Baal. Drei Fassungen.

by Bertolt Brecht

Der dramatische Erstling Baal, der bislang als genialischer Wurf ohne Nachwirkung galt, in neuer Sicht: in drei abgeschlossenen Fassungen, die sich weitgehend vom heute bekannten Buchtext unterscheiden, spiegelt sich die Entwicklung des Dichters. Die erste Fassung, 1918 in Augsburg entstanden, ist die desillusionierende Erwiderung auf Johsts Grabbedrama Der Einsame, wobei Brecht dessen Handlungsführung teilweise übernimmt. 1919, in der zwei­ten Fassung, löst er sich von dem Gegenstand seiner Polemik und kommt zur unbeengten Entfaltung einer eigenen Sprache. Für die Berliner Aufführung im Februar 1926 beschreibt Brecht in einer »dramatischen Biografie« den »Lebenslauf des Mannes Baal«. Baal ist nun als Monteur in einem Autoschuppen angesiedelt; das vertraute Augsburger Milieu ist der Kälte einer technisierten Umwelt gewichen.

Genres: Plays, Drama, German Literature, Theatre, Classics, Fiction, 20th Century

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1922

About the author

Eugen 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.

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

بعل ، يك اثر قابل توجه ديگه از برتولت برشت . بعل اولين نمايشنامه اي بود كه برشت نوشت و سرگذشت شاعر جواني است كه بي دغدغه از لذت هاي دنيايي بهره مي جويد و چون به سيري و اشباع مي رسد مرگ را برمي گزيند . .
در اسطوره هاي بين النهرين بعل خداي طوفان ، باران و باروريست .
قسمت مورد علاقم از اين نمايشنامه مكالمه ي بعل با ولگرد و ميكده ي اشپيتال بود .
از اون جايي كه اين نمايش موزيكال بوده فك كنم.. (توي فيلمش هم ديويد بوييِ كبير نقش بعل رو بازي ميكنه :دي ) و شعر هاي داخل كتاب ترجمه شده ست ، خيلي دلم ميخواست كه بتونم نسخه ي آلمانيش رو بخونم . چون به احتمال زياد اصلا با ترجمش قابل مقايسه نيست . ولي خب در كل قشنگ بود و فارسيش هم خالي از لطف نيست .
.
.
و آنگاه كه در زهدان تاريك زمين مي پوسيد بعل
آسمان هنوز گسترده بود و خاموش و پريده رنگ.
و جوان بود و برهنه و شگفت انگيز
آن سان كه دوست مي داشت بعل.
آنگه كه بود بعل

[Tan Ayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even after reading the play a second time, I still cannot resolve the ambivalence I feel towards Baal. The play seems to offer a kind of "vision" of the kind of life that one can lead in a world that would eventually destroy or envelope you, unhinging any kind of normal moral standards that one holds. While I can understand the grounds for such a vision, that only in the end is the beginning, it does not mean that I necessarily agree with it. Neither do I feel that it has resolved issues with regards to strength and weakness. Perhaps that is why Brecht, upon looking back at the play, comments that the play is "lacking in wisdom." Nevertheless, the romantic note at which the play ends upon is truly reverberating, whereby I do not think that the chord will die down anytime soon.

[Jonfaith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn’t what I had expected. This is a bizarre tale of a charismatic roustabout, think Andy Griffith as Lonesome Roads. He swims in an endless ocean of brandy, his stupor affords him the carnal favors of nearly every woman and a license for some beautiful if nihilistic poetry.

The play is a series of brief episodes which advance Baal through most conventions into a naturalistic denouement which recalls the vision of von Stroheim. The ambiguity of this depravity, draws its motivation into question: does Brecht’s Darwinian vacuum anticipate the Final Solution? I will steer clear of such conjecture.

[Aaron Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Brecht's earliest plays, Baal feels indebted, especially, to Georg Büchner, but it's also a kind of wonderful anti-Toller, anti-Hasenclever—i.e. anti-Expressionist—drama. It uses the structure of the Expressionists, but it tells a different kind of story. This is a play about a fundamentally anti-social being, or rather someone who refuses to follow society's rules. Brecht's gaze toward his protagonist, though, is without moral opprobrium, it might even be called affectionate. Baal is a fascinating drama for precisely this reason.

This Arcade edition is especially useful for its critical apparatus, which includes a very helpful introduction as well as a discussion (and the text!) of a series of changes Brecht made over his career as he revised the play in light of his new political commitments.

[Farzan · Rating 5 out of 5]

بعل داستان پسر شرور و خطاکاری است که به خاطر استعداد بالایی که در شعر و گیتار‌ فی‌البداهه دارد همه را مجذوب خود می‌کند. سراسیمه و آشفته‌احوال است اما سخت از تک و تا می‌افتد و برای کوچک‌ترین مساله‌ای نیز حاضر است که جانش را بدهد. شاید اگر امروز نوشته می‌شد، بعل یک ضدقهرمان جذاب از کار در می‌آمد (که نمونه‌هایش بیشمار است) اما این بعل دوست‌داشتنی نیست و سر آخر هم در تنهایی و تحقیر می‌میرد.

وقتی که خواندنش را تمام کردم چند روز بعد با کسی نشسته بودیم و صحبت از هر چیز غیر از این کتاب می‌کردیم که نام بعل را به زبان آورد! افسانه‌شناسی میان‌رودان درس می‌داد و آنجا بود که فهمیدم اسم کتاب هم اشاره به خدا/اهریمن بعل در آنجا دارد. برای آنهایی که دوست دارند هم می‌توانند بعل را با بازی فوق‌العاده دیوید بویی ببینند: https://bit.ly/3Rj8gKr

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-3,5 Sterne.

[Verena]

Brechts expressionistisches und zweites Drama, in dem es um Baal geht, der ein Asozialer in einer asozialen Welt ist (Brecht eigene Worte). Das Drama war die ganze Zeit sehr unangenehm, die Szenen sind obszön, kompromisslos und extrem. Es wundert mich nicht, dass die Uraufführung vor 100 Jahren damals einen Skandal ausgelöst hatte.
(Feministisch denkenden Menschen würd ich das Drama nicht empfehlen.)

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the first thing I ever read by Brecht and also the first thing he staged. We had tickets to see it being performed and I'm so glad I looked up a lot of the words beforehand or I would have definitely got less out of it. Shaped by the Sturm und Drang movement it is big on emotional turmoil and follows a repulsive character, Baal, who is a selfish, alcoholic, womanizing poet/musician, who has a (minimally put) detrimental effect on all those who get close to him. The play was a lot of shouting in German, though the version we saw was done well and I liked the stylistic choices they made - playing with gender and breaking the fourth wall, although this does not happen explicitly in the original play. It was an interesting experience, but I wouldn't see or read it again.

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unbequem und faszinierend. Teilweise sehr bruchstückhaft, was bei Brecht nicht überraschend ist. Die Entwicklung des Stücks durch drei Fassungen hindurch zu betrachten war besonders interessant.

[Antigone Korniliou]

I wish I could rate this but I truly have no clue what I just read

[Giovanni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baal is Brecht’s first work and it premiered in Leipzig in 1918 in the Altes Theather -which went destroyed during the second world war. The play was prohibited after the premiere because it was seen as “anarchic”. Brecht wanted to write an antithesis to the play of the future nazi-poet laureate Hans Johst, Der Einsame. Menschenuntergang (1917), in which he dramatized the life of Christian Dietrich Grabbe. For his protagonist, Brecht chose the figure of the French poet François Villon as source of inspiration.

There are diffentent versions of the text and before watching it on stage I read the second Fassung, dated 1922, in order to get linguistically prepared. What is it about? Well, it is actually difficult to summarize it, as the play hasn’t a strong plot. It opens with...

To read the full review please visit my blog under the following link:

https://ireadmuchofthenightblog.wordp...

I hope you enjoy it!

[Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

بعل 1918، اولین نمایش نامه ی بلند برشت است که در بیست سالگی نوشته. روزگار یک جوان ولگرد ولخرج که درگیر روابط جنسی و قتل می شود. اگرچه این نمایش نامه در ابتدا بصورت "موزیکال" بوده، اما ظاهرن برشت، در روایت های بعدی، آن را به متنی برای "تیاتر حماسی" درآورده. بعل که شاعری ست دائم الخمر و هرزه، بصورت یک ضد قهرمان تعریف شده که رفتار و گفتارش خلاف موازین جامعه ی بورژوایی ست؛ مطرود و منفور، بدون خواب و خیال و آرزو، ضد قهرمانی که قهرمان می شود، ایده آلیستی رمانتیک که از شهر رانده می شود، و در پیرامون شهر، زنباره و مشکل ساز، پرسه می زند. زنی (جوانا) را آنقدر آزار می دهد که خودش را غرق می کند، و زن دیگری (سوفی) را که حامله است، با لگد از خود می راند. دوستش اکارت را می کشد و از دست پلیس و مجازات می گریزد. در انتها، وقتی در فسق و فجور، سقوط کرده، در کلبه ای جنگلی، در انزوا می میرد؛ محصول گندیده ی جامعه ی بورژوا.

[Julian Munds · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is early Brecht, and as Martin Esslin says, in my version anyway, It is a kind of parodic anti-expressionist backlash. I see it. The extreme violence toward women isn't romanticized here as coming from some deep seated lust that is admirable and poetic. Baal is just a brute. It's an old cliche to ask if the artist needs chaos to create good art. This play doesn't give any answers beyond showing just how destructive that life can be. It's a slog. It lacks humour. Humour that sometimes presents itself in other works by Bertolt. But the brutality is the point I think. Read it. It's upsetting. I don't particularly love it though.

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah the roots of the film "Naked." Has anyone seen the Bowie version from the late 70's? I have the recording of the songs but never saw the tv production. It's there somewhere. Oh by the way I love this play by Brecht. And the songs are beautiful.

[Henry Paulus]

why- preparing one line summaries of Brecht's edifice. Baal: Story of a drunken dissolute cult of genius poet outcast who after roaming countryside womanizing brawling, his seducee drowns herself, spurns his pregnant mistress, kills his friend is hunted by police and dies alone in a deserted hut.

[Dee-Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confronting and uncomfortable.

[Brian Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars. Interesting play. Listening to Bowie's Baal EP and thinking it would have been a lot more engaging on stage (as most plays are).

[Namrata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baal was hilarious.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first play. What a dunk into a weird world view and a wonderful group of actors.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Laberintodepapel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personalmente había leído sólo parte de su poesía, con un estilo y fuerza indiscutible. 'Baal'(1918) es la primera obra dramática de Brecht, escrita en su etapa de juventud. Baal, su protagonista, un escritor bisexual, adicto al alcohol y mujeriego, muestra la parte más oscura del ser humano. Brecht pone así en cuestión los valores éticos y morales que comenzaban a tambalearse ya a principios del siglo XX.
La violencia que encontramos a lo largo del texto, nos muestra la decadencia del propio Baal con ciertos escenarios como el río, los árboles enraizados, el cielo azul, las nubes blancas... Éstas imágenes contrastan con la personalidad del propio Baal y los escenarios en los que el protagonista se mueve.
Por un lado se nos presenta un ambiente nauseabundo fomentado por personajes del hampa que todos comparten el egoísmo y la propia supervivencia.
Quizá Brecht pretende así llevar al extremo ese mundo de putrefacción, violaciones y muerte para volver al origen, buscando en la espesura de la flora la única salida a la podredumbre que encontraba Brecht en la propia humanidad.
Además, podemos destacar que Brecht sólo tenía veinte años cuando escribió 'Baal' y sorprende la oscuridad, filosofía y profundidad que desprende la obra.

[Melika Khoshnezhad · Rating 3 out of 5]

