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SASKIA FISCHER most diverse ritual contexts in his play, and, especially through the reference to Luther’s translation of the Bible and the use of language in the Christian liturgy, also develops an aesthetic of objection in linguistic terms. By this reference, he explicitly distances himself from a classicist aesthetic and the “oily smoothness” [olige[n] Glatte] of blank verse, as he formulates in his essay Über reimlose Lyrik mit unregelmäßigen Rhythmen [On Rhymeless Poetry with Irregular Rhythms].”: The language of his play, with its inversions, anacolutha, juxtapositions, and irregular rhythms, is based on a mode of speech that is not, as Brecht attributes to blank verse, “un-approvedly lulling” and “soporific” [“unangenehm einlullend,” “einschlafernd”].”” Rather, Brecht obtains a literary form from Luther’s translation of the Bible and the Christian liturgy, whose established accents and re-accentuations he varies and dynamizes. Such a language counteracts the central risk of a ritual aesthetic — as he describes it in all his theoretical essays — of being captivating, overwhelming, and narcotic. It is a language that interrupts and suddenly brings on a new thought. It cannot simply be entrusted without reflection. For this language, precisely the ways of reciting and praying in the Christian liturgy and the language of Luther’s Bible are key inspirations for him. Within the mixture of Noh theater, Greek tragedy, and Christian genres and forms of rituality, Brecht creates a unique style and further unfolds his idea of epic theater in this play that, through cultural differences, is still relatable and understandable in a transcultural way. It is an aesthetic that his play Die Mafsnahme unfolds, reflecting on the abysses and risks that rituals and ritual theater can bear, and, by this, creating an innovative, self-reflective “poetic rituality,” which he developed further after 1945. BIBLIOGRAPHY ASSMANN, Jan — STROHM Harald (eds.): Herrscherkult und Heilserwartung, Miinchen, Fink, 2010. BELL, Catherine : Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice, New York, Oxford University Press, 1992. Boer, Dick: Die Gewalt, die Armut und das gute Leben. Bertolt Brecht und die Religion, Texte und Kontext 28 (2005), 30-42. BRANDSTETTER, Gabriele: Pina Bauschs ‘Das Frühlingsopfer.’ Signatur — Übertragung - Kontext, in G. Brandstetter — G. Klein (eds.): Methoden der Tanzwissenschaft. Modellanalysen zu Pina Bauschs Le Sacre du Printemps / Das Frühlingsopfer’, Bielefeld, transcript Verlag, 2015. 7! Brecht: Über reimlose Lyrik mit unregelmäßigen Rhythmen, in GBA 22.1, 358. 72 Brecht: [Nachtrag zu: Über reimlose Lyrik mit unregelmäßigen Rhythmen], in GBA 22.1, 364. s 52 e
