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- Title
Brecht and the Modern Picaresque.
- Authors
Schonfield, Ernest
- Abstract
This essay analyzes Brecht's engagement with the picaresque genre, which derives from his reading of Hašek and Grimmeishausen. Proceeding chronologically, the discussion begins with the subversive cabaret humour of Mann ist Mann (1926), which Brecht rediscovered in a different form when he read Hašekek's Svejk in 1927. The poems Aus dem Lesebuch für Städtebewohner (1926/27) are considered as an example of the transposition of picaresque elements into lyric poetry. Brecht's involvement with Piscator's Schwejk (1927/28) is shown to be an important phase in his development of Epic Theatre, since three key features of Epic Theatre - episodic structure, exposition and Verfremdung - have structural affinities with the picaresque genre. The essay concludes with an examination of the picaresque in the later plays Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder and Schweyk.
- Subjects
ESSAYS; BRECHT, Bertolt, 1898-1956; PICARESQUE literature; LYRIC poetry; GERMAN literature; DRAMA
- Publication
Amsterdamer Beiträge zur Neueren Germanistik, 2009, Vol 66, Issue 1, p56
- ISSN
0304-6257
- Publication type
Essay