Table of Contents

Chronology Contexts (Thirty Years War, 1618-1648; World War II and exile; sources; influential figures such as Brecht, Margarete Steffin, Helene Weigel and Karin Michaelis) Themes (War; Nature; Capitalism) Dramatic Devices (Epic Theatre) Production History and Critical Reception Academic Debate (Marxist, feminist and postmodernist) Further Study MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN

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A succinct, up-to-date and engaging study of Brecht's epic play about war and capitalism with commentary and notes by Katherine Hollander.

About the Author

Bertolt Brecht was born in Augsburg on 10 February 1898 and died in Berlin on 14 August 1956. His plays include Man Equals Man, The Threepenny Opera, The Mother, Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and her Children and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. He founded the Berliner Ensemble in 1947 and, from then until his death, was mainly occupied in producing his own plays. John Willett (1917-2002) was a British translator and scholar who is remembered for translating the work of Bertolt Brecht into English, having become a friend of Brecht's after World War II. Over his career, he acted as a freelancer writer, editor, translator and director, as well as a visiting professor and lecturer. A poet, historian, and Brecht scholar, Katherine Hollander holds an MA in poetry and a PhD in modern European history, both from Boston University. Her scholarly work focuses on exile and collaboration in intellectual circles. Her first book of poems, My German Dictionary, won the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize in 2019. She serves as Poetry and Reviews Editor for Consequence Forum and as an Associate Editor for the Waywiser Press, and teaches poetry at Tufts University.