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Baal, A Man's a Man and the Elephant Calf: Early Plays by Bertolt Brecht
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224 pages, Paperback
Published April 7, 1994
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About the author
Bertolt Brecht
1,581 books1,895 followersEugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director. A seminal theatre practitioner of the twentieth century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the Berliner Ensemble—the post-war theatre company operated by Brecht and his wife and long-time collaborator, the actress Helene Weigel—with its internationally acclaimed productions.
From his late twenties Brecht remained a life-long committed Marxist who, in developing the combined theory and practice of his 'epic theatre', synthesized and extended the experiments of Piscator and Meyerhold to explore the theatre as a forum for political ideas and the creation of a critical aesthetics of dialectical materialism. Brecht's modernist concern with drama-as-a-medium led to his refinement of the 'epic form' of the drama (which constitutes that medium's rendering of 'autonomization' or the 'non-organic work of art'—related in kind to the strategy of divergent chapters in Joyce's novel Ulysses, to Eisenstein's evolution of a constructivist 'montage' in the cinema, and to Picasso's introduction of cubist 'collage' in the visual arts). In contrast to many other avant-garde approaches, however, Brecht had no desire to destroy art as an institution; rather, he hoped to 're-function' the apparatus of theatrical production to a new social use. In this regard he was a vital participant in the aesthetic debates of his era—particularly over the 'high art/popular culture' dichotomy—vying with the likes of Adorno, Lukács, Bloch, and developing a close friendship with Benjamin. Brechtian theatre articulated popular themes and forms with avant-garde formal experimentation to create a modernist realism that stood in sharp contrast both to its psychological and socialist varieties. "Brecht's work is the most important and original in European drama since Ibsen and Strindberg," Raymond Williams argues, while Peter Bürger insists that he is "the most important materialist writer of our time."
As Jameson among others has stressed, "Brecht is also ‘Brecht’"—collective and collaborative working methods were inherent to his approach. This 'Brecht' was a collective subject that "certainly seemed to have a distinctive style (the one we now call 'Brechtian') but was no longer personal in the bourgeois or individualistic sense." During the course of his career, Brecht sustained many long-lasting creative relationships with other writers, composers, scenographers, directors, dramaturgs and actors; the list includes: Elisabeth Hauptmann, Margarete Steffin, Ruth Berlau, Slatan Dudow, Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Paul Dessau, Caspar Neher, Teo Otto, Karl von Appen, Ernst Busch, Lotte Lenya, Peter Lorre, Therese Giehse, Angelika Hurwicz, and Helene Weigel herself. This is "theatre as collective experiment [...] as something radically different from theatre as expression or as experience."
There are few areas of modern theatrical culture that have not felt the impact or influence of Brecht's ideas and practices; dramatists and directors in whom one may trace a clear Brechtian legacy include: Dario Fo, Augusto Boal, Joan Littlewood, Peter Brook, Peter Weiss, Heiner Müller, Pina Bausch, Tony Kushner and Caryl Churchill. In addition to the theatre, Brechtian theories and techniques have exerted considerable sway over certain strands of film theory and cinematic practice; Brecht's influence may be detected in the films of Joseph Losey, Jean-Luc Godard, Lindsay Anderson, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Nagisa Oshima, Ritwik Ghatak, Lars von Trier, Jan Bucquoy and Hal Hartley.
During the war years, Brecht became a prominent writer of the Exilliteratur. He expressed his opposition to the National Socialist and Fascist movements in his most famous plays.
From his late twenties Brecht remained a life-long committed Marxist who, in developing the combined theory and practice of his 'epic theatre', synthesized and extended the experiments of Piscator and Meyerhold to explore the theatre as a forum for political ideas and the creation of a critical aesthetics of dialectical materialism. Brecht's modernist concern with drama-as-a-medium led to his refinement of the 'epic form' of the drama (which constitutes that medium's rendering of 'autonomization' or the 'non-organic work of art'—related in kind to the strategy of divergent chapters in Joyce's novel Ulysses, to Eisenstein's evolution of a constructivist 'montage' in the cinema, and to Picasso's introduction of cubist 'collage' in the visual arts). In contrast to many other avant-garde approaches, however, Brecht had no desire to destroy art as an institution; rather, he hoped to 're-function' the apparatus of theatrical production to a new social use. In this regard he was a vital participant in the aesthetic debates of his era—particularly over the 'high art/popular culture' dichotomy—vying with the likes of Adorno, Lukács, Bloch, and developing a close friendship with Benjamin. Brechtian theatre articulated popular themes and forms with avant-garde formal experimentation to create a modernist realism that stood in sharp contrast both to its psychological and socialist varieties. "Brecht's work is the most important and original in European drama since Ibsen and Strindberg," Raymond Williams argues, while Peter Bürger insists that he is "the most important materialist writer of our time."
