A non-exemplary case: The tutor, by Bertolt Brecht

Abstract

In this text we examine how Bertolt Brecht, in his dialectical theater, adapts the play The tutor by Jacob Michael Reinhold Lenz (1751–1792). Both the comedy of Lenz and the theatrical parable of Brecht are based on the social path of the young master Läuffer in his search for professional recognition in the context of teaching. This recognition comes only when the young preceptor neuters himself in physical and moral, aesthetic and professional senses. Brecht´s theatrical parable as such presents prologue and epilogue, and through these statements, updates the comedy of Lenz, giving it a sense of criticism to the alienation and subservience generated by the processes of sociopolitical domination expressed by authoritative discourse. From the case brought to scene as ‘exemplum’, which revolves around the path of a young man in training to whom is given the task and the competence to form others to his image and likeness, we will see how another underlying scene is built: that of a people and its historical mishaps.