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Walter Benjamin and Bertolt Brecht This page intentionally left blank Erdmut Wizisla Walter Benjamin and Bertolt Brecht – the story of a friendship translated by Christine Shuttleworth Yale University Press New Haven and London First published as Walter Benjamin und Bertolt Brecht – Die Geschichte einer Freundschaft by Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt, 2004. First published 2009 in English in the United Kingdom by Libris. First published 2009 in English in the United States by Yale University Press. Copyright © 2009 Libris. Translation copyright © 2009 Christine Shuttleworth. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Designed by Kitzinger, London. Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Control Number: 2009922943 isbn 978-0-300-13695-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48‒1992 (Permanence of Paper). 10987654321 Contents List of Illustrations vi Publisher’s Note vii Chronology of the Relationship ix Map and time chart of Benjamin and Brecht xxvi I A Significant Constellation May 1929 1 A Quarrel Among Friends 9 II The Story of the Relationship First Meeting, A Literary Trial, Dispute over Trotsky, 1924–29 25 Stimulating Conversations, Plans for Periodicals, ‘Marxist Club’, 1929–33 31 Exile, Detective Novel, Chess, 1933–40 45 III ‘Krise und Kritik’ Project for a Journal 66 Contributors 73 Topics: Crisis, Criticism, Method, Role of Intellectuals 75 Ambition and Failure 89 IV Benjamin on Brecht Agreement 98 ‘Laboratory of Versatility’ 107 V Brecht on Benjamin ‘Expert Opinions’ 144 ‘Useful to Read’ 151 Four Epitaphs 180 Appendix: Documentation and Minutes of ‘Krise und Kritik’ 187 Endnotes 208 List of Abbreviated Titles and Sources 219 List of Works Cited 222 Acknowledgements and Permissions 230 Annotated Name Index 231 Index of Works by Bertolt Brecht 239 Index of Works by Walter Benjamin 241 List of Illustrations Between pages 68 and 69 1. Emil Hesse-Burri, Benjamin, Brecht, Bernard von Brentano and Margot von Brentano, Le Lavandou, June 1931 Michael and Peter von Brentano 2. Brecht and Bernard von Brentano, Hotel Provence, Le Lavandou, June 1931 (photo by Margot von Brentano) Michael and Peter von Brentano 3. Brecht in 1931 Bertolt Brecht Archive 4. Benjamin, unknown woman, Carola Neher, Gustav Glück, Valentina Kurella, Bianca Minotti (later Margaret Mynatt), Alfred Kurella and Elisabeth Hauptmann, in Berlin (Berliner Strasse 45), Christmas 1931 Elisabeth Hauptmann Archive 5. The same, without Kurella and with Bernard von Brentano Elisabeth Hauptmann Archive 6. Brecht, Weigel, Brentano and Stefan Brecht, Berlin, 1932 Bertolt Brecht Archive 7. Helene Weigel, Moscow, 1933 Walter Benjamin Archiv 8. Helene Weigel with Barbara and Stefan in Skovsbostrand, Denmark, August 1935 Bertolt Brecht Archive 9. Elisabeth Hauptmann, Berlin, 1932 Elisabeth Hauptmann Archive 10. Asja Lacis, Berlin, around 1929 (photo Joël-Heinzelmann) Walter Benjamin Archiv 11. Gretel Adorno, Berlin, March 1931 (photo Joël-Heinzelmann) Walter Benjamin Archive 12. Theodor W. Adorno, Los Angeles, 1946 Theodor W. Adorno Archive 13. Margarete Steffin, 1940 Bertolt Brecht Archive 14. Hannah Arendt, 1933 Hannah Arendt Estate 15. Benjamin in front of the Brechts’ house, Skovsbostrand, Summer 1938 (photo by Stefan Brecht) Walter Benjamin Archive 16. Benjamin and Brecht, Skovsbostrand, Summer 1934 Bertolt Brecht Archive vi Publisher’s Note This work, which began as a doctoral thesis in the former East Germany (the German Democratic Republic), was completed in 1993, three years after Ger- man reunification. The author substantially rewrote it for publication in 2004. This English-language edition has, with the author’s agreement and participa- tion, in turn been modified for a further new readership. The intention is to make it available to an English-reading public, including those who know German but who prefer to read a substantial study like this one in their own language, or – even if English is not their first language – in English rather than in German. This means that, where published English translations of books, articles or poems exist, such sources are quoted and/or cited. This involves primarily the work of Benjamin and Brecht themselves, but also that of Theodor W. Adorno, Gershom Scholem, and Hannah Arendt among others. In all these cases, quotations in this edition have been taken wherever possible from the published English-language source, to which reference is made. Where transla- tions of passages quoted do not exist, they have naturally been translated, but the German reference has been retained. This also applies to any secondary lit- erature, whether quoted or mentioned. In one or two cases, reference to a standard English-language work has replaced or supplemented an original, untranslated, German-language secondary