As Jameson among others has stressed, "Brecht is also ‘Brecht’"—collective and collaborative working methods were inherent to his approach. This 'Brecht' was a collective subject that "certainly seemed to have a distinctive style (the one we now call 'Brechtian') but was no longer personal in the bourgeois or individualistic sense." During the course of his career, Brecht sustained many long-lasting creative relationships with other writers, composers, scenographers, directors, dramaturgs and actors; the list includes: Elisabeth Hauptmann, Margarete Steffin, Ruth Berlau, Slatan Dudow, Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Paul Dessau, Caspar Neher, Teo Otto, Karl von Appen, Ernst Busch, Lotte Lenya, Peter Lorre, Therese Giehse, Angelika Hurwicz, and Helene Weigel herself. This is "theatre as collective experiment [...] as something radically different from theatre as expression or as experience."
There are few areas of modern theatrical culture that have not felt the impact or influence of Brecht's ideas and practices; dramatists and directors in whom one may trace a clear Brechtian legacy include: Dario Fo, Augusto Boal, Joan Littlewood, Peter Brook, Peter Weiss, Heiner Müller, Pina Bausch, Tony Kushner and Caryl Churchill. In addition to the theatre, Brechtian theories and techniques have exerted considerable sway over certain strands of film theory and cinematic practice; Brecht's influence may be detected in the films of Joseph Losey, Jean-Luc Godard, Lindsay Anderson, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Nagisa Oshima, Ritwik Ghatak, Lars von Trier, Jan Bucquoy and Hal Hartley.
During the war years, Brecht became a prominent writer of the Exilliteratur. He expressed his opposition to the National Socialist and Fascist movements in his most famous plays.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 1, 2012
I started the first play, Baal, very skeptical. After the first two scenes, I could hardly make sense of anything- it all seemed an abstract jumble of lazy philosophies.
When I ended Baal, however, I was pleasantly surprised. Of course, the play is a sort of tragedy, but the attitude of the characters and the whimsy at which Baal and Ekart interact really inspired the pagan inside me. There were definitely some rich quotable parts, though they won't make a lot of sense out of context.
I've decided to take a pause from the other plays for a while, however. I think this is a play that would be best read in a class or book club in which you have other people to discuss the material with.
When I ended Baal, however, I was pleasantly surprised. Of course, the play is a sort of tragedy, but the attitude of the characters and the whimsy at which Baal and Ekart interact really inspired the pagan inside me. There were definitely some rich quotable parts, though they won't make a lot of sense out of context.
I've decided to take a pause from the other plays for a while, however. I think this is a play that would be best read in a class or book club in which you have other people to discuss the material with.
March 26, 2007
اغلب اثار "برتولد برشت" به فارسی برگردانده شده است؛ "سقراط مجروح" / کیکاووس جهانداری، "در انبوه شهرها"/ عبدالرحمن صدریه، "استثناء و قاعده"/ محمود اعتماد زاده(م. به آذین)، "ان که گفت آری و آن که گفت نه"/ مصطفی رحیمی، زندگانی گالیله(گالیله ئو گالیله ئی)/ عبدالرحیم احمدی، "ترس و نکبت رایش سوم"/ شریف لنکرانی، "ننه دلاور و فرزندان او"/ مصطفی رحیمی، "آدم، آدم است"/ دو ترجمه از شریف لنکرانی و امین موید، "بچه فیل" و استنطاق لوکولوس"/ شریف لنکرانی، "زن نیک سچوان"/ دو ترجمه از فریده ی لاشایی و مهدی زمانیان، "دایره گچی قفقازی"/ دو ترجمه از حمید سمندریان و امین موید، "چهره های سیمون ماشار"/ دو ترجمه از عبدالرحمن صدریه و شریف لنکرانی، "داستان های آقای کوینر"/ سعید ایمانی، "داستان یک پولی"(اپرای یک پولی)/ هوشنگ پیرنظر، "تفنگ های ننه کارار"/ دو ترجمه از فریدون ایل بیگی و شریف لنکرانی، "ارباب پونتیلا و نوکرش مه آتی"/ سه ترجمه از عبدالرحمن صدریه، فریده ی لاشایی و رضا کرم رضایی، "درباره ی تیاتر"/ منیزه کامیاب و حسن بایرامی، "هیولا"/ همایون نوراحمر، "مادر"/ منیژه کامیاب و حسن بایرامی، "کله گردها و کله تیزها"/ بهروز مشیری، "بعل"/ خشایار قائم مقامی، "پیرزنی که پیر نمی نمود"/ کامران فانی، "گفتگوی فراریان"/ خشایر قائم مقامی، "اقداماتی علیه زور"/ ناصر صفایی، "حیوان محبوب آقای کوینر"/ ناصر صفایی، "اگر کوسه ماهی ها آدم بودند"/ بهروز تاجور، "شریک در جنگ جهانی دوم"/ حمید علوی، "عظمت و انحطاط شهر ماهاگونی" / مهدی اسفندیارفرد، "قطعه آموزشی"/ مینو ملک خانی، "اندیشه های متی" / عبدالله کوثری، "محاکمه ی ژاندارک در روان" / عبدالله کوثری، "صلیب گچی"/ سیاوش بیدارفکر، "قیمت آهن چنده"/ رضا کرم رضایی، "کریولانوس" / مهدی تقوی، "اپرای سه پولی" / علی اکبر خداپرست، "ژان مقدس کشتارگاه"/ دو ترجمه از جواد شمس و ابوالحسن ونده ور، "صعود مقاومت پذیر ارتورو اویی" / افرویدون، "زندگی تیاتری من" / فریدون ناظری، "روزهای کمون"/ کاووسی(فریده لاشایی)، "درباره تیاتر" / فرامرز بهزاد، "شویک در جنگ جهانی دوم"/ فرامرز بهزاد، و بسیاری دیگر از آثار نوشتاری و مجموعه ی اشعار برشت
