Poetics of B. Brecht’s epic theatre in terms of the cubist principle

Abstract

This article is devoted to an attempt to consider the concept of B. Brechts epic theatre in terms of the cubist principle as a characteristic technique of the avant-garde and postmodernism, based on overcoming traditional mimetic forms when creating an artistic whole and suggesting such a way of organizing an artistic image in which affective involvement based on ready-made forms of perception and recognition, is replaced by the need for the so-called work of understanding. The main objectives of the article include the discovery and description of the mechanisms for the implementation of the cubist principle in the concept of Brechts epic theatre. The goal of the study is to prove the productivity of considering Brechts poetics in terms of the cubist principle. The research is carried out on the basis of an integrated approach that combines systemic-holistic and hermeneutic methods. The block of empirical materials includes Brechts works on the theory of epic theatre, as well as the works of Russian and foreign literary scholars and art theorists, devoted to both highly specialized aspects of Brechts theory of dramaturgy and issues related to the problem of authenticity of artistic expression and features of the structure of a work of art in the context of the collapse of traditional ideas about an artistic object as a result of imitation or expression of the artists inner world. The results obtained make it possible to present the concept of Brechts epic theatre as an experience of problematization of the creative act in a situation of crisis of artistic forms and reveal the expediency of considering Brechts poetics in terms of the cubist principle due to a much broader view of the technical and ideological-content aspects of his concept, in contrast to previously adopted concepts montage and separation of elements.