work (see the List of Works Cited, p. 222). The German edition contains a section (in the first chapter) of detailed dis- cussion on the debate, dating from 1967, about the initial republication and publication of Benjamin’s work in Germany from the mid fifties. This polit- ically founded controversy, albeit generally conducted in scholarly and philo- logical detail, remained a parochial, inner-German affair. None of the books and, mainly, articles referred to in this respect in the German edition is available in English. Consequently, all material pertaining exclusively to this past controversy, as well as some other references that refer to exclusively German philological matters, has been omitted. vii This page intentionally left blank Chronology of the Relationship 1924 Summer, Capri WB asks the theatre director from Riga, Asja Lacis, whom he had got to know on Capri, to introduce him to Brecht who is staying in Positano. Brecht is not interested. November, Berlin Lacis persuades BB to meet WB. The meeting takes place in Meierottostrasse 1, a pensione for artists, but nothing transpires and the two men then seldom meet. 1925 Berlin WB – and possibly BB – attends meetings of the Philosophy Group. December An article for Querschnitt by WB and Bernhard Reich arguing for a looser form of cabaret revue indicates considerable knowledge of BB’s theatrical work. 1926 8 November, Berlin WB and BB meet at the ‘literary trial’ of Johannes R. Becher’s novel Levisite, by the ‘1925 Group’. 6 December, Moscow WB tells Asja Lacis and Bernhard Reich about BB immediately on arriving in Moscow. 1927 WB, BB, Klabund, Carola Neher and Soma Morgenstern meet Ludwig Hardt after a recitation evening by Hardt. Debate about Trotsky. 13 April, Paris WB expresses the wish to review BB’s Devotions for the Home for the Frankfurter Zeitung. 1928 13 July, Berlin WB and BB each respond to a Literarische Welt questionnaire about Stefan George and German intellectual life. 1929 30 March, Berlin WB goes to the première of Marieluise Fleisser’s Pioniere in Ingolstadt, which BB is involved in directing. The play, wrote WB, shows ‘the collective powers created in the uniform masses, and which are counted on by clients of the military’. 6 June, Berlin WB informs Gershom Scholem that he has got to know BB. ix chronology 23 June, Frankfurt In a review in the Frankfurter Zeitung of Gedichte, Lieder und Chansons by Walter Mehring, WB refers to BB as ‘the best chansonnier since Wedekind’. 24 June, Berlin WB tells Scholem in a letter that his ‘very friendly relationship with Brecht’ is based ‘on the well-grounded interest one is bound to have for his present plans’. 30 August, Berlin In an article in the Frankfurter Zeitung on a conversation he had had with the radio broadcaster Ernst Schoen, WB reports that Schoen has interested BB in working on radio features. Summer/Early Autumn, Berlin Ernst Bloch persuades WB to ‘formulate his Brecht-spell’. 18 September, Berlin WB writes Gershom Scholem that ‘not much honour accrues’ to Happy End. 20 October, Berlin Première of Karl Kraus’s post-war drama Die Unüberwindlichen (‘The Invincibles’) at the Volksbühne. In the 1 November issue of the Literarische Welt, WB reviews the play, which initially BB was going to direct at the Theater am Schiffbauerdam. 1930 18 April, Berlin In a conversation with Siegfried Kracauer WB confesses to being very taken with the recently published first volume of the Versuche. He drafts a commentary on it. 25 April, Berlin WB and BB’s plan to ‘annihilate Heidegger’ in a critical reading-group fails because BB is away. 24 June, Frankfurt WB gives his radio talk ‘Bert Brecht’ on Südwestdeutscher Rundfunk. 6 July, Frankfurt WB’s ‘From the Brecht-Commentary’ is published in the Frankfurter Zeitung. September WB, BB, and Herbert Ihering plan to edit a journal for Rowohlt. In discussing its programme they agree on the social role of intellectuals, develop educational ideas, and devise a catalogue of writing styles. The work is to develop in three stages: ‘i) creation of a capitalist pedagogics, ii) creation of a proletarian pedagogics, iii) creation of a classless pedagogics.’ 8 September, Berlin According to Ernst Rowohlt WB, BB and Herbert Ihering are ready to work on the journal, whose general position is moving ‘sharply left’. Autumn, Berlin BB sees the following as editorial directors of the journal: Herbert Ihering, WB, Bernard von Brentano, and himself. x chronology 3 October, Berlin WB informs Gershom Scholem that he and BB have formulated the principles of Krise und Kritik in the course of long mutual discussion. He feels in a position to overcome the ‘immanent difficulty of any collaboration with Brecht’. 10 November, Berlin WB mentions ‘current really tumultuous discussion‘ with BB. 21 November, Berlin Krise und Kritik editorial committee meeting between Ihering, WB and BB.