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Loading... The Caucasian Chalk Circleby Bertolt BrechtLibraryThing recommendationsMember recommendationsLoading...
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. One of the weaker works of Brecht. Good writing spoiled by a demagogic treatment of the topic. (  ) jorgearanda | Mar 19, 2009 |  Writing in exile in the USA during the Second World War, Brecht borrowed from an ancient Chinese story-echoed in the Judgement of Solomon-in which two women both claim the same child. Brecht's subversion of this tale provides a parable which seems to say that resources should go to those in whose hands they will be most productive. Thanks to the rascally judge, Azdak, one of Brecht's most vivid creations, this story, at least, has a happy outcome. The child is entrusted to the peasant Grusha, who has loved it and nurtured it. Originally intended for Broadway, this translation by James and Tania Stern (with verse translation by W. H. Auden) has been thoroughly revised, and the volume includes a full introduction and commentary by John Willett and Ralph Manheim. ( ) Helger55 | Apr 27, 2008 | Despite the content of this play, I can't help but feel romantic about this treasured little book of which we have two. On one of my first dates with my husband in 1980 we went to this play and I found when we moved in together we had the same copy of this book. As you can see I have kept them. The play is brilliant of course, and considered today , how history has changed! (  ) bhowell | Apr 20, 2008 | A marxist prologue set in Georgia, where two collectives come to an agreement over land reclaimed from the defeated Nazis, is bolted on to the front of this folk-tale play that follows the trials and tribulations of Grusha who saves and nurtures the abandoned son of a deposed governor after an uprising. Brecht is teaching us that rights and responsibilities belong only to those who are prepared to dispense them with integrity and compassion even at their own cost. When the governor's wife, Natella, wishes to reclaim the child justice is finally meted out by the corrupt and dissolute judge Azdak whose tale we hear in the second part of the play. He utilises an old means of resolving disputed ownership, the chalk circle. dylanwolf | Mar 4, 2007 | I think everyone who's read this book knows Brecht, and everyone who hasn't read it should. _The Caucasian Chalk Circle_ is of course a play -- 'book' is a little inaccurate -- which, in the process of being extremely good, shows just how much greater Brecht the writer was than Brecht the theoretician. Epic theater, to hear Brecht describe it, sounds downright inaccessible and unfriendly; to hear him _write_ it, it's like a dream, infinitely _superior_ to the naturalistic plays of earlier modern times. (And I may never get an answer to this, at least in this context, but did anyone else pick up a massive 'early SNES RPG' vibe from this book? _This_ is the style and atmosphere that the likes of _Final Fantasy 4_ and _A Link to the Past_ were *trying*, and failing, to produce...) (  ) ex_ottoyuhr | Aug 13, 2006 |  no reviews | add a review
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"One of the greatest poets and dramatists of our century."-Observer
Brecht projects an ancient Chinese story onto a realistic setting in Soviet Georgia. In a theme that echoes the Judgment of Solomon, two women argue over the possession of a child; thanks to the unruly judge, Azdak (one of Brecht's most vivid creations) natural justice is done, and the peasant Grusha keeps the child she loves, even though she is not its mother.
Written in exile in the United States during the Second World War, The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a politically-charged, much-revived, and complex example of Brecht's epic theatre.
This volume contains expert notes on the author's life and work, historical and political background to the play, photographs from stage productions, and a glossary of difficult words and phrases.
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:53 -0400)
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