February 21, 2016
I've heard that there is a major project underway bringing updated translations of Brecht into English. I hope these early plays are near the top of the list, so these moldy Eric Bentley versions can be returned to the attic.
January 2, 2008
An extraordinary force of perception and articulation is shown in BAAL. The Elephant Calf is another strong reason for reading these three surperlative works of forthright excellence.
May 15, 2008
BAAL - 4 stars
A Man's a Man - 3 stars
The Elephant Calf - 2 stars
A Man's a Man - 3 stars
The Elephant Calf - 2 stars
November 17, 2009
Brecht is someone i'll have to come back to. He is brilliant. It's not every man who can turn tragedy into a musical. I will write a decent review for all of Brecht's work, in due time!
January 31, 2010
Brecht is too dark for me. I am glad I had the benefit of a professor to guide me through his work.
May 19, 2012
Not my favorite of Brecht's plays, though I was intrigued to find a record with David Bowie's versions of the songs from 'Baal.'
Read
February 14, 2013Read for grad school: Baal
April 30, 2020
I have loved everything I have read of and about brecht. I haven't read many full plays, but his theories of epic theatre got me excited back in the day when I was directing and writing for that short season. Baal is a solid look at a man who lives that old school party life style. Drinking, girls, gambling, travelling, transience. Treating people however he wants and some how having everyone fall in love with him. As a poet - the rock star of the 1900s, he seemed to be able to impress and annoy people with his talents whilst being drunk and unsociable. And on his death bed, all had forgotten of him leaving him to die alone.
The subtext of the play in one sense to me could be - life is to be lived and there is no right way to live it if you are enjoying it. Right? Because the flipped life is playing by the rules, eating your vegetables and still dying alone and forgotten, at least baal himself was possibly remembered by his poems. or through his poems. And interesting that it is called baal - an infamous god from the old testament that dragge the people of Israel away from their God.
The subtext of the play in one sense to me could be - life is to be lived and there is no right way to live it if you are enjoying it. Right? Because the flipped life is playing by the rules, eating your vegetables and still dying alone and forgotten, at least baal himself was possibly remembered by his poems. or through his poems. And interesting that it is called baal - an infamous god from the old testament that dragge the people of Israel away from their God.
September 16, 2021
Calling it finished after Baal (which is the one I'd intended to read, anyway) but wooooow I hated that. I'm sure he had some point to make about, from the back of the book description, "a man who lives totally without morals" but it was so thoroughly...miserable. Also kind of tired of these cautionary tales always being men that live with no thought to anyone else and women who get raped, thrown over, beaten, or drown themselves and everyone talks about them in a really gross way after the fact.
August 10, 2018
I only read A Man's A Man.
It's a funny thought, a man is only as great as his name, while also being as good as any other. Brecht writes it with a wit, and the screenplay is tight, all things are considered.
It's a funny thought, a man is only as great as his name, while also being as good as any other. Brecht writes it with a wit, and the screenplay is tight, all things are considered.
September 24, 2017
for all brecht later gains in masterliness, his youthful sparkiness remains precious. bentley's a bit too interfering
January 16, 2019
crazy shit.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews