The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Paperback)

Bertolt Brecht

ISBN 10: 0413308502 / ISBN 13: 9780413308504

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London, 1963

About this Item

Paperback. Written in exile during the Second World War, the story of Brecht's classic play subverts an ancient Chinese tale - echoed in the Judgement of Solomon - in which two women claim the same child. The message of Brecht's parable is that resources should go to those who will make best use of them. Thanks to the rascally judge, Azdak, one of Brecht's most vivid creations, this story has a happy outcome: the child is entrusted to the peasant Grusha, who has loved and nurtured it.Published in Methuen Drama's Modern Classics series, this edition features an extensive introduction, Brecht's own notes on the play and a full appendix of textual variants. It is the standard critical edition of the work in an acclaimed translation by James and Tania Stern with W. H. Auden. Inspired by the Chinese play Chalk Circle, and written at the close of World War II, this parable is set in the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia. It re-tells the tale of King Solomon and a child claimed and fought over by two women. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780413308504

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Paperback)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London
• Publication Date: 1963
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0413308502
• ISBN 13: 9780413308504
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Written in exile during the Second World War, the story of Brecht's classic play subverts an ancient Chinese tale - echoed in the Judgement of Solomon - in which two women claim the same child. The message of Brecht's parable is that resources should go to those who will make best use of them. Thanks to the rascally judge, Azdak, one of Brecht's most vivid creations, this story has a happy outcome: the child is entrusted to the peasant Grusha, who has loved and nurtured it.

Published in Methuen Drama's Modern Classics series, this edition features an extensive introduction, Brecht's own notes on the play and a full appendix of textual variants. It is the standard critical edition of the work in an acclaimed translation by James and Tania Stern with W. H. Auden.

About the Authors

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is acknowledged as one of the great dramatists whose plays, work with the Berliner Ensemble and critical writings have had a considerable influence on the theatre. His landmark plays include The Threepenny Opera, Fear and Misery of the Third Reich, The Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and Her Children and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

John Willett (1917-2002) was the greatest English language authority on Brecht the writer and man of the theatre. The foremost translator and editor of Brecht's drama, poetry, letters, diaries, theatrical essays and fiction, Willett produced a dozen volumes for Methuen Drama on the greatest modern German writer.

Ralph Manheim (b. New York, 1907) was an American translator of German and French literature. His translating career began with a translation of Mein Kempf in which Manheim set out to reproduce Hitler's idiosyncratic, often grammatically aberrant style. In collaboration with John Willett, Manheim translated the works of Bertolt Brecht. The Pen/Ralph Manheim Medal for translation, inaugurated in his name, is a major lifetime achievement award in the field of translation. He himself won its predecessor, the PEN translation prize, in 1964. Manheim died in Cambridge in 1992. He was 85.