Mother Courage and Her Children

Brecht's masterpiece, and one of the few that is regularly performed right now. Having seen this in various performances, I was interested in reading it. The reading is actually easier than the performance, perhaps because theatres tend to emphasize the action and add extra bits of action, and because it is often treated in such a somber serious way. As I was reading, I was surprised to find that many of the scenes I remembered as extremely long were actually not long at all. The dialogue moves more quickly in the reading than in the performance.

So before I started reading Mother Courage, I checked my library info here because it sounded so familiar. And I was surprised to see that I not only hadn't read it, but hadn't read any Brecht...or so I thought.

It's not a long read, and even though the subject matter is dark, the dialogue is often hilarious. I was about three quarters of the way through the book when I was straightening up my office. I found a college notebook and took a quick glance through it to see if I was going to keep it...and that's when I realized I had read the book before - because I had a page of notes detailing all the characters...and I was a real slacker on taking notes. Even with that, I knew I had read it, but couldn't remember it. So even though I show more enjoyed (re)reading Mother Courage, I guess I can't say it's necessarily memorable. show less

Brechtian theater is built on the concept that to much emotional response by the audience interferes with the social commentary of the work and ultimately decreases a work's ability to bring about social change.

Brecht, writing during World War II, gives us a story of a woman who relies on a war that is killing her children to make a profit. A ringing condemnation of what Eisenhower would call the Military Industrial Complex.

an excellent brecht play that, despite what some say of the nature of his plays, does have a fair amount of emotionalism in it, at least as far as the fate of the children goes (kattrin in particular). this doesn't take away at all from brecht's social statements, which are in full effect and as concrete as ever. plays allow more of a focus on character actions than prose, and this is very important for 'mother courage'.
eric bentley's translations, i would assume, are excellent (considering how much brecht he has translated and the fact that he actually worked with brecht for several of his translations) and his introduction is insightful and helpful for anyone unfamiliar with brecht. brecht even has a few notes towards the end of this show more edition that also explain the character of mother courage and the play's theme in general. show less

It's not exactly a fun read, but it's a good reminder of war's realities nonetheless.

I think we can all agree that the English-speaking world needs more 30 Years' War fiction, or else that I need to get much better at German. :)

A really superb play -- but it's Brecht. It's hazardous for me to say this without having read all his works, but in my experience, you _can't_ go wrong with Brecht.

The Most Boring Play I have ever read.: There is not a single passage of entertainment in this play, or anything even scarcely enjoyable about the reading experience. You will never finish it unless you are at all interested in the Thirty Years War. If you're going to read anything by Brecht, try the witty 'Threepenny Opera', which succeeds at everything that Brecht needs to do to impart his political beliefs without putting his readers to sleep.