BRECHT:A CHOICE OF EVILS

by Martin Esslin

A brilliantly perceptive study of the most ambiguous and perceptually fascinating figure of the twentieth-century European theatre

Genres: Theatre

315 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Martin Julius Esslin OBE (6 June 1918 – 24 February 2002) was a Hungarian-born English producer and playwright dramatist, journalist, adaptor and translator, critic, academic scholar and professor of drama best known for coining the term "Theatre of the Absurd" in his work of that name (1961).

Born Julius Pereszlényi (Hungarian: Pereszlényi Gyula Márton) in Budapest, Esslin moved to Vienna with his family at a young age. He studied Philosophy and English at the University of Vienna and also graduated from the Reinhardt Seminar as a producer. Of Jewish descent, he fled Austria in the wake of the Anschluss of 1938.

Esslin defined the 'Theatre of the Absurd' as that which

"The Theatre of the Absurd strives to express its sense of the senselessness of the human condition and the inadequacy of the rational approach by the open abandonment of rational devices and discursive thought."

Esslin's definition encompassed not only Beckett's works but those of Sławomir Mrożek, Eugène Ionesco, Harold Pinter, Jean Genet, Günter Grass and Edward Albee amongst others.

He began working for the BBC in 1940, serving as a producer, script writer and broadcaster. He was head of BBC Radio Drama 1963-77, having previously worked for the external European Service. After leaving the BBC he held senior academic posts at Florida State and Stanford Universities.

He also adapted and translated many works from the original German, for example many plays of Wolfgang Bauer between 1967 and 1990. Original works included the seminal Theatre of the Absurd, and The Field of Drama.

Esslin died in London on February 24, 2002 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.

Source: Wikipedia

Reviews

[Brravin Raja · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book about this playwright. I have never seen any of his plays but this book gave me an appreciation of how Brecht's life experiences influenced his play writing. It also delves a bit into history such as the effects of communism and Germany and the extent to which government and political actors tried to influence the media and what could be said and done.

[Chris Fellows · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fine road map to a country I am keen to explore.

Here, have a quote, from the summing-up, which I thought was glorious: He wanted to arouse the critical faculties of his audeince, but only succeeded in moving them to tears; he wanted to make his theatre a laboratory of social change, a living proof that the world and mankind could be altered, and had to see it strengthen his public's faith in the enduring virtues of unchanging human nature. He had to witness his villains acclaimed as heroes and his heroes mistaken for villains. He sought to spread the cold light of logical clarity - and produced a rich texture of poetic ambiguity. He abhorred the very idea of beauty - and created beauty.

[Ben Kearvell · Rating 3 out of 5]

If anyone cares, I finished this book. Most of it I enjoyed. I took exception to a couple of things but overall, you know, a good book