Introduction Summary and Analysis

The editor begins his introduction with a statement of the book's purpose. "This selection from Brecht's notes and theoretical writing," he writes, "is meant to give English-language readers the main texts and set these in chronological order so as to show how his ideas evolved, gradually forming into a quite personal aesthetic which applied to other spheres besides the theatre." He then discusses the various sources from which the material in the book was taken and edited. He also comments on the intent of the translation (from the original German) which, he says, was to try to "convey the flavor of Brecht's style as it too evolved, from the aggressiveness of the first essays to the slightly forced formality of some of his late pronouncements."

In any analysis of the work of any innovator (such as Brecht was), it's important to...