Two new books about Brecht

Brecht's penetration into the individual socialist countries has its own history. First came the interest in the writer as an innovator who broke with the canons and opened new horizons for revolutionary art. Then - at different intervals - followed the translations and the first productions of Brecht's plays. Today, the dividing wall of some dogmatic postulates that could not fit Brecht into the framework of socialist realism has been finally demolished. The experience of the original playwright is being studied and summarized. From the phase of guesses, he passes into the phase of research, which aims to acquaint us with all the values ​​of contemporary world literature. Over the past two or three years, in-depth studies on the principles of Brecht's Creativity have appeared in the Soviet Union, along with reviews of new performances of Brecht's works in Soviet theaters. A few months ago, readers received the first comprehensive monograph dedicated to Brecht. Its author is Bernhard Reich, a German emigrant to Moscow since 1926. Reich's book, voluminous and documented, accompanied by photographic material from various productions of Brecht's plays, is distinguished by several advantages. It is an attempt at solid research and at the same time a personal memory and personal assessment of Brecht's work. Its author was among the young Brecht's entourage in Munich after the First World War. He observed his first directorial performances, and retained personal impressions of the characteristics of Brecht's individuality and method of work. Reich, however, was not tempted by the temptation to endure all his work in a subjective and memoiristic plan. He tried to study and interpret Brecht's theatrical aesthetics comprehensively, to understand both its theoretical positions and its stage realization. He did not * B. Reich Teatralnoe - Brecht, essay on creativity, ed. 1960. Society, Moscow, 124 was satisfied only with the analyses of individual works, and he united his observations in a special section on the theatrical mission of the innovative writer. Thus, the analytical exposition did not prevent the personal accent, the researcher's own voice, from sounding there too.