The Playgoer: Brecht commemorations

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Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Brecht commemorations

I hope this (from today's "Arts, Briefly") is not the only Times coverage we'll see of the Brecht 50th anniversary going on in Germany:

Germany Remembers Bertolt Brecht

Fifty years after his death at 58 on Aug. 14, 1956, Bertolt Brecht was honored yesterday in Germany with productions of his works in theaters across the country, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. The outpouring gave evidence that Germany was prepared to forgive Brecht for going to his grave a Communist and embrace him. A playwright, poet and theatrical reformer, Brecht wrote works including “Mother Courage and Her Children,” “The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui” and, with Kurt Weill, “The Threepenny Opera.”


In short: Die, Commie, Die.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm assuming that the Times did not provide a cite for this specific evidentiary finding. Where's a fact-checker when you need one?

Anonymous said...

"However, there is no word yet if they have forgiven Brecht for going to his grave in a steel coffin."

J. Kelly said...

Seems to be a quick condensation of this AFP story.

Playgoer said...

Thanks, J. You realize of course, you just provided evidence that the Times lifted the phrase word for word without attribution.

Is this kind of borrowing accepted practice with AFP stories?

(AFP=Agence France-Presse)