Bertolt Brecht's 'Furcht und Elend des Dritten Reiches' Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Textual Note
- Abbreviations of Works Frequently Cited
- 1 The Historical Context of the Furcht und Elend Project
- 2 Brecht and Fascism
- 3 Fear and Misery in Brecht's Depiction of Third Reich Germany
- 4 “Der Widerstand, und zwar der wachsende Widerstand”: Brecht's Dramatized Typology of Forms of Opposition
- 5 Songs, Poems, and Other Commenting Devices in Furcht und Elend and The Private Life of the Master Race
- 6 Epic Structure, Alienation Effects, and Aristotelian Theater
- Concluding Remarks
- Appendix A Furcht und Elend Scene Titles and their English Equivalents
- Appendix B The First Four Verses of “Die deutsche Heerschau” in German and English
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - “Der Widerstand, und zwar der wachsende Widerstand”: Brecht's Dramatized Typology of Forms of Opposition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Textual Note
- Abbreviations of Works Frequently Cited
- 1 The Historical Context of the Furcht und Elend Project
- 2 Brecht and Fascism
- 3 Fear and Misery in Brecht's Depiction of Third Reich Germany
- 4 “Der Widerstand, und zwar der wachsende Widerstand”: Brecht's Dramatized Typology of Forms of Opposition
- 5 Songs, Poems, and Other Commenting Devices in Furcht und Elend and The Private Life of the Master Race
- 6 Epic Structure, Alienation Effects, and Aristotelian Theater
- Concluding Remarks
- Appendix A Furcht und Elend Scene Titles and their English Equivalents
- Appendix B The First Four Verses of “Die deutsche Heerschau” in German and English
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
DEFENDING HIS PLAY against certain misgivings, Brecht wrote in mid- April 1938 to Slatan Dudow, who was at the time preparing to direct the first staging of scenes from Furcht und Elend in Paris. Brecht's letter contained a response to Dudow's express concern that the work's picture of Nazi Germany was too bleak:
Ich verstehe Ihre Besorgnis, daß der Abend zu depressiv werden könnte. Ein erhebender Abend kann es ja nun auf keinen Fall werden. Immerhin wird hier, denke ich, die ganze Brüchigkeit des Dritten Reiches in all seinen Einzelteilen sichtbar werden und daß nur Gewalt es zusammenhält. Das ist das Volk, das dieses Regime in einen der größten und schwierigsten Kriege aller Zeiten hineintreiben will.
(BFA 29:84)[I understand your fear that the play may be too depressing. It certainly won't cheer people up. Still, I think it shows how fragile the Third Reich is in all its parts and aspects, that it is held together by violence alone. It shows the people whom this regime wants to drive into one of the biggest and hardest wars of all time.
(BBL 281)]Brecht went on to draw attention to what he felt was a crucial feature of the play's cumulative picture of life in the Third Reich:
Der Widerstand, und zwar der wachsende Widerstand, wird deutlich gezeigt und das in allen Schichten und in allen Graden.
(BFA 29:84)[Resistance, yes, the increasing resistance of every section of the population is shown clearly.
(BBL 281-82)]- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Bertolt Brecht's 'Furcht und Elend des Dritten Reiches'A German Exile Drama in the Struggle against Fascism, pp. 103 - 146Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2010