Bertolt Brecht journals / translated by Hugh Rorrison ; edited by John Willett.

Based on: Arbeitsjournal : Suhrkamp, 1973.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 533-535) and index.

Brecht between two world systems -- Note on the editing --

Journals: Denmark: 1934 to 15 March 1939 -- Sweden: 23 April 1939 to 19 March 1940 -- Finland: 17 April 1940 to 13 July 1941 -- America: 21 July 1941 to 5 November 1947 -- Switzerland: 16 December 1947 to 20 October 1948 -- Berlin: 22 October 1948 to 18 July 1955.

"Brecht's journals remained unpublished until some seventeen years after his death. His family called them his Work Journal to underline their relevance to the plays and productions for which he was best known. The journals are rich in insights in to his major plays written in Scandinavian and American exile — The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Good Person of Szechwan, Mother Courage — and their sometimes triumphant, sometimes difficult realization after his return to East Berlin. From Scandinavia across Russia to Hollywood, Switzerland, Salzburg, and back to his own disappointing country, Brecht makes shrewd if sometimes harsh judgments on the people he meets. He is malicious about Thomas Mann and skeptical of the Frankfurt philosophers, yet impressed by Schoenberg and grateful to Isherwood for his generosity. There are memorable and revealing passages about D'Annunzio and Ezra Pound, the bombings of Germany, the Greek epigrams, Brecht's reading of Wordsworth during the Battle of Britain, the death of Margarete Steffin, Wriggles the family dog, the precariousness of life in Los Angeles, and the ethics of the Market. Brecht's Journal offers frequently surprising perspectives on the life and thoughts of one of the most influential writers of the century. This volume is illustrated by Brecht's collected photographs and press cuttings, which form an intrinsic part of the original journals. The notes to this volume, provided by John Willett, update and fill in some of the gaps in Werner Hecht's notes to the original German edition." -- From the back cover.