Seite 51 [51]
POETIC RITUALITY AND TRANSCULTURALITY
naturalistic theater — results in a parallelization of the theater with ritual
practice. Brecht applies Marxs and Feuerbachs critigue of religion to the aes¬
thetics and social function of theater and drama, and states in his theoretical
text Der Messingkauf, which he began working on in 1939, that the theater is
still primarily an “institution and practice of cult” even in modern times." In
his text Kleines Organon fiir das Theater [A Short Organum for the Theater], he
followed up this allegation when he stressed: “The theater, as we find it, does
not show the structure of society (depicted on the stage) as influenceable by
society.” Rather, it exposes, as Brecht emphasizes, the heroes of a play to their
inescapable fate and stages this in the form of sacrifice. In Brecht’s words: “Hu¬
man sacrifice by all means! Barbaric amusements!”®. The goal of generating
compassionate identification among the audience, which, according to Brecht,
encompasses Aristotelian tragic theory, Lessing’s poetics of drama, and natu¬
ralistic theater, leads to “agreement with the supposedly non-negotiable.”
Such a theater fulfills the function of interpreting human action as natural and
unchangeable and thereby serves to stabilize the prevailing social conditions
and grievances instead of questioning them.“ It must be stressed that Brecht’s
defamation of Lessing’s and Aristotle’s poetics and the naturalistic drama as
theaters of emotions is far too simple and one-sided. For Brecht, tragedies
especially, the concept of the tragic in particular, contribute to legitimizing
the interests of power by portraying the last “remains of misery caused by the
dominant social order” as “incurable” and “eternal. In the suggestive theatri¬
cal experience, the audience is put in a fatalistic mood toward the “fate” being
presented on stage. It is precisely this “belief in fate,” which is generated by
the aesthetic experience that, according to Brecht, makes the performance of a
drama in the theater a ritual-like action. A theater similar to that of Lessing’s
or of the Ancient Greeks as well as the naturalistic theater, becomes a place
where the audience can live out feelings in a controlled manner that might
otherwise endanger the dominant political or social order, without, however,
causing any concrete consequences for the existing social conditions. This way,
the theater fulfills its social stabilizing function. With Brecht, this can only be
realized in and through a coherent structure that does not allow any objections
6% Brecht: Der Messingkauf, in GBA 22.2, 702. [kultische Institution]
64 Brecht: Kleines Organon für das Theater, in GBA 23, 78. [Das Theater, wie wir es vorfinden,
zeigt die Struktur der Gesellschaft (abgebildet auf der Bühne) nicht als beeinflussbar durch
die Gesellschaft.] See also Brecht: [Nichtaristotelische Dramatik und wissenschaftliche Be¬
trachtungsweise], in GBA 22.1, 168.
6% Brecht: Kleines Organon für das Theater, in GBA 23, 78. [Menschenopfer allerwege! Barba¬
rische Belustigungen!]
66 Brecht: Korsch Kernpunkte, in GBA 21, 574.
§7 Brecht: Kleines Organon für das Theater, in GBA 23, 78; See also Brecht: “Nichtaristotelische
Dramatik und wissenschaftliche Betrachtungsweise,” in GBA 22.1, 168.
68 Brecht: Voraussetzung der Tragik, in GBA 21, 384. [*Rest von Qual, der durch die herrschende
Gesellschaftsordnung” entstehe, als “unheilbar” und “ewig” darstellen.]
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