Recent Brecht Reception in East Germany (GDR)

Abstract

in the has become an increasingly popular topic among Western critics, for it offers a ready opportunity to voice-as the case may be-either scornful or nostalgic pronouncements on the master's fate. Yet elegant verbal attempts to ascertain Brecht's demise in the German Democratic Republic generally reflect a curious reluctance or inability to come to terms with a body of critical thought and theatre practice that has been evolving since Brecht's death. Undeniable is the claim that Brecht has attained the status of a classic in the GDR, but such a contention has little polemical value unless it can be situated in the context of Brecht's reception in both the East and the West. This is not the place, however, for a sober historical retrospective. Indeed, Brecht scholarship has increased to such dimensions in both East and West that the vicissitudes of its historiography alone account for part of Brecht's impact. Nevertheless, there is some logic in focusing attention on the GDR at this time, if for no other reason than the recent extravaganza celebrating the occasion of Brecht's eightieth birthday in East Berlin-the Brecht-Dialog 1978 under the title Kunst und Politik, art and politics.' The GDR officially claims Brecht to be the best representative of a well-developed socialist culture, namely its own. It points to the four million copies of books by Brecht sold in the GDR, to the fifty titles in the edition of Brecht's works on record or tape, to the newly inaugurated Brecht house in the Chausseestrasse dedicated to the Pflege und Verbreitung der Werke Bertolt Brechts (the cultivation and dissemination of Brecht's works). In sum, Brecht is touted as the most produced and the most popular dramatist on GDR stages.