystopian city; 15. Anti-tragic justice: The Measure; 16. Heroism and its discontents I: the epic tragedy The Judith of Shimoda – expansion, commentary, metapoetics; 17. Heroism and its discontents II: Galileo, a tragic hero of science?; Conclusion: Brecht and tragedy – pulling threads together.

Martin Revermann is Professor in Classics and Theatre Studies at the University of Toronto. His publications include Comic Business: Theatricality, Dramatic Technique and Performance Contexts of Aristophanic Comedy (2006), Performance, Iconography, Reception: Studies in Honour of Oliver Taplin (2008, with P. Wilson), Beyond the Fifth Century: Interactions with Greek Tragedy from the Fourth Century BCE to the Middle Ages (2010, with I. Gildenhard), The Cambridge Companion to Greek Comedy (2014), A Cultural History of Theatre, vol. 1 (Antiquity) (2017) and Semiotics in Action (2019).