Bertolt Brecht’s “”The World One Hope” addresses the problem of growing callousness but then points to how we can break through to compassion.
Tag Archives: Bertolt Brecht
The World’s One Hope: Compassion
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "World's One Hope", discrimination, Donald Trump, GOP, oppression, Trumpism Comments closed
Brecht’s Working Class Revenge Fantasy
Many working class and lower middle class Americans have felt abandoned by the GOP and Democratic establishments. Bertolt Brecht’s “Pirate Jenny” articulates a revenge fantasy that captures some of their anger.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Pirate Jenny", Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, politics, Presidential Primaries Comments closed
Why It’s Good To Offend Students
An entering Duke student has refused to read Alison Bechdel’s “Fun House.” A professor comes partially to his defense.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Burning of the Books", Alison Bechdel, censorship, college life, Franz Kafka, freshman orientation, Fun House, homosexuality, reader response Comments closed
Pledge Your Intellect to Freedom
Brecht’s poem to students of workers and peasants reminds them that they are being educated thanks to the bloody struggles of those who came before.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "To the Students of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Faculty", education in America, labor struggles, privilege, public education, tracking Comments closed
History from the Workers’ Perspective
Bertolt Brecht captures the spirit of May Day in “A Worker Reads History.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Worker Reads History", International Workers Day, Labor, May Day, Work Comments closed
Can Art Change Big Brother?
The Oscar-winning German film “The Lives of Others” speaks to the ability of art to change people’s lives.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Memory of Marie A", 1984, Film, George Orwell, Lives of Others, Secret police, Stasi Comments closed
The Burning of the Books
In Ben Click’s post yesterday on the banning history of Huckleberry Finn, he tells the story of a man who remembers hearing the book read to him when he was a child in a concentration camp. Horst Kruse never forgot that reading experience and would go on to become a Twain scholar. Ben talks about […]
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Is There a Price for Doing Evil?
In a dinner conversation with academic colleagues and novelist Rachel Kranz, we grappled with the question of whether those who commit atrocities pay a price for doing so. I came to the conclusion that it is a question that novelists and poets are sometimes better at answering than academics.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Mask of Evil", Evil, Nazis, Rachel Kranz, racism, Suffering Comments closed
