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Chapter 27 - Brecht Editions
- from Part III - The World’s Brecht
- Edited by Stephen Brockmann, Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania
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- Book:
- Bertolt Brecht in Context
- Published online:
- 28 May 2021
- Print publication:
- 10 June 2021, pp 233-241
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Summary
This article examines the development of German-language Brecht editions, beginning with the first series of Brecht works, Versuche (1930–1933), which emphasized the experimental nature of Brecht’s work.This was followed by the the Gesammelte Werke (Collected Works, 1938) with the Malik Publishing Company, which served as a protective shield against Nazi efforts to wipe Brecht out.After World War II Brecht initiated a new publication, organized by genres, with Suhrkamp in 1953 and Aufbau in 1955.This edition was edited by Brecht’s collaborator Elisabeth Hauptmann and grew to encompass forty volumes.The 1967 Suhrkamp edition became particularly significant for spreading Brecht’s work among West German student radicals of the 1960s and 1970s.Finally, the most current and only real critical edition is the Berlin-Frankfurt edition (BFA, 1988–2000), which for the first time gives readers insight into the entirety of Brecht’s work.The edition of Brecht’s Notizbücher (notebooks), begun in 2010, is ongoing.The article explores how these editions got their start, how they were conceived, what they achieved, and what limitations they had. The most important question is the extent to which any static print edition of Brecht’s work can illuminate the living, changing processes of Brecht’s interests, methods, and approaches.
Private or Public? The Bertolt Brecht Archive as an Object of Desire
- Edited by Laura Bradley, Karen Leeder
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- Book:
- Edinburgh German Yearbook 5
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 10 February 2023
- Print publication:
- 17 October 2011, pp 103-124
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Summary
In the Story “Die Freiherren von Gemperlein” (The Barons of Gemperlein, 1879), one of Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach’s characters asks “Wo sind die Schlüssel des Archivs?” (Where are the keys to the archive?). Figuratively, these keys stand for access to the archive, which is determined by archivists, heirs, rights-holders, owners, administrative institutions, and also by states. The relations between the parties involved are usually regulated by contracts, and infringements of these contracts and differences over their interpretation are by no means the exception. For a start, there is the question as to who is actually to be granted access to an archive. Is only a particular clientele allowed in? Do users have to meet certain conditions by proving their scholarly competence or interests, supplying a letter from their supervisor confirming their research topic, paying fees, or belonging to a particular state or family? Once a user has gained entry to an archive, the accessibility of archive materials depends on whether they can be found, and this depends in turn on the quality of the catalogues and the commitment and expertise of the staff. Details that were not recorded during the cataloguing process are only disclosed when a user of the archive orders the documents and is presented with them. And even here, users encounter restrictions in every archive: there are some documents that have to remain in the stacks for reasons of conservation. There are sources to which access is limited due to copyright, property, or privacy laws. And there are items or entire archives to which political authorities deny users access, if they do not destroy them entirely.
This essay is concerned first and foremost with problems of accessibility that are rooted in sociopolitical matters. On 1 December 1956, a good quarter of a year after Brecht’s death, Helene Weigel founded the Bertolt Brecht Archive with the agreement of their children Barbara and Stefan as well as Brecht’s daughter Hanne. From the very moment of its inception it was a political issue, and at times, particularly after the death of Helene Weigel, it was even a site of real struggle.