Proquest Dissertations
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Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. Bell & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 UMI’ COLLECTIVES IN CRISIS; MALE BONDING IN BERTOLT BRECHT'S PLAYS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor o f Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Stephen Thomas Benner, B.A., M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2000 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Helen Fehervary, Adviser Professor Bernd Fischer Adviser Professor Gregor Hens Germanic Languages and Literatures Graduate Program UMI Number 9982526 UMI UMI Microform9982526 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Art)or, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT Despite the end of the Cold War, Bertolt Brechts work retains a power and resonance for our own times, as the structures which lie at the foundations of our society have not essentially changed. Much has been written in the past two decades on Bertolt Brechts use and depiction of women both in his work and in his creative process, but little attention has been paid to the various portrayals of male-male relationships in his texts. And yet, many of Brechts texts deal with male-male relationships as friends, comrades, enemies, and even lovers, divergent models of male relationships which are the focus of this dissertation. Brechts representations of male bonding fall broadly into three categories. First, he criticizes as inherent to the capitalist economy the male homosociality which involves the exchange of women as commodities. But the early Brecht also sought to invest male relationships with utopian potential. In his earliest plays, he portrays homoerotic relationships as "natural" phenomena in opposition to a It heterosexuality mediated through capitalism. Later, he turned to the male collective, first as a positive locus of revolutionary potential, but then increasingly untenable due to historical circumstances. Baa/anû Im Dicidc/it der Stadte regr&s/ent homosexual desire as a transgressive act which rescues the male protagonists from bourgeois moral strictures. In/^ann ist/^ann, the military unit where identity is interchangeable provides the central model for homosocial bonds. AIn u fs tie g und Fall der Stadt/^ahagonny, the comradery enjoyed by four lumberjacks in the natural wilderness of Alaska is eventually destroyed in the profit-driven pleasure city. In the fragmentaryDer Untergang des Ego/sten Fatzer, the male collective fails to take advantage of its revolutionary potential because of an over-dependence on its leader's charismatic personality. Male collectives became increasingly problematic with the rise of the National Socialists to prominence. The conclusion shows how Brecht could no longer rescue male bonding from class politics in Die Ausnahme und d/e Regelanû Herr Punti/a undse/n Knecht Matti. In the end, positive patterns of male bonding remained for Brecht ephemeral phenomena which had to give way to more mature relationships. I l l For Keith, with all my love. IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my adviser, Professor Helen Fehervary, for her constant support, encouragement and insistence that I stay true to my critical purpose. I would also like to thank Professor Bernd Fischer and Professor Gregor Hens for their willingness to serve on this dissertation committee. Special mention must also be made of Professor Kathy Corl, my mentor in teaching for the past eight years, for her consistent support and enthusiasm for my work. There have been many people over the years who have shaped my thinking and desire for intellectual pursuit. I would especially like to mention Carl and Avery Springer, James van der Laan, Wolfgang Pfabel, Richard Whitcomb, all of whom were my teachers at Illinois State University. I would like to thank others who taught at Ohio State: Leslie Adelson, Johanna Belkin, Alan Beyerchen, Dagmar Lorenz, Donald Riechel, Gisela Vitt and Harry Vredeveld. Thanks must also be given to the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Ohio State for their many years of support. Finally^ I must thank my parents and my siblings for giving me the values, strength and courage which I hold so dear. And I must thank Keith, to whom this work is dedicated, for his years of patient endurance and encouragement as I completed this degree. His careful eye watched out for errors both technical and critical. It was only with their support that this project was possible. VI VTTA May 9, 1968 ................................. Bom - Streator, Illinois 1990 ............................................. B.A. German, cum lau d e Illinois State University Normal, Illinois 1990-1991 ....................................Ful bright Fellow, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitat Frankfurt, Germany 1992 - 1999 ............................... Graduate Teaching and Research Associate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University 1993 ............................................. M.A. German, The Ohio State University 1995-1996 ....................................Exchange Fellow, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universitat Bonn, Germany 1997 ........................................... Instructor, Department of Modern Languages, The University of Dayton 1998 ........................................... Instructor, Department of Languages, Denison University, Granville, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: German VII TABLE OF CONTENTS Page A b stract ...................................................................................................................ii Dedication ......................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments..................................................................................................v Vita ........................................................................................................................vil Abbreviation....................................................................................................... ix Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 Chapters: 1. Life to the Fullest:B a a ! ........................................................................... 16 2. Existential StruggleIm Dickicht der Stadte............................................ 50 3. Losing One's Self:Mann ist M ann .......................................................... 82 4. Caught in the Net: Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt M ahagonny 109 5. kDea(lEï\6: Der Untergang des Egoisten F a tze.............................. r 125 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 147 Bibliography ....................................................................................................... 165 VIII ABBREVIATION BFA Brecht, BertoltW erke. GroBe kommentierte Berliner und Frankfurter Ausgabe. 30 Bde. Berlin und Weimar: Aufbau; Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1988-97. IX INTRODUCTION Although much has been written In the past two decades on Bertolt Brecht's female collaborators and the depiction of women in his work, little attention has been paid to the various portrayals of male bonding in his texts. And yet, many of Brecht's texts deal with male-male relationships as friends, comrades, enemies, and even lovers, all divergent models of male relationships which will be the focus of this dissertation. Brecht's representations of male bonding fall broadly into three categories. Throughout his work, he criticizes as inherent to the capitalist economy the male homosociality which involves the exchange of women as commodities. But the early Brecht also wanted to create a utopian space, sometimes naïve and sometimes salutary, where male relationships could fulfill new roles and purposes. In his earliest plays, he portrays homoerotic relationships as "natural" phenomena in dialectic opposition to a heterosexuality mediated through capitalism. Later in the 1920's, he turned to the male collective, first as a