DIE UNSCHULD DES PLAGIATS. BRECHTS INTERTEXTUELLE SCHREIBSTRATEGIE

• Authors: Hans-Joachim SCHOTT

Title variants

EN

THE INNOCENCE OF PLAGIARISM. BRECHT’S INTERTEXTUAL WRITING STRATEGY

• Languages of publication: DE

Abstracts

EN

In the late twenties of the 20th century, Bertolt Brecht found himself accused by contemporary literary critics of having copied Rimbaud in his drama “Im Dickicht der Städte“. This was an occasion for him to develop a literary poetics that focuses on the aesthetics and ethics of plagiarizing. Brecht considered the literary technique of plagiarism as being productive for four reasons. First, the copy eliminates every personal dimension of a symbolic expression and emphasizes its genuine features, just as the Epic Theater does. Secondly, the copy incorporates into the aesthetic production process the art of forgetting, which Brecht – following Nietzsche – considers as being a vital power. Thirdly, the copy deconstructs the concept of the artist as a genius, which to Brecht – as well as to Michel Foucault and Roland Barthes – is essentially ideological, for, by disallowing the free composition of aesthetic fiction, it impedes the artistic process. Fourth, in the field of symbolic production, the copy represents a form of proto-communist common property as it eludes any efforts of commercialization made by the capitalist cultural industry. The essay traces Brecht’s arguments in favour of plagiarism and analyzes the political consequences of this explicitly epigonal writing strategy.

Keywords

EN

Bertolt Brecht; plagiarism; intertextuality

• Publisher: Inter Litteras Research Centre, STEFAN CEL MARE University, Suceava, Romania; STEFAN CEL MARE Publishing House
• Journal: Concordia Discors vs Discordia Concors: Researches into Comparative Literature, Contrastive Linguistics, Cross-Cultural and Translation Strategies
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 3
• Pages: 83-110

Contributors

author

Hans-Joachim SCHOTT

• Institute for Modern German Literature, Bamberg, Germany