«بعل» اولین نمایشنامه‌ی بلند برشت است و همچنین اولین نمایشنامه‌ای که من از او خواندم. می‌دانم برشت در تئاتر شخصیت بسیار مهمی است، اما من کوچکترین پیش‌زمینه‌ی ذهنی‌ای در مورد او نداشتم. پیش از خواندن «بعل» اما زندگی‌نامه‌اش را خواندم، درباره‌ی تئاتر اپیک و تفاوت‌هایش با تئاتر دراماتیک و تکنیک فاصله‌گذاری هم تا جایی که می‌شد خواندم و چیزهایی درباره‌ی دلایل اهمیت برشت دستگیرم شد. اما خب، حالا قرار است ۱۵ نمایشنامه‌ی مهمش را بخوانم و برای این مسیر خیلی هیجان‌زده‌ام. اما «بعل» و دو نمایشنامه‌ی بعدی برشت همچنان جز آثار اکسپرسیونیستی‌اش هستند و مشخصه‌های این سبک و همچنین مهارت‌های شاعری برشت به‌خوبی در این اثر دیده می‌شود. بعل یکی از خدایان سومری است و به خدای طوفان و باران هم مرتبط است و گمان می‌کنم با توجه به این‌که شخصیت بعل گویی از آثار ادبی جنبش طوفان و تنشی بیرون آمده که اواخر قرن هجدهم به راه افتاده بود، شاید برشت عامدانه این نام را برای شخصیتش برگزیده است. شخصیت بعل علاوه‌بر شخصیت‌های تاریخی معروف این جنبش ادبی، مرا یاد کاراکتر لنی در رمان «خداحافظ گاری کوپر» هم می‌انداخت. از نشان دادن سیالیت گرایش جنسی به جالب‌ترین شکل ممکن در این نمایشنامه هم بی‌نهایت لذت بردم و شاید به همین دلیل دیوید بویی برای اجرای شخصیت بعل انتخاب شده است.

[The Flaneur · Rating 4 out of 5]

A crass iconoclastic poet whose feral pursuit of his craft is as wild as the nature he admires and wishes to return to.

I read it in German. The edition I had contained a passage from a letter Brecht wrote to a friend. In the letter he says that Baal is especially not a modern poet. Instead, the poet speaks through heightened dialogue and song, occupies the taverns and the countryside, for the sake of closing the distance between himself and the most basic and fundamental tenets of man's nature, which of course, in Baal's view, modern society rips man away from.

I don't know how the text holds up in translation. There are a fair amount of idioms and phrases that rely on the ingenuity of German nouns to capture the crude and direct tone of the titular character. One of my favorite parts of the play is the brevity of its language.

Knowing that Brecht wrote this play when he was 19 or 20 makes the play all the more impressive.

[Sebastian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Holprig zu lesendes Stück, wenig roter Faden, mehr lose Szenenreihe. Paradoxerweise wird die Hauptfigur irgendwie nicht wirklich das, was sie sein soll, obwohl zugleich ebendies erkennbar wird.

Angehängt sind Fragmente früherer Textversionen, ein kritischer Apparat und Inszenierungsrezensionen. Gerade die Fragmente und Kommentare dazu sind jedoch sehr literaturwissenschaftlich aufbereitet, sodass diese für bloßes Lesen weder gut verschließbar noch von großem Interesse sind. Insgesamt eher eine Studienausgabe.

[dražica · Rating 4 out of 5]

baal, a god of fertility from the past, here is is an antihero, a parody of expressionistic poet as ecstatic visionary amid the wicked materialism of surrounding world.

baal is about nothingness. baal is an ambiguous, ambivalent figure; part monster - but partly, to, the martyr of a poetic hedonism. (Bentley, Eric. Bertol Brecht's first play The Kenyon Review, vol. 26, no. 1, 1964, pp. 83–92 )

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obra que me dejó un sabor expresionista en el paladar. Es una alegoría de cómo quedó e l espíritu alemán luego de la derrota de la primera guerra mundial. Baal representa precisamente esa soberbia rancia del segundo reich, la que la llevó a implosionar en noviembre de 1918. Me hacen falta unas cuantas lecturas más para tratar siquiera de entenderlo mejor.

[Ana Maloča · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's actually very interesting: loved the poetry, didn't like the character but the absurd was funny and his debaucherous life was unsettling. it's just very interesting piece definitely; kind of cute, kind of unsettling. pretty unique

[Kayden Merritt]

I’m cheating, I did not read this. I watched the David Bowie teleplay. Even so, the plot is basically the same and I cannot imagine a two hour version of Baal. I love you Brecht but I’m not inclined enough to do that to myself

[Hadrian · Rating 2 out of 5]

6/10

[Libertad Botia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5