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IntroductionBertolt Brecht's fascination with China and the Far East is evident from the Chinese scrolls and Japanese Noh masks that hung from his walls; the plots of plays and novels including Die Massnahme, Der kaukasische Kreidekreis, and Me-ti, Das Buch der Wendungen; his freely translated Chinese poems; and his theoretical essays on epic theater, particularly, "Verfremdungseffekte in der chinesischen Schauspielkunst." However, it is often difficult to see beyond the surface manifestations of such interests. Brecht, who took notes on Chinese philosophy and wrote approvingly about Chinese poetry, "never tried to justify or explain his own relationship to China or Chineseness" (Hayot 54). Nor does there exist a "metadiscourse on China with which to begin to think about not only Brecht's relation to China, but his own understanding of that relation" (Hayot 55). Critics such as Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Martin Esslin, and John Fuegi have been cited for dismissing Brecht's fascination with China as either superficial or as a form of exoticism. 1 Conversely, critics such as Renata Berg-Pan and Yuan Tan have attempted to establish the importance of Chinese poetry and philosophy to Brecht's worldview by examining specific examples of overlap between them. Although oppositional in nature, these critical perspectives nevertheless elucidate Brecht's relationship to China in a similar manner: both camps assign fixed positions to China and Chinese culture in relation to Brecht's personal and professional work.In contrast, I propose in this article that Brecht's engagement with China is far more variable, and that Brecht's worldview; his construct of China; and its referent, the historical, geopolitical entity of China, are not only closely linked, but also in constant flux. The depiction of China in texts such as Der gute Mensch von Sezuan suggests that Brecht's relationship to China is more nuanced and complex than has often been perceived. Brecht's utilization of Chinese markers and motifs in Der gute Mensch and other works speaks to the importance of foreign influence in the development and formation of new cultural, political, and historical perspectives. Focusing on the dynamics of cultural exchange, I situate Brecht and German literature in a broader global context, and approach his oeuvre from multiple angles to examine cross-cultural mixtures across national discourses that were once considered separate and discrete.
IntroductionBertolt Brecht's fascination with China and the Far East is evident from the Chinese scrolls and Japanese Noh masks that hung from his walls; the plots of plays and novels including Die Massnahme, Der kaukasische Kreidekreis, and Me-ti, Das Buch der Wendungen; his freely translated Chinese poems; and his theoretical essays on epic theater, particularly, "Verfremdungseffekte in der chinesischen Schauspielkunst." However, it is often difficult to see beyond the surface manifestations of such interests. Brecht, who took notes on Chinese philosophy and wrote approvingly about Chinese poetry, "never tried to justify or explain his own relationship to China or Chineseness" (Hayot 54). Nor does there exist a "metadiscourse on China with which to begin to think about not only Brecht's relation to China, but his own understanding of that relation" (Hayot 55). Critics such as Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Martin Esslin, and John Fuegi have been cited for dismissing Brecht's fascination with China as either superficial or as a form of exoticism. 1 Conversely, critics such as Renata Berg-Pan and Yuan Tan have attempted to establish the importance of Chinese poetry and philosophy to Brecht's worldview by examining specific examples of overlap between them. Although oppositional in nature, these critical perspectives nevertheless elucidate Brecht's relationship to China in a similar manner: both camps assign fixed positions to China and Chinese culture in relation to Brecht's personal and professional work.In contrast, I propose in this article that Brecht's engagement with China is far more variable, and that Brecht's worldview; his construct of China; and its referent, the historical, geopolitical entity of China, are not only closely linked, but also in constant flux. The depiction of China in texts such as Der gute Mensch von Sezuan suggests that Brecht's relationship to China is more nuanced and complex than has often been perceived. Brecht's utilization of Chinese markers and motifs in Der gute Mensch and other works speaks to the importance of foreign influence in the development and formation of new cultural, political, and historical perspectives. Focusing on the dynamics of cultural exchange, I situate Brecht and German literature in a broader global context, and approach his oeuvre from multiple angles to examine cross-cultural mixtures across national discourses that were once considered separate and discrete.
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