Bertolt Brecht's Furcht Und Elend Des Dritten Reiches: A German Exile Drama in the Struggle Against Fascism

Furcht und Elend des Dritten Reiches (Fear and Misery of the Third Reich, 1935-38) is one of a series of plays Brecht intended to explain Hitler's Germany to the outside world. The others are parable plays, but this is a documentary drama, a compelling evocation of everyday fascism that has a unique place in Brecht's work. Using new evidence about Brecht's sources, the present study locates the play in its ideological and historical contexts. Close readings of individual scenes and an analysis of their functions in the play follow. Contrary to the common view that the play was for the anti-Aristotelian Brecht a retrograde work of realism, it is shown to covertly enlist his famous distancing strategies in the fight against fascism. This first detailed work in English on Brecht and fascism balances earlier scholarly treatments that concentrated excessively on artistic questions, exploring how Brecht aligned himself with the Soviet Union's antifascist front while offering a dissection of National Socialism that appealed to both East and West. The play's central theme of resistance, its propaganda value, and its political and artistic reception are also addressed. The result is a challenging assessment of the play's strengths and blind spots as a response to German totalitarianism. Ann White is Senior Lecturer in German at Royal Holloway, University of London, and John J. White is Emeritus Professor of German and Comparative Literature at King's College London.