Bertolt Brecht, Die Tage der Commune [The Days of the Commune]

Alfred D. White (Cardiff University)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1956

Places

Germany (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

Brecht’s dramatisation of the Paris Commune of 1871 was conceived around 1937, written mainly in 1947 or 1948 and completed in 1949, but found too controversial to be the first production of the Berliner Ensemble. The loosely strung, episodic scenes, much more closely based on good historical research than any previous Brecht play, show (in edited, simplified form) events from the collapse of the Trochu government which left the National Guard in charge of besieged Paris, through “the hectic period of indecision and utopian planning” (Dickson) to the final doomed defence of democracy. There are three threads: atmosphere on the streets, the discussions of the Central Committee of the National Guard and later of the Commune,…

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1479 words

Citation: White, Alfred D.. "Die Tage der Commune". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 April 2005 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16738, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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