What do you think?
Rate this book
The Visions of Simone Machard
برتولت برشت؛ با همكاری لیون فوشت وانگر؛ ترجمه عبدالرحمن صدریه
Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
3 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Bertolt Brecht
1,603 books1,927 followersEugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director. A seminal theatre practitioner of the twentieth century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the Berliner Ensemble—the post-war theatre company operated by Brecht and his wife and long-time collaborator, the actress Helene Weigel—with its internationally acclaimed productions.
From his late twenties Brecht remained a life-long committed Marxist who, in developing the combined theory and practice of his 'epic theatre', synthesized and extended the experiments of Piscator and Meyerhold to explore the theatre as a forum for political ideas and the creation of a critical aesthetics of dialectical materialism. Brecht's modernist concern with drama-as-a-medium led to his refinement of the 'epic form' of the drama (which constitutes that medium's rendering of 'autonomization' or the 'non-organic work of art'—related in kind to the strategy of divergent chapters in Joyce's novel Ulysses, to Eisenstein's evolution of a constructivist 'montage' in the cinema, and to Picasso's introduction of cubist 'collage' in the visual arts). In contrast to many other avant-garde approaches, however, Brecht had no desire to destroy art as an institution; rather, he hoped to 're-function' the apparatus of theatrical production to a new social use. In this regard he was a vital participant in the aesthetic debates of his era—particularly over the 'high art/popular culture' dichotomy—vying with the likes of Adorno, Lukács, Bloch, and developing a close friendship with Benjamin. Brechtian theatre articulated popular themes and forms with avant-garde formal experimentation to create a modernist realism that stood in sharp contrast both to its psychological and socialist varieties. "Brecht's work is the most important and original in European drama since Ibsen and Strindberg," Raymond Williams argues, while Peter Bürger insists that he is "the most important materialist writer of our time."
As Jameson among others has stressed, "Brecht is also ‘Brecht’"—collective and collaborative working methods were inherent to his approach. This 'Brecht' was a collective subject that "certainly seemed to have a distinctive style (the one we now call 'Brechtian') but was no longer personal in the bourgeois or individualistic sense." During the course of his career, Brecht sustained many long-lasting creative relationships with other writers, composers, scenographers, directors, dramaturgs and actors; the list includes: Elisabeth Hauptmann, Margarete Steffin, Ruth Berlau, Slatan Dudow, Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Paul Dessau, Caspar Neher, Teo Otto, Karl von Appen, Ernst Busch, Lotte Lenya, Peter Lorre, Therese Giehse, Angelika Hurwicz, and Helene Weigel herself. This is "theatre as collective experiment [...] as something radically different from theatre as expression or as experience."
There are few areas of modern theatrical culture that have not felt the impact or influence of Brecht's ideas and practices; dramatists and directors in whom one may trace a clear Brechtian legacy include: Dario Fo, Augusto Boal, Joan Littlewood, Peter Brook, Peter Weiss, Heiner Müller, Pina Bausch, Tony Kushner and Caryl Churchill. In addition to the theatre, Brechtian theories and techniques have exerted considerable sway over certain strands of film theory and cinematic practice; Brecht's influence may be detected in the films of Joseph Losey, Jean-Luc Godard, Lindsay Anderson, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Nagisa Oshima, Ritwik Ghatak, Lars von Trier, Jan Bucquoy and Hal Hartley.
During the war years, Brecht became a prominent writer of the Exilliteratur. He expressed his opposition to the National Socialist and Fascist movements in his most famous plays.
From his late twenties Brecht remained a life-long committed Marxist who, in developing the combined theory and practice of his 'epic theatre', synthesized and extended the experiments of Piscator and Meyerhold to explore the theatre as a forum for political ideas and the creation of a critical aesthetics of dialectical materialism. Brecht's modernist concern with drama-as-a-medium led to his refinement of the 'epic form' of the drama (which constitutes that medium's rendering of 'autonomization' or the 'non-organic work of art'—related in kind to the strategy of divergent chapters in Joyce's novel Ulysses, to Eisenstein's evolution of a constructivist 'montage' in the cinema, and to Picasso's introduction of cubist 'collage' in the visual arts). In contrast to many other avant-garde approaches, however, Brecht had no desire to destroy art as an institution; rather, he hoped to 're-function' the apparatus of theatrical production to a new social use. In this regard he was a vital participant in the aesthetic debates of his era—particularly over the 'high art/popular culture' dichotomy—vying with the likes of Adorno, Lukács, Bloch, and developing a close friendship with Benjamin. Brechtian theatre articulated popular themes and forms with avant-garde formal experimentation to create a modernist realism that stood in sharp contrast both to its psychological and socialist varieties. "Brecht's work is the most important and original in European drama since Ibsen and Strindberg," Raymond Williams argues, while Peter Bürger insists that he is "the most important materialist writer of our time."
As Jameson among others has stressed, "Brecht is also ‘Brecht’"—collective and collaborative working methods were inherent to his approach. This 'Brecht' was a collective subject that "certainly seemed to have a distinctive style (the one we now call 'Brechtian') but was no longer personal in the bourgeois or individualistic sense." During the course of his career, Brecht sustained many long-lasting creative relationships with other writers, composers, scenographers, directors, dramaturgs and actors; the list includes: Elisabeth Hauptmann, Margarete Steffin, Ruth Berlau, Slatan Dudow, Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Paul Dessau, Caspar Neher, Teo Otto, Karl von Appen, Ernst Busch, Lotte Lenya, Peter Lorre, Therese Giehse, Angelika Hurwicz, and Helene Weigel herself. This is "theatre as collective experiment [...] as something radically different from theatre as expression or as experience."
There are few areas of modern theatrical culture that have not felt the impact or influence of Brecht's ideas and practices; dramatists and directors in whom one may trace a clear Brechtian legacy include: Dario Fo, Augusto Boal, Joan Littlewood, Peter Brook, Peter Weiss, Heiner Müller, Pina Bausch, Tony Kushner and Caryl Churchill. In addition to the theatre, Brechtian theories and techniques have exerted considerable sway over certain strands of film theory and cinematic practice; Brecht's influence may be detected in the films of Joseph Losey, Jean-Luc Godard, Lindsay Anderson, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Nagisa Oshima, Ritwik Ghatak, Lars von Trier, Jan Bucquoy and Hal Hartley.
During the war years, Brecht became a prominent writer of the Exilliteratur. He expressed his opposition to the National Socialist and Fascist movements in his most famous plays.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 13, 2016
ΚΑΤΑΠΛΗΚΤΙΚΟ!!!
November 4, 2015
Joan of Arc in nazi invaded France.
You know what would go well with this? A rewatch of Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1928 movie "The Passion of Joan of Arc". One of the greatest movies ever made.
You know what would go well with this? A rewatch of Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1928 movie "The Passion of Joan of Arc". One of the greatest movies ever made.
May 13, 2018
In the play, an adolescent girl named Simone works at a gas station in central France. Her older brother is a soldier in the army, and the Wehrmacht forces are approaching. While engrossed in a book about Saint Joan, she slips into a series of dreams in which the real persons in her life take on other identities. Her brother appears as an angel, her boss as the coward Connetand, and herself as Saint Joan who helps starving refugees and defies her employer. In real life she sets fire to a secret supply of gasoline before the Germans can get to it. In her dream she is captured and sentenced to death, but in real life she is not yet considered a saboteur. The Germans hand her over to the French as a mere arsonist, and she is led away by nuns to a mental institution
March 15, 2017
was gettin a couple glances on the bus b/c of the cover.
August 8, 2020
Şekle değil manaya *****.
April 25, 2025
Παίζει να γαμαει να το δεις αυτό στο θέατρο.
April 27, 2013
خیالات سیمون ماشار، یا آن گونه که به فارسی ترجمه شده؛ "چهره های سیمون ماشار" دومین نمایش نامه از سه گانه ای ست که برشت در حول و حوش احوال "ژاندارک" نوشته است. اولین آنها "ژان مقدس کشتارگاه" (1931-1929) و آخرین آنها "محاکمه ی ژاندارک" (1952) است. سیمون ماشار را برشت در دوران مهاجرت در کالیفرنیا نوشته، اما واقعه در فرانسه ی سال 1940 رخ می دهد. سیمون نوجوان با خواندن شرح زندگی ژاندارک، خود را در تخیل در هیات ژاندارک، اما قهرمان جنبش مقاومت علیه اشغال فرانسه توسط نازی ها می بیند. سیمون ماشار که در یک پمپ بنزین در مرکز فرانسه کار می کند، برادر بزرگ تری دارد که سرباز ارتش است. ارتش آلمان به شهر نزدیک می شود. و در تخیلات سیمون، افراد واقعی زندگی اش هویت های تازه ای پیدا می کنند؛ برادرش در هیات یک فرشته، رییسش در نقش یک خائن، و خود او در نقش ژان مقدس، یاری دهنده ی پناهندگان گرسنه است. او در زندگی واقعی، پمپ را آتش می زند تا مثلن مانع پیشرفت نازی ها بشود. سپس تصور می کند دستگیر و به اعدام محکوم شده. اما در زندگی واقعی به دلیل جوانی، او را خرابکار نمی شناسند. آلمان ها او را به جرم آتش سوزی به فرانسوی ها تحویل می دهند و توسط راهبه ها به یک آسایشگاه روانی برده می شود. سیمون به عنوان یک خدمتکار نوجوان، ساعات فراغتش را با مطالعه در مورد ژاندارک می گذراند. آلمان ها به شهر می رسند و سیمون که خود را ژاندارک می پندارد، جنبش مقاومت را علیه دشمن رهبری می کند. اما در واقعیت اسیر کار، در آسایشگاه روانی ست. در انتها بنظر می رسد دیگران را به قیام علیه اشغال نازی ها واداشته است.
September 26, 2014
Viva la France! Down with the fascist pigs! Down with the collaborationist bourgeoisie!
January 11, 2023
Three stars for simply being Brecht. Not his best but still a moving play.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews