Brecht and Death

Brecht and Death addresses fundamental issues in Brecht's relationship to death: from his own personal approach to death to the complex ways that death is addressed or evaded in his major literary and theatrical works, as well as in his theoretical writings. Brecht's status as a revenant (a Wiedergänger) in contemporary society is explored: the various ways in which “Brecht” as a cultural signifier continues to exist over five decades after the death of Brecht as a person. Essays ask how a materialist and atheist like Brecht was or was not able to find consolation in aesthetic-political theories and practices that, for him, replaced religious beliefs and rituals that he rejected. The volume includes essays by some of the leading figures in international Brecht scholarship—among others, Jost Hermand, Hans-Thies Lehmann, Marc Silberman, Karen Leeder, and Tom Kuhn.