BERTOLT BRECHT (1898-1956) was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director. He was a lifelong committed Marxist who developed the theory and practice of his "epic theatre" to explore the theatre as a forum for political ideas and the creation of a critical aesthetics of dialectical materialism. 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, Ernst Bloch, and developing a close friendship with Benjamin. Raymond Williams argued that "Brecht's work is the most important and original in European drama since Ibsen and Strindberg."
The plays of Brecht's exile years (1933-1947) became famous in the author's own and other productions: notable among them are MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN (1941), a chronicle play of the Thirty Years' War; THE LIFE OF GALILEO (1943); THE GOOD WOMAN OF SETZUAN (1943), a parable play set in prewar China; THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI (1957), a parable play of Hitler's rise to power set in prewar Chicago; and THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE (1948), the story of a struggle for possession of a child between its highborn mother, who deserts it, and the servant girl who looks after it.
Brecht was also a superior poet, with a command of many styles and moods, which he used to criticize European culture, including Nazis, and the German bourgeoisie. As a theoretician he made principles out of his preferences -- and even out of his faults. Few areas of modern theatrical culture have not felt the impact or influence of Brecht's ideas and practices. His theories and techniques have also exerted considerable sway over strands of film theory and cinematic practice.
This torrent is anchored by the comprehensive 8-volume edition of his COLLECTED PLAYS, edited by John Willett and Ralph Manheim, which includes a number of plays previously untranslated into English.
The following books are in ePUB and/or PDF format as indicated:
== FICTION ==
* Business Affairs of Mr Julius Caesar, The (Bloomsbury, 2016). Translated by Charles Osborne. -- PDF
* Collected Short Stories (Bloomsbury, 2015). Edited by John Willett and Ralph Manheim. -- ePUB + PDF
* Stories of Mr. Keuner (City Lights, 2001). Translated by Martin Chalmers. -- PDF
* Threepenny Novel (Hanison, 1910). Translated by Desmond I. Vesey. -- PDF
== PLAYS ==
* Berliner Ensemble Adaptations (Bloomsbury, 2014). Edited by David Barnett. -- ePUB
* Caucasian Chalk Circle, The (Grove, 1965). Revised translation with an Introduction and Appendix by Eric Bentley. -- PDF
* Caucasian Chalk Circle, The (Minnesota, 1999). Translated by Eric Bentley with a new Preface and Comments. -- PDF
* Collected Plays (Methuen, 1994-2004). 8 volumes. Edited by John Willett and Ralph Manheim . -- ePUB (Vols. 1 and 4.3 also in PDF)
* Edward II: A Chronicle Play (Grove, 1966). Translated with an Introduction by Eric Bentley. -- PDF
* Galileo (Grove, 1966). Translated by Charles Laughton; edited with an Introduction by Eric Bentley. -- PDF
* Good Woman of Setzuan (Grove, 1965). Revised English translation and Introduction by Eric Bentley. -- PDF
* Jewish Wife & Other Short Plays (Grove, 1965). Translated by Eric Bentley. -- PDF
* Mother, The (Grove, 1965). Translated with an Introduction by Lee Baxandall, with Notes by the Author. -- PDF
* Mother Courage and Her Children (Grove, 1966 / Samuel French, 2010). Translated by Eric Bentley. -- ePUB + PDF
* Private Life of the Master Race: A Documentary Play (Gollancz, 1948). Translated by Eric Bentley with an Essay on the work of Brecht. -- PDF
* Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, The (Bloomsbury, 2013). Translated by Jennifer Wise. -- PDF
* Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Godine, 1976). Translated by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman. -- PDF
* Saint Joan of the Stockyards (Indiana UP, 1969). Translated by Frank Jones, with an Introduction by Frederic Grab. -- PDF
* Three Plays: Baal / A Mans a Man / The Elephant Calf (Grove, 1989). Edited by Eric Bentley. -- PDF
* Two Plays: The Good Woman of Setzuan / The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Meridian, 1983). Revised translations by Eric Bentley. -- PDF
* Visions of Simone Machard [with Lion Feuchtwanger] (Grove, 1965). Translated with a Preface by Carl Richard Mueller. -- PDF
== POETRY ==
* From Laughing at the World to Living in the World: Songs, Scenes and Poems by Bertolt Brecht (s.n, 1985). English libretto to accompany the performance in German of "An Evening with Ekkehard Schall: From Laughing at the World to Living in the World", at the Lucille Lortel Theater in New York in February 1985. -- PDF
* Love Poems (Liveright, 2015). Translated by David Constantine and Tom Kuhn. -- ePUB
* Manual of Piety (Die Hauspostille) (Grove, 1966). Bilingual edition. Translated by Eric Bentley with Notes by Hugo Schmidt. -- PDF
* Poems, 1913-1956 (Methuen, 1976). Edited by John Willett and Ralph Manheim with the co-operation of Erich Fried. -- PDF
* Poetry and Prose (Continuum, 2003). Edited by Reinhold Grimm. -- PDF
* Uncle Eddie's Moustache: Twelve Poems for Children (Pantheon, 1974). Translated by Muriel Rukeyser. -- PDF
* War Primer (Verso, 2017). Edited by John Willett. -- ePUB
== NON-FICTION ==
* Aesthetics and Politics (Verso, 1980). With Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Ernst Bloch and Georg Lukacs. -- ePUB + PDF
* Brecht on Art and Politics (Bloomsbury, 2003). Edited by Tom Kuhn and Steve Giles. -- PDF
*Brecht on Film and Radio (Bloomsbury, 2000). Edited by Marc Silberman. -- PDF
* Brecht on Performance: Messingkauf and Modelbooks (Bloomsbury, 2015). Edited by Tom Kuhn, Steve Giles and Marc Silberman. -- PDF
* Brecht on Theatre (Bloomsbury, 2015). Third edition. Edited by Marc Silberman, Steve Giles and Tom Kuhn. -- ePUB
* Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic (Methuen, 1974). Edited and translated by John Willett. -- PDF
* Brecht Sourcebook (Routledge, 2000). Edited by Carol Martin and Henry Bial. -- PDF
* Me-ti: Book of Interventions in the Flow of Things (Bloomsbury, 2016). Translated by Antony Tatlow. -- PDF
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