Book contents
- Bertolt Brecht in Context
- Bertolt Brecht in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figure
- Notes on Contributors
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Preface
- A Note on Brecht in English
- Introduction
- Part I Brecht’s World
- Part II Brecht’s Work
- Chapter 13 The Work of the Theater
- Chapter 14 Brecht and Marxism
- Chapter 15 Brecht and Photography
- Chapter 16 Brecht and Film: Medium and Masses
- Chapter 17 Brecht and Fiction
- Chapter 18 Gestus in Context
- Chapter 19 Brecht’s Ethics
- Chapter 20 Brecht and Dialectics
- Chapter 21 Brecht and East Asia
- Chapter 22 Brecht’s Work with Musical Composers
- Part III The World’s Brecht
- Concise Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 18 - Gestus in Context
from Part II - Brecht’s Work
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 May 2021
- Bertolt Brecht in Context
- Bertolt Brecht in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figure
- Notes on Contributors
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Preface
- A Note on Brecht in English
- Introduction
- Part I Brecht’s World
- Part II Brecht’s Work
- Chapter 13 The Work of the Theater
- Chapter 14 Brecht and Marxism
- Chapter 15 Brecht and Photography
- Chapter 16 Brecht and Film: Medium and Masses
- Chapter 17 Brecht and Fiction
- Chapter 18 Gestus in Context
- Chapter 19 Brecht’s Ethics
- Chapter 20 Brecht and Dialectics
- Chapter 21 Brecht and East Asia
- Chapter 22 Brecht’s Work with Musical Composers
- Part III The World’s Brecht
- Concise Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Gestus remains an important but elusive concept in the scholarship on Brecht’s writings and continues to inform contemporary theater practices as well as new theories of performance and performativity. This article provides a brief overview of Brecht’s evolving definitions of Gestus, including in, and through, key plays and productions, followed by an assessment of the larger literary, political, and theoretical debates associated with Weimar theater, communist agitprop, and Marxist theory. Throughout, the productivity of Gestus as a concept and practice is reconstructed through its dialogic qualities, heuristic functions, and intertextual effects.
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- Bertolt Brecht in Context , pp. 158 - 